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In the mid-1860s, settlers came upon a hill just south of Winterset. They stood gazing in wonder over the tree-lined valley that lay at the bottom of the slope. Something about this bit of land resonated with them and they began to build their home. When winter cane, the settlers took their axes and carefully selected trees – white oak, walnut, and maple – which could stand the test of time and keep their cattle safe.
During the long, cold months, the family squared off the lumber preparing it for spring building. They likely hired an expert to cut mortise joints into their heavy beams.
Imagining their completed outbuilding, the landowners collected large rocks and stones from their farm, gathered them together, and established a foundation.
One can only imagine the breathtaking view those antiquated builders had when that white barn first took shape atop the hill.
Amanda finds her dream property
When Amanda Magruder started searching for a farm property near Winterset, she had a few dreams of her own. She wanted a nice place to raise her sheep, miniature donkeys, and horses. She wanted property she could fully enjoy when she wasn’t busy with her full-time banking job in West Des Moines.
And most of all, “I wanted an old barn to restore and an old house to redo – (here) I found both, “ shared Amanda sweeping her eyes across the farm.
The idea of restoring an aging barn began taking shape in her early twenties. When Amanda moved to northern Germany to ride horses, she was impressed with the preservation of that country’s barns.
“That really is what made me want to do it. Neat, neat barns there – they’re hundreds and hundreds of years old, and people just keep them up. You don’t see barns falling down – (after all) half of them are connected to the house,” recalls Amanda.
“I actually lived in a home attached to a barn that had the old thatched roof. Once when they redid the roof, I got to watch the whole process.”
While Amanda never intended to renovate a barn for the sole purpose of living in it, the idea of fixing one up stuck with her – that’s whey her Winterset find was so perfect.
Amazingly enough, Amanda became but the fourth person to own this hilltop property. Over the past six years, Amanda has collected stories about her farm and barn from previous landowners.
From one she learned, “They had cattle shows, and they would have a band in the sub-loft and square dance in the loft. Ever since I heard that, that’s been kind of my (plan),” she admitted with a smile.
But before Amanda could hold dances in her timber frame barn, it needed some serious attention. A leaky roof caused serious severe damage to the barn’s interior and nearly rotted out the floor. It was a big job, and Amanda wanted it done right.
To get started, Amada pursued a television commercial she saw for Barn Builders, Inc – a company located in Pella, IA.- Barn Builders, Inc.
“I saw Bruce on TV, and ran all around trying to find a pen and paper to write down the number. I missed it, so I looked him up on the internet. When I e-mailed him, he actually (replied). I was impressed by that,” Amanda said, looking to the business owner who had stopped to go over some of the final details.
“Is that where you came from?” queried Barn Builder, Inc.’s CEO Bruce Willemsen. For a man whose profession is looking at Midwest barns and assessing their restorability, Marauder’s barn was a great find.
“This barn was one that you remember – so many barns, the newer ones especially, they lack character, are poorly built, and they’re not much fun to work on,” he stated.
“People usually call me about five years too late – those are tough ones to look at because they’re so far gone. But these big, old barns with the heavy beams, there’s a lot of things worth saving in there,” Bruce said, nodding towards Amanda’s nearly completed structure.
“It had about 10 more years until it would have fallen in on itself,” explained the expert. “It was right on the verge of it, needed it, or it was over.”
Amanda also enlisted the help of Madison County local Scott Henderson, who played a huge part in removing a turn-of-the-century addition, and in helping secure materials (such as barn board) when Amanda’s barn was lacking them.
“Scott wanted to work with Bruce for a long time, so it worked out great, “Amanda noted.
Together the crews jacked up the barn’s north side, restored the foundation, removed later-edition windows and lean-tos, added user-friendly doors (nearly the only new wood that they used), cleaned out the loft, removed rotten wood, cut and laid a replicated maple haymow floor, built stairs to the sub-loft and to the ground off the backside of the barn, and tightened up the walls to prevent them from “spreading” any further.
“We pulled it in as far as it would let us,” noted Bruce. “It’d been sagging for so many years that things start to break before they’ll come back – so we brought it right to the point, brought it in as much as we could and then fastened it down. WE did the same thing with the upstairs – you can see the sway in the roof.
“At some point somebody cut out all the main support beams up there that held it together (adding a hay pulley to modernize it). We cabled everything and pulled it back as much as we could; that’ll keep it from spreading anymore. With a little paint now and then and a little maintenance now and the, it’ll be good for another 60, 80, 100 years.”
Keeping it real
The project began in mid-June and is already wrapping up. Part of that is due to Amanda’s purpose for her barn.
Rather than putting it on the national registry of historic places, Amanda wanted a barn she could use everyday. Yet she also wanted as much of the barn to be original as possible, and Bruce Willemsen’s crew provided the expert advice and assistance on how to do just that.
“We tried to put it back to as close to original as we would,” recounted Bruce. “The barn boards that are on there are all original to it. A lot of it’s put on with square-headed hand-cut nails.”
Amanda continued, “The lightening rods are original – with the balls – there are two.”
The cupola was a gift from a friend of Amanda’s who simply had it sitting in his backyard.
A glance back in time
“This thing has been used every day of its life, I’m guessing up until the late 80s,” Bruce noted of the barn. I’m sure it was quite an event to see this thing rise up here on the hill.”
Moving inside, Bruce pushed aside the large green doors. As light flooded the barn’s interior more that a century of craftsmanship came into view.
“You can see in the beams, it’s all hand hewn – done with an axe; all hand cut, you can still see all the old markings from when they laid it out – they scratched it all in, “ explained Bruce, a bit awed b the history of it all.
“You can still see the bark on the one up there, “added Amanda, pointing to the rafters.
And while all eyes were upturned, one couldn’t help but notice the braces which are usually built at an angle, were in this case turned horizontally – another unique characteristics of Amanda’s barn.
“They made the sub-loft out so scraps,” Bruce noted of the original builders.
“There’s a couple of crooked floor joists and a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Well there’s one huge beam up there – it’s huge. WE weren’t exactly sure how to get it down without crashing the floor and breaking the floor joists (without doing an entire cable and pulley system). So, we rebuilt the loft, and rolled it up there, put the floor down and rolled it up on that and built a bench.”
Amanda liked this idea so well, she asked the crew to save a number of the original floor pieces that she’ll use to build additional benches for use during parties. The guys also saved a neat old ladder that was no longer suitable for climbing, but made a fantastic railing for the sub-loft.
Beneath the barn, Mr. Willemsen pointed out that all of the supports are made out of 8 x 12s with impressive mortise and tenon joinery, often held together with stout square pegs.
“The long angle actually transfers the weight,” explained Bruce of one floor joist beneath the barn. “That’s not real common – you see it, but not a lot. That says this (barn) is old, old. The beam work on this thins is just unbelievable – so well done, “marveled Bruce.
Among the unusual finds during restoration – a 19-cent Matchbox car, an old buggy wrench, a giant wooden circle (currently a conversation piece that might be a well cover, might be a saw blade transport piece, or perhaps an animal powered sawmill base – Amanda says it’s going to be a table top), and a wooden track and pulley system (a very old system, which Bruce says helps to date the barn) complete with the eye hooks that made the system work – still in their original locations.
Looking around, Amanda couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. With a barn full of history now fortified for the future, she is thrilled with the result of Barn Builder’s detailed work.
“I had a dream,” said Amanda, “and fortunately they like making dreams like that come true.”
For more information on restoring your own barn or on building a new one in a historic manner (and interesting before and after photos of other Midwestern barns) visit http://www.barn-builders.com or call toll free 866-572-9910.