The Iowa Barn Foundation was founded in 1997 in order to give matching grants to property owners to restore their historic barns. This is the only group of its kind in the USA. Each year a tour is conducted to encourage barn preservation in the state and to teach young people about Iowa's agricultural heritage. (Though we didn't see any young people on the tour yesterday, just us old folks).
The first barn we toured was the most impressive, though the barn was nicely restored; it was the grounds around the barn that were so outstanding. There was also a restored granary which the owner used as a guest house for visiting grandchildren to hang-out away from the adults. The barn is called the Gribble Barn and is a Czech barn which has always been in the family. It is used each year for barn dances.
The Gribble Barn
The Granary
Inside the Granary.
The house
A few of the yard decorations
Due to the heavy rain each time we stopped I do not have pictures of all the barns we toured yesterday which were eight of them spread around NE Iowa near Decorah, Hesper, Ft. Atkinson, Waukon, and Waterville. It was a fun and unusual way to spend a day, but if you have an interest in farming, history or old structures I would definitely recommend the trip. The state is divided up in to eight sections with numerous barns in each section, though some sections of the state have more preserved barns than others.
Restored milking shed
A neat old house and milking shed on another property
So these are pictures of only three of the properties we visited, but hopefully give you an idea of what you will see if you want to attend the tour next year. I would recommend it.
To further enhance our fun day, we stopped for breakfast at Ruby's in Decorah. Great food!!! Two of us had Eggs Benedict which was great, one of us had corn beef hash and the last had liver and onions. Guess who that was? :)
Since the last barn we visited was on the Minnesota border we decided to drive north to Lanesboro and have dinner there at a nice quaint restaurant that sits alongside the Root River and the bike path that runs alongside the river. It is called the Riverside on the Root. I would highly recommend it.
I had Grilled Walleye with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with White Bean soup beforehand. The guys had Prime Rib and Jane had Chipotle Glazed pork. They all had salads. She said the pork glaze had a heat that built up as she ate it, though she did enjoy it. The meal was a very enjoyable end to a great day despite the constant rain.
So if you like old barns we all recommend you consider picking the area in Iowa you would like to tour and enjoy a fall day next year.
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