Vermont looking for help to inventory state's barns
Vermont Public Radio reports that the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation seeks volunteers to conduct an inventory of the state's barns. According to State Architectural Historian Nancy Boone, the goal of the project "is to determine the number and condition of Vermont's barns." Project volunteers will "canvass areas, take photographs, note barn features and their conditions." The state plans to train people about what they need to know at a series of workshops. "The first census will be conducted on August 2nd and 3rd. A second census will be held later this year."
VCF Staff
High-tech methods to preserve old-tech barns
The Times Argus reports that Vermont's historic barns, which are crucial to tourism, are disappearing. Indeed, "every year, some are lost to fire, others cave in, and a few are dismantled and sold to out-of-state buyers." Meanwhile, no one knows how many [historic barns] there are, though estimates range from 10,000 to 20,000."
In response, the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation has launched an historic barn census. Nancy Boone, the state architectural historian and deputy state historic preservation office, "thinks the census will provide that information, raise awareness about the importance of the barns and help spark some creative thinking about what can be done to help preserve them." For the census, "volunteers from all the state's 251 towns are being asked to contact the owners of barns they are interested in, inspect the barns, determine the style and the era it corresponds to, gather information about the barns' physical features and history, and take photographs. When they have finished, they will send the information and pictures via computer to the Barn Census Database at the University of Vermont."
VCF Staff
VDHP Expects to Document at Least 5,000 Farms During Census
The Burlington Free Press reports that the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation (VDHP) expects to document more than 5,000 barns during the barn census. The census, which is funded by a $150,000 Preserve America grant, asks volunteers to document the condition of Vermont’s barns on a scale of good to ruin. "A ruined barn would have catastrophic damage, like a collapsed roof. Notably, Vermont provides matching grants of $10,000 to barn owners, to help them fix up their barns. A grant of $20,000 might repair a roof, or stave off destruction until someone buys the property and pays for a complete fix. A full-blown restoration could cost $150,000.