Some years ago, while driving country roads on a typically sultry Ontario summer day, the friend with whom I was traveling pointed to a barn, which stood, like so many, set back from the road on a stretch of high ground.

“Did you know that the rounded shape of the roof was taken from the drawings of ships’ hulls, and then reversed?”

I have not been able prove this claim, but it is one that you want to believe to substantiate the ingenuity and resourcefulness that existed among the early immigrants. It was with their arrival that the landscape became embellished with these majestic buildings, and it is they who
have left us such a distinctive witness to earlier times.

Evidence of the earliest barns in North America dates to the eighteenth century, when the first European settlers began to arrive, bringing with them mastered skills in design and joinery as well as a long tradition of agricultural knowledge.

Thought to have originated some 300 years earlier from the Swedish log cabin, the Dutch adapted the idea of a wooden building that would accommodate all of their farming needs by constructing a much larger version, and during the early years of homesteading, this spacious
structure was the immigrant’s very means to survival, when life centered around the assurance of food, of equipment storage, shelter for livestock and even accommodation for themselves.

Barns were strategically positioned to be visible from the road, and close to any railway lines or waterways, and using the ample supplies of available wood, they were built from heavy hand hewn beams, often as long as
twenty meters, which were pegged and arranged into “H” shaped units. Horizontal siding boards could be as long as thirty meters and their broad, gabled roofs extended close to the ground.

It has been said that the interior space of the barn is reminiscent of a windowless cathedral, with a central aisle defined by posts and areas along each side assigned to cattle stalls, hay storage, and threshing. The wide pair of doors at one end of the building allowed for the passage of
wagons and sleighs, ploughs and winnowing machines. They became their own ecosystem with the warmth from animals maintaining a consistent temperature, thereby preventing the freezing of the ground during the winter months, which in turn, preserved the wooden structure and any stored goods.

It is no wonder that Barn Raisings were an essential part of early agricultural life, when entire families and communities were called upon to build these massive structures together. It was also natural that the combined ideas
from each immigrant culture resulted in merged styles and even better barns. As farmers began to prosper, they built bases of brick or riverstone, and adorned rooflines with cupolas and weathervanes. Inside, they milked their cows and produced butter and cheese. They delivered and sold
their stockpiles of hay for the liveries of nearby towns.

Eventually, homesteaders were able to move out of their barns. They added lofts for additional storage, and built their own separate houses, and as they expanded, they created a network of buildings joined by paths, in some cases with a central courtyard. The hard physical work of farming became a well organized system of selfsufficiency.

Today, the barn has become a shrinking testament to the past. We have witnessed the loss of many by fire, weather or neglect, and we can see others disappear under the sprawl of urban development. Concurrently, modern farming methods have called for more efficient industrial buildings.

But plenty still stand proud, both locally and throughout the country. The Mennonite community of St Jacobs has maintained traditional farming methods, and many immaculate, working barns remain. Locally, the two hundred year old Dalziel Barn at Black Creek Pioneer Village (www.blackcreek.ca) is a fine example of an early building. Other local barns have been adapted to become living spaces or are used for commercial, equestrian or cultural purposes.

The Racing Barn at Jokers Hill Koffler Scientific Reserve, University of Toronto, houses classrooms and laboratories which are active in the research of Biodiversity and Climate Change. It is a poignant gesture to the barn that some of this enquiry should take place in a building so integrated into our landscape and our history, that facilitated the agrarian life that defined us, and gave the hope for a different future to so many.

The South Barn was originally built in Tennessee, but bought, dismantled and rebuilt at Jokers Hill in the 1950's by Churchill and Billie Mann, the original owners. According to Moffat Dunlap, the contractors started the reconstruction about 15 meters to the east, right along the laneway. But Billie decided she wanted it set back further from the traffic, and so it was deconstructed yet again before going up in its current position. It served as a boarding stable until around the year 2000. Today it serves as a storage area for KSR's field equipment.

The Racing Barn at Koffler Scientific Reserve at Jokers Hill is finding new life as a centre for research and training in conservation.
With funds from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund, the University of Toronto has repurposed a
300 sq-meter section of this 60 year-old structure to house its Laboratory for Biodiversity and Global Change Biology. According to Prof. Arthur Weis, the Reserve's director, the new laboratory, opening
April 2010, will accommodate 16 scientists with an up-to-date laboratory for DNA analysis (an essential tool in biodiversity
research), and a new class room. Despite its new high tech use, the old barn retains architectural elements of its equestrian past, including stable doors and paneling.

Heritage Bus Tour of King Barns
Saturday, June 26, 9:00 a.m. to noon

Tour different styles of barns throughout King Township. Watch for details in the ASK Festival King 2010 brochure (available in late May at libraries, and local businesses).