“Some people might agree that the physical aspects of a barn possess spiritual qualities similar to those of a church. Indeed, while standing in a barn one does get a sense of quiet reverence as light filters through the narrow spaces of the boards.”
Mary Keithan, author, Michigan Heritage Barns
About the "Barn Lady"
My passion for barns blossomed when I was a child, hearing my father speak with great affection about our barn on Coralan
Farm in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It was nurtured searching for kittens, reading books, and building forts in the haymow.
It grew creating constellations from dappled light streaming through knotholes and watching milk cows plod in for evening
milking. The barn had been built by my grandfather on land settled by my great grandfather in 1882. After my parents took
over the farm in 1938, they built an award-winning herd of Holsteins. Our farm was a popular stop on farm tours.
When Dad’s health gave out, he said that the hardest part about selling the farm was leaving the barn. After we left the farm, things were never the same. The farm was sold twice within a few years. As has happened to so many dairy barns, the barn fell into total neglect once it no longer housed cattle. Eventually the owner split the house, barn and 40 acres from the best farmland. A couple from Illinois bought the parcel, transformed the house, but demolished our magnificent timber-frame pegged barn. Gone. Just like that. It is because of my respect for my parents and the barn on Coralan Farm that saving heritage barns has become so important to me.
If you are fond of heritage barns, I hope you will find a barn preservation organization near you or lead a local initiative even if there is no formal organization through which to work. Make a difference.
“The Barn Lady,” name was given to me by a little boy, watching as another person and I negotiated to save a heritage barn from a wrecking ball. “Why are you doing this, barn lady?” he asked. “So children like you can have the opportunity to experience these wonderful places,” I answered. I believed it then and I always will. There is room and work for anyone who wants to be a Barn Lady or a Barn Guy.
Coralan Farm
The Barns on Coralan Farm - 1968
B.A. in English from Albion College; M.A. from Nazareth College, Kalamazoo; and holistic health studies through Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo and program evaluation coursework at the University of Illinois-Chicago.