OLD BARNS № 102 & 103

My Old Barn Project was originally started back in 2008 and I was posting the photos on FLICKR, Facebook (which I no longer use, yuk!), and another site or two. None of those other sites provide what Hive provides, though — a decentralized, long-term solution for showcasing collections of things in an easy manner. I actually rather liked FLICKR, but the site was acquired by another business years ago and big changes were made to the storage capacity which made it no longer tenable for me under my circumstances at the time. Such is the risk with centralized sites, where users are dependent on the controlling entity to keep the site running and usable. So, these barn posts are actually a re-launching of an older project.

I mention this because some of the barns I catalogued into my collection all those years ago are no longer standing, or have been transformed into something else. This has recently exhibited itself with Old Barns 049, 096, 097, 098, 099, 100, and is now happening again with Barn 102... so, I thought an explanation might be in order. Readers are probably wondering why I am showing barns that no longer exist, or wondering why I am expressing surprise at the changes that some have undergone. And this post is showing both: one barn that has been remodeled into a house, and another that has gotten a makeover but is still a barn!

^{OLD BARN № 102, original shot}

^{OLD BARN № 102, enhanced}

I have never quite figured out what the hay (ꜱᴇᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ? ʟᴏʟ) is going on with Barn 102. It looks like a wooden structure of some sort has been shoved under the barn on one side — is that something to keep the barn shored from falling down? It's the strangest looking thing! 😐 I also can't decide if it was put there when the barn was built, or added later as the ground settled and left the barn leaning. Or maybe it was built as a "loading dock" and there was a large door there at one point in the past? Such a mystery!

This barn looks like it was definitely built for storage, though, not for housing livestock, so its appearance and straightness isn't so important. If the barn had been brought forward and/or turned 90°, it could have sat on level ground. But, perhaps that didn't suit the purposes of the owner at the time. Anyway, on the same property, a few yards/meters from this barn is another one, Old Barn № 103...

^{OLD BARN № 103, original shot}

^{OLD BARN № 103, enhanced}

This barn is in much better shape than the other one! It is an interesting hodgepodge of colors and materials, similar to OLD BARN № 096 but on a slightly smaller scale. I was happy to find this one close to the road for a better look at it as well as a better photo. It's in relatively good shape, too, and is obviously used and cared for.

When I was preparing to put this post together, I could not remember exactly where the two barns were in relation to each other. My original photos of these barns were taken in April 2010, so that was slightly over sixteen years ago and the details were fuzzy in my brain. So, I went to GoogleMaps™ and checked the satellite imagery as well as the "Street View." This last barn (103) was quickly and easily found, but the first barn (102) was nowhere to be seen. I was quite stumped, so I went there in my car and drove very slowly down the road, way past Barn 103 and down a couple of side roads, but Barn 102 was nowhere to be seen.

Then a realization hit me — GoogleMaps™ has the ability to show previous dates on their "Street View" module! So, I went back to "Street View" and clicked "Show Previous Dates" and wondered why I had forgotten that feature was there. A view from August 2008 was available, so I clicked on it, and — boom! 💥 — Old Barn 102 appeared where a house now stands! That's why I could not find it! I think this will serve as a lesson to remind me to check "Show Previous Dates" sooner if this happens again with another barn in the future!

Check the "Street View" screenshots, below, to see the "BEFORE" and "AFTER" views of the property where the two barns were found:

That weird wooden slab in my earlier photo is not visible in the "Street View" from 2008, so that answers the question — it was added later to keep the barn from falling down! It wasn't there in 2008, but it was when I found the barn in 2010!

Based on comparisons of the "before" and "after" photos, it looks to me like Old Barn 102 was remodeled into a house rather than the barn's being demolished and a house build in its place. The shape of the main part of the house mimics that of the barn, as does the roof and its positioning on the land. There's now an extra room and a little patio where that weird wooden slab used to be, a nice little covered porch was added, as well as a small ventilation cupola (probably over the kitchen). It's a cute little house!

And Old Barn 103 really got a nice makeover, too! 😍 There's a fresh coat of beautiful red paint on the outside, the roof is now black (painted? or maybe a new roof?), and a quaint wagon wheel rests beside the barn as a charming piece of décor which matches the roof!

So, yeah... one rickety old barn converted into an adorable little house, and the other barn given a pretty, loving upgrade! I was very happy to find both of these structures still standing and being used!