Restoring a part of family history

When Barron “Boots” Hetherington and his wife Robin began to plan the restoration of a decaying barn on their farm, more than once they were advised to toss a match on it and burn it down.

But the barn had special importance. Since 1842, eight generations of their family have lived on that Pennsylvania property, now called B&R Farms, where the barn has stood since the 1870s.

Besides the historical and emotional significance of the barn, the Hetheringtons had other reasons to restore it.

“There are so few farms and farmers around that I think it’s our responsibility to set the best face forward,” Robin says. “We need to set an example.”

“We have some agritourism at our farm and there are lots of drive-in customers,” she says. “We want them to understand that agriculture is a vital portion of their community.”

The large English-style bank barn matches the style of most other barns of that era in their valley with their hand-hewn lumber and “enormous” main structural beams, she says.

But time, neglect, and fire have taken a toll on those historic structures. Neglect doesn’t necessarily mean apathy toward the barns. Farmers may decide that it makes more sense to buy something with a tangible return, such as a new combine or drill, rather than replacing boards or paint on a barn. After decades, many deteriorate beyond repair.

The Hetherington barn was in tough shape before renovation, Robin says.

“Aesthetically, it looked very poor. It had not been painted in 70 years,” she says. “It had housed a double-story chicken pen on one side, and chicken manure is very caustic. One side had basically rotted off and we took it down before it fell down.”

More than 140 years of termites and other critters left incredible damage.

“As we proceeded around the barn in repairing and replacing boards, we pulled some side slats off because they were too bad to save and we saw some main support beams in serious danger of rotting through,” Robin says. “We wondered, ‘What the heck is holding this corner of the barn up?’ In my mind, it was quite fortuitous that we repaired the barn when we did because we saved ourselves future problems when the stuff would start to collapse.”The good news, however, was that the barn’s bottom floor is below ground level on two sides, which is the area where draft horses and other livestock originally were housed.

“That part of it is all hand-laid stone and that was in very, very good shape,” Robin says. “None of the walls down there needed to be shored up or straightened. When it was done, it was done to last.”

“That’s what makes this whole thing worth doing; your basic structure is as sound as a dollar,” she says. “It was pinned with wooden pins. The lap joints were … squared-off corners that lap together and were then pinned in place. And pins were hammered by hand. Those pins were made of different wood and they swell in place, so it’s as solid as could be.”

During the two-year renovation, the Hetheringtons did much of the work themselves, replacing and repairing siding, beams, and the floor with wood varieties that had been on the barn originally, such as hemlock, oak, and white oak. A local construction crew was called in to repair the section that was too high to reach for the do-it-yourselfers.

Robin’s final touch was having four hex signs painted on the barn, in keeping with a Middle European tradition in that area of Pennsylvania. It’s a working barn and a vital part of their 440-acre operation that grows corn, alfalfa, soybeans and produce such as tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, and strawberries. They sell to local wholesalers and directly to consumers from a farm stand. Part of the barn is used as a packing shed.The Hetheringtons’ renovation earned them a BARN AGAIN! award, but more importantly, it restored a part of their family history.

“Everybody was thrilled,” Robin says. “It was nice to see it coming back to life.”