Blogs

Discover stories, insights, and technical know-how from barn owners, preservationists, and OBP experts dedicated to keeping Ontario’s barns standing tall.

All things Ontario Barns

Enns Barn Painting Collection: Installment 1 of 5

For the coming month Ontario Barn Preservation is pleased to bring to you barn paintings from the collection of David and Sandy Enns – enjoy! Please note that the copyright of the paintings is held by...

The Annual Return of the Barn Swallow

by Donald Hilborn, Director Ontario Barn Preservation. The Barn Swallow, officially known as Hirundo Rustica, arrives in Ontario each spring expecting the barn doors to be open (side note.our 130 year...

In Search of Barn Folk Art (continued)

My name is Claudia Smith. I have been photographing, studying and collecting oral history about the old barns of Lanark County and eastern Ontario for many years. This is a continuation of a preceding...

In Search of Barn Folk Art

by Claudia Smith I have been photographing, studying and collecting oral history about the old barns of Lanark County and eastern Ontario for many years. This first blog is about my investigation of...

Why are barns painted red?

by Thomas Durant Visser, Professor of Historic Preservation, University of Vermont, courtesy of The Conversation. This excerpt from The Conversation was recommended by Dr. John Carter...

Foundations: An Achilles Heel for Barns

by Jim Campbell, Duntroon The lowest floor level of most Ontario barns was used for housing animals whose body heat during the winter typically kept frost from creeping below the barn’s foundation...

Summer Beam: Definition

by Jon Radojkovic The reason I wanted to define “Summer Beam” was that I was reading one of Eric Sloan’s books, called “Diary of an Early American Boy, Noah Blake 1805, published in 1962 by Wilfred...

A Beaver Valley Barn Visit

by Hugh Fraser, Director, Ontario Barn Preservation On Sunday, October 24, 2021, Ontario Barn Preservation (OBP) teamed up with the Grey County group ‘Contemplative Centre for Nature-Based Arts and...

Update #2 on the Ontario Barn Preservation Survey

by Randy Bagg, University of Guelph In my first blog (published July 19th), I outlined the efforts of the Ontario Barn Preservation group to create a survey to document old barns in Ontario. We...

Early Barns of Central & Eastern Ontario

Update on the Ontario Barn Preservation Survey

Hello, my name is Randy Bagg. I am the second University of Guelph student to work on the Ontario Barn Preservation survey of old barns in Ontario. However, I am not the typical U of G...