The original Ole Barn

Labor Day weekend of 2013, the old barn owned by the Harris family in Medway, OH was taken down by a small Meadow View crew led by Scott Robinson and Davey Crowe. This barn had been used, as many barns were, for hay storage and various farming activities for over 100 years. During disassembly, the men noticed some of the larger oak beams had many, many rings. They took the time to count them and discovered there were 117 rings. This meant the tree that provided this timber was 117 years old when it was felled. Some quick calculations revealed the acorn that grew into that tree began growing circa 1796. Here were a few things happening then:

George Washington delivered his farewell address

John Adams was installed as the 2nd president of the United States

The city of Cleveland was founded

Other barn timbers revealed their tree survived the Civil War while others pre-dated the invention of the light bulb. Can you imagine? This barn was over 200 years in the making!

The New Ole Barn at MVG

Parts of the barn were moved to Meadow View Growers in New Carlisle, OH about 7 miles away and stacked for future reassembly. That fall, our craftsman engineering the project, David Rhodes and Rick Burnside, laid out the building and installed piers for the footings. During the summer of 2014, Rick and others worked on cutting, fitting and bolting some of the old timbers together using the same mortise & tenon method of the 1800’s. They also prepared the sections of the barn ready for assembly. The last weekend in August 2014, the barn started to take shape. The summer of 2015 saw the siding and steel roof installed. Finally, August 2015 the ‘Ole Barn’ was completed and ready for service.

In addition to the above mentioned men Cody, Dylan, Scott, Mark, Davey and Earl all helped with this project.

We feel very privileged to have this opportunity to play a part in preserving this piece of local history. The ‘Ole Barn’ will be used for storage and possibly a meeting place during good weather. Who knows what else?

It Goes Back Together at Meadow View:

During the summer of 2014, Rick and Cody worked on cutting, fitting and bolting some of the old timbers together getting ready to put the barn back up. They tried to stay as true to the original construction as possible. Some of the larger timbers are over 200 years old.

The last weekend in August 2014 the barn started to take shape again. We feel very privileged to have this opportunity to be able to play a part in preserving this piece of local history.

Found some time in the fall to work some more.

Trying to finish summer 2015…

Fall 2015…The ‘Ole Barn’ Is Repurposed….we are finished and it is ready. First use was a hosting area for Stan Smart’s Lawn and Tractor Show food bank. Then we were ready for field trips! What will it be used for next?