GORDON/BARRIE ISLAND—A representative of the Ontario Barn Preservation (OBP) group was in the Gordon/Barrie Island township area last Thursday, documenting six old barns from several farms in the area to preserve their history. This is something OBP members carry out, which has focused on southern Ontario, but is now looking to do the same in Northern Ontario.
“We are looking for volunteer representatives in Northern Ontario, including areas like North Bay, Manitoulin, Sudbury, Blind River, Bruce and Grey Counties and others,” said John Busch of St. Thomas. “We are very interested in having representatives in these locations and additional ones, especially if they involve people who have lived in the area for years, know the community well and know where the old barns are located. We have about 18-20 members in our group, but we definitely need more—we don’t have a full complement of representatives.” He says the group is hopeful people will be interested and come forward to be regional representatives for OBP.
The first farm/barn property Mr. Busch visited on Thursday morning was the Mina Hodder farm.
“This barn was constructed in 1909,” said Mr. Busch of the 80×76 square foot structure. “It has a stone foundation, and an extension was added to it over the years. Over the years when water drained over the gangway side and got between the walls, freezing over the winter, it pushed the walls into the barn, and walls and beams became slanted.”
Ms. Hodder explained, “A few years ago I was reading the Farmer’s Almanac, and there was a section in the magazine on the OBP group and their preservation project. I reached out on Facebook and joined their Facebook group.”
From there, “I contacted Mina and decided to visit the Island to visit her barn,” said Mr. Busch.
Contacting other local farm property owners with barns in the area, Ms. Hodder said, “I did my search of barn history in the area, reading a history book on the township, written by Pat Best that outlined some of the farm families and barns in the area, and she noted she coordinated a visit by Mr. Busch to other farms in the area including the Brent Best (Pat Best’s son), two barns owned by Bill Fogal, Cole Lentir and Harold Jefkins’ barns.
“Our barn has been derelict for a long time,” said Ms. Hodder. “I’m renting the land to the Martin family to farm.”
Mr. Busch conducts a full investigation of the barns, taking down information of each of them, history, size, features and takes photographs of each. “I do a lot of homework through Google earth before I visit an area,” he said. “Then we take all this information and put it on the ‘Your Old Barn study’ on our (OBP) website and send the information to the University of Guelph. This way there is a digital history on each barn. I also help by providing information to the barn owner, what they can do in terms of repairs for the barns. In Mina’s case she is continuing to make improvements on her barn a little at a time. Unfortunately, there is very little in terms of grants available to repair barns.”
“With the research we do and the information we gain, we preserve the history of these barns,” said Mr. Busch. “Our group provides a venue to save the barn and keep its history alive.”
“We are looking for representatives in Northern Ontario to join our group and carry out the barn preservation project in their area,” said Mr. Busch. “We have about 20 volunteer members (based in southern Ontario). We definitely don’t have a full complement of representatives, especially in Northern Ontario. That is why we need to have a representative for this area and all areas of Northern Ontario.”
OBP was initiated in 2019 in hopes of saving and preserving as many barns across the province as possible.
“Right now we can’t speak to how old the barns are in Northern Ontario, we need representatives there to help us dig up the information up so we have a better knowledge of them,” Mr. Busch told CBC in a recent interview. The group literally tries to keep barns from falling over by giving advice to property owners, as well as suggesting contractors who could help. And one day, the group hopes to be able to offer financial support as well.
“Once the history is wiped out, you have nothing. You need to study the history to learn the future,” said Mr. Busch.
He hopes there will be individuals in Northern Ontario who will step up and become a regional representative for OBP in that area. Those who may be interested can contact OBP at ontariobarnpreservation.com
