Annual Meeting 2011
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The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania is pleased to be traveling to the “Great Valley” of Pennsylvania for its 2011 Annual Meeting and Historic Barn Tour. This two-day event is scheduled for Friday, June 17th and Saturday, June18th, beginning with a special evening touring an historic barn owned by one of HBFF of PA’s directors, Eugene Wingert, Loudon Road, Saint Thomas.
This massive barn is located on the old Wilson homestead, along what was formerly the Old Forbes Road. It is a prototypical Franklin County brick Sweitzer barn, according to HBFF of PA’s Vice President Greg Huber. “It possesses the distinctive rear brick out-sheds. Its great end-wall brick patterning is a powerfully expressed local building tradition and it reflects several of the barns on this year’s annual HBFF of PA barn tour,” he commented. “These brick barns have never been seen before seen on any of the previous years’ HBFF of PA annual barn tours. They are great treats to behold and will not soon be forgotten.”
Members and non-members are welcome to participate in this educational and social gathering in Franklin County. There will be a banquet at the St. Thomas Fire Company following the Friday afternoon barn tour Wingert’s farm. The tour begins at 4 p.m. and the banquet will begin at 6 p.m. Barn documenter Phil Schaff of Chambersburg and HBFF of PA director Dianna Heim will present an informative program entitled: “Cumberland Valley Barns: Past and Present—Brick End Barns of Franklin County” following a brief business meeting of the HBFF of PA.
Phil Schaff, a native of Chambersburg, began working in a local camera store around 1964. He spent a decade working for that business. He photographed nature and landscapes over the years. Since 1999, he has been working on a project to document Franklin County’s brick-end barns. This resulted in the release of a poster depicting nineteen of the 109 (so such barns in the county. The poster was made possible through the Chambersburg for the Arts and several local historical societies. Since retiring in 2004 from a 28- year career as a fuel truck driver for McCleary Oil Co., Phil enjoys being able to spend more time taking photographs.
Dianna Heim will be speaking about the men and women who built the Franklin County barns, sharing stories related to her by an old barn builder who provided a wealth of information on how he, his father and his grandfather raised barns. She will provide us with information about how the Civil War affected the farms in the area, and how the barns were used during that time,She will share the progression of log to brick-end barns in the valley.
According to HBFF of PA secretary, Ken Sandri, the “Great Valley” of Pennsylvania was part of the early migration routes for American immigrants moving west from the colonial settlement areas on the east coast of the new English colonies. The earliest settlements and then cities began near harbors and major rivers where commerce flourished. One of America’s first and greatest economic opportunities came in its ability to utilize wide expanses of land to feed its citizens and later export its harvests to the world.
“The highly fertile lands of the Lehigh and Cumberland alleys became a natural thoroughfare for settlers going west that were looking to acquire their own land to clear and establish an agrarian lifestyle. Franklin County is an unbroken extension of the wide fertile land called the “Great Valley.” Early in the 1700s and into the mid-1800s, farms were established to produce the crops that helped expand America. These farms still operate y,” Sandri said.
Saturday will be devoted to touring eight historic barns in Franklin County. A boxed lunch and tour at the Conococheague Institute, Mercersburg, will divide the day of historic barns. Saturday’s schedule begins at 8:30 a.m. starting from the lot across the street from the Four Points Sheraton, 1123 Lincoln Way East, Chambersburg, PA 17201 and concludes at approximately 5 p.m. All participants in Saturday’s tour must ride on the bus. Reservations are required to participate in either or in both days’ events.
The cost of each day’s event is $60 for HBFF of PA members and $85 for non- members. Spouse price is $40 for members and $60 for non-members. If a non-member participates in both Friday’s and Saturday’s event, the member price applies to the second day. For more information, contact Sheila Miller, president, at 610-589-5617 or go to the website: www.pahistoricbarns.org to download a registration form.