MONROE - The Green County Historical Society will begin an inventory of Green County barns in 2016 and will be hosting a public program at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Monroe Public Library.
The program will explain the purpose of the inventory and show examples of various first- and second-generation Green County barns that replaced the original barns as the dairy business succeeded. The barn inventory is being done to preserve Green County's agricultural history. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin Historic Preservation Division is assisting with the project, which will encompass all 16 townships in the county and take one year to complete. In order to have unobstructed views of the barns, the inventory will begin before the trees bud next spring. Individuals interested in volunteering to work on this project may sign up at the program.
Barns that once were filled with life and livestock and were the livelihood of generations of Green County farm families are disappearing from the landscape. The barns were hand-built, often from homegrown oak timbers and with the help of neighboring farmers, and they served generations of family farmers. Since the 1960s, the number of dairy herds in Green County has dropped each year. Non-use of barns weakens the structures, often to the point of total collapse. Other factors contributing to the loss of barns are severe windstorms and urban flight, especially in the townships bordering the county line between Green and Dane counties. Building a new home in the country often meant burning down or bulldozing the existing barn. It is hoped that the Green County Barn Inventory project will preserve the legacy of farming and sacrifice left by past generations of farm families.
This inventory will be a multigenerational project, in which retired farmers will join school students to visit designated areas of each township to photograph and draw the buildings and gather pertinent information on each existing barn, regardless of its condition. The typical barn inventory team will have an adult volunteer and two to four students. Ideally, each team will have at least one longtime resident of each township, a photographer, and one or two students who are adept at using laptop computers. Each barn and outbuildings survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The Monticello Schools FFA program has agreed to take on a portion of the project.
Once the inventory is completed, the Green County Historical Society will present the results in a program that will feature speakers interested in barns, their history and their preservation.
The program will explain the purpose of the inventory and show examples of various first- and second-generation Green County barns that replaced the original barns as the dairy business succeeded. The barn inventory is being done to preserve Green County's agricultural history. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin Historic Preservation Division is assisting with the project, which will encompass all 16 townships in the county and take one year to complete. In order to have unobstructed views of the barns, the inventory will begin before the trees bud next spring. Individuals interested in volunteering to work on this project may sign up at the program.
Barns that once were filled with life and livestock and were the livelihood of generations of Green County farm families are disappearing from the landscape. The barns were hand-built, often from homegrown oak timbers and with the help of neighboring farmers, and they served generations of family farmers. Since the 1960s, the number of dairy herds in Green County has dropped each year. Non-use of barns weakens the structures, often to the point of total collapse. Other factors contributing to the loss of barns are severe windstorms and urban flight, especially in the townships bordering the county line between Green and Dane counties. Building a new home in the country often meant burning down or bulldozing the existing barn. It is hoped that the Green County Barn Inventory project will preserve the legacy of farming and sacrifice left by past generations of farm families.
This inventory will be a multigenerational project, in which retired farmers will join school students to visit designated areas of each township to photograph and draw the buildings and gather pertinent information on each existing barn, regardless of its condition. The typical barn inventory team will have an adult volunteer and two to four students. Ideally, each team will have at least one longtime resident of each township, a photographer, and one or two students who are adept at using laptop computers. Each barn and outbuildings survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The Monticello Schools FFA program has agreed to take on a portion of the project.
Once the inventory is completed, the Green County Historical Society will present the results in a program that will feature speakers interested in barns, their history and their preservation.