My First Barn

I had spent most of my life in rural Indiana, so I was used to seeing and enjoying old barns dotted across the farm landscape, but in the fall of 1976 I discovered something very special, a handcrafted timber frame barn dating from the beginning of the 19th Century.

I was driving on a country road one day and came upon a huge barn that had a large section of the roof boards and shingles missing - exposed were the huge roof support beams. I noticed the property owner was working in the yard so I stopped to say hello. When I told him I was curious about the large beams he offered to open the big barn doors and show me around. It was an awesome barn, built with massive beams and looking around I questioned him about all the cut marks on the beams. He explained that the barn was built at the beginning of the 19th Century when there were no saw mills to cut lumber. He told me trees were cut down with an axe and all the beams were squared by hand with a broadax or adz. He went on to explain how all the mortise and tenon joinery was crafted by hand with mere hand tools and then held together with wood pegs hand shaped with a draw knife - I was awestruck.

The barn had been damaged by a tornado and since they didn’t have livestock anymore they couldn’t justify the costly repairs to restore the barn. They had decided to burn it down. He told me it was a difficult decision because the farm had always been in his family and passed down from generation to generation. I was fascinated with the timber framework and not wanting to see this magnificent barn destroyed, I asked if he would sell it to me. As I wrote him a check for five hundred dollars I wondered how I would ever undertake this great task and get the big barn dismantled, and then only working at it part time in the evenings and on weekends.

22 Years Experience
I never lost my fascination with the old barns and in 1984 I started a contract business specializing in barn dismantling/renovation work for farmers. Many wanted their barns to be made more useful for the modern day farm by eliminating the big high gambrel roof and replacing it with a more modern, maintenance free clear span truss roof. I completed over five hundred jobs from coast-to-coast across the northern states and some were in Canada.

In 1999, I started Early American Barns, Inc now named Heritage Reclaimed Structures, Inc., which is my current work acquiring 19th Century timber frame barns then dismantling, restoring and reconstructing them for timber frame homes, commercial timber frame buildings, or traditional timber frame barns. If you have an interest in a historical timber frame restoration for your next building project and would like to do business with a small company where the owner is attending to every detail of your project daily - then please give me a call and we’ll discuss the many options available to you.

Ken Andre