OLD BARN № 010

Only one other barn in my Old Barn Project is closer to me than this one, situated off a tiny sideroad about a half-mile (0.8 km) away. It was once a working-barn long ago, but has sat idle for many years. The hay-door above the main opening to the barn indicates the presence of a hay-loft for storing bales of hay, probably to feed horses or mules that stayed in the barn at night and during inclement weather. I am sure there were once doors on the building to help keep out the cold in winter, but they have long since been removed or fallen off the building.

The most curious thing about this lovely barn to me is the sagging roofline on the right, probably due to some deterioration of the materials underneath. As with many old barns, the roof is simple sheet-metal, which is much more economical and easier to install than a tar-and-shingle covering. I like how the metal rusts over time, giving way to a lovely reddish-brown color that complements the weathered wood nicely.

This photo was taken as autumn was slightly underway, thus the slight color in the background trees. As I've done with other old barn photos, I processed the above shot with pastel overtones to create the following view, which I think makes it resemble a painting:

Sadly, this barn is no longer standing. I'm not sure if it was torn down or if it finally collapsed from its state of disrepair. I drove by one day and was surprised that it was no longer there. That makes me extra glad that I was able to preserve the memory of it before it disappeared. Google Maps still shows the barn as it was, in the following screenshot from "Street View."

To the left of the barn in the above screenshot, there is an open field which slopes upward, away from the viewer. That was the exact scene in my "Glorious Sunset" photo that appeared in this post, and shown below. I just zoomed-in a bit so that the barn was not in the view.