This is my pa at one of the barns he built and cured tobacco in during his lifetime. The picture was most likely taken in the early 60's as he appeared to be in his late 70's at that time. The barn may be 40-50+ years old and looks to be in good condition. It didn't start deteriorating until the late 80's after it was no longer in use. The barn had three side shelters. The farmers used two sides for stringing tobacco and the tractor and plows were kept under the third side.
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I was fortunate to be made caretaker of my great-grand parents homeplace. Along with the house came an adjacent structures and this tobacco barn. Sadly, this is pretty much how it looked when I inherited the property in 2003. The roof had collapsed years earlier and had fallen inside the barn. The barn's side shelters had slowly began to collapse and become over run with vines and other growth.
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NC Tobacco Barn
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On my great-grand parents farm were several barns, silos and horse stables. This tobacco barn is the last barn standing. It was constructed with block and made with the same color as the brick columns on the house which is approximately 100 feet away.
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WEEK 1 - Dec. 31, 2016
After many years of cleaning up the other barns, silos and exterior projects on the premises, I was finally able to start cleaning up around my favorite barn. It was a real eyesore, especially since my craftsman bungalow farmhouse has had a beautiful make over and sits just yards away.
All the kids have helped with the clean up in past years but my daughter, Taylor came to help with the barn clean up. She is planning a wedding ceremony near the pond later next year and there was much work to be done.
The barn's side was already falling down but was being supported by a 2 X 4 underneath. I didn't have a chain long enough to wrap around the 2 X 4 from where it was so I opted to try and collapse the frame from the side.
There was a lot of tin we were dealing with, but with a little finesse and extreme caution the "girl power" managed to collapse the barn side without incident.
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Once we got the side down it was easy to pull it off with the tractor. It's really nice to have a little John Deere work horse...it saved us hours and hours of manual labor.
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Mission accomplished - Our task today was to get the side of the barn down and with the help of family we got it done.
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There's much more clean up to be done in the upcoming weeks. My goal is to add a metal roof and restore this barn for future generations to enjoy. I have so many other projects going on at the present, it'll likely be a couple of years before I'm able to complete this project 100%.
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WEEK 2 - Jan. 14, 2017
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January was unseasonably warm and the temp today was 67 degrees. It was a super nice day to work outside and I was able to get a lot cleaned up.
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There was a lot of wood pulled from the barn. Some of it was salvaged for future use in my outhouse and silo projects.
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Week 3 - Jan. 21, 2017
I didn't get a lot accomplished on Week 3. I cut up some of the wood and picked up trash and yard debris but we were rained out in the early afternoon.
Week 4 - Jan. 28, 2017
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Since I was rained out the previous week I really wanted to get a lot accomplished today. My older daughter came to help so I knew the day would be very productive...even though the temp was freezing outside.
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Today's goal was to finish knocking over this side and clean up as much as possible. There was a lot of big pieces of tin, old farm equipment pieces, other metal parts, a scaffold and an old gas heater to move out. This side collapsed many years ago and I'm very curious as to what, if any, treasures I may find!
My plan is to pull the barn's side down so I'm using my John Deere utility tractor to move the trailer so the barn's side doesn't fall on top of it.
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Now that the last side is completely on the ground, we were starting the last phase of the barn clean up project.
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Week 5 - Feb. 4, 2017
It was very windy and a chilly 32 degrees today. I really wanted to stay inside where it was nice and toasty but I knew there was much work to be done on the barn project. So I bundled up and got busy!
Now that the shelter is down the old out house now comes in to view...but that's a project for another day!
The goal for today was to haul all the tin, metal and wood out and to close the barn door at the end of the day
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It was fun sifting thru all the old debris under the tobacco barn. I hadn't been able to walk in this section for over 30 years. To my surprise I found the gun rack I made in AG class in junior high.
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I found this old door that was original to the house. It had a lot of termite damage at the bottom and unfortunately was not in good condition. I would've loved to had been able to salvage it and possibly even use it in the house.
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Extra hands were on board today. My daughter, sister and granddaughter were very helpful in seeing that today's goal was met. We were super excited when we managed to get to the old camper top that has been there for years and years. It's interesting since no one seems to know where it came from.
...and thankfully at the end of a hard day's work we were able to close the barn door after many, many decades of it hanging open!
Next week we'll focus on this area to clean up and hopefully get the tree cut down.
Week 6 - Feb. 11, 2017
Most of the day was spent raking and hauling away wood. There was a lot of broken glass, ceramic pieces, vines, small pieces of metal and nails that had to be picked up by hand. My grandson, Jakob was my shadow for most of the day and was a big help since he got to ride the tractor with grandma!
About seven hours later and today's goal has been met with the exception of getting the tree down.
I was on target when I guessed it would take six weeks to clean up around my tobacco barn. What I didn't figure in the equation was the extra time it would take to load all the metal and aluminum in the trailer. It will take another day's work to load, secure and haul it all away. So, I wasn't off too badly!
Week 7 - Feb. 18. 2017
I used the front end loader to mash the tin as far as it would go down on the trailer. There was more work involved than just loading it onto the trailer since there was a lot of glass and wood attached to different pieces of the metal and aluminum that had to be torn apart.
After another full day the entire area has been cleaned up. All metal, aluminum and tin is loaded on the trailer and ready to be taken to the salvage yard.
At the end of the day we celebrated another completed project and have already started gearing up for the next one!
One day I hope to completely restore the tobacco barn as a loft or man cave. But for now it will stand as a beautiful reminder of days gone by commemorating tobacco farming in a rural southern town in North Carolina.
New Flowers
Petunias are one of my favorite flowers. I was very happy to be able to get them planted and enjoy them before it got to cold. This picture was taken in mid November, 2017
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Concrete Slab
This concrete slab was unearth during excavation of the foundation blocks around the left side of the barn. The date appears to be February 28, 1939. My plans are to build an A frame shelter on the side of the barn and that is where I will incorporate this slab into the design.
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The Wedding
The tobacco barn project was one of five "must complete" projects for my daughter's vow renewal ceremony. The time frame given to finish them all was ten months. The tobacco barn was the first project to be finished. Although it wasn't finished entirely, the outside was completely cleaned up.
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My daughter had a beautiful vow renewal ceremony on the farm. We used left over barn doors from the hay loft and propped them in front of the brick barn to make a photo op.
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