Saving America's Historic Barns

There's nothing more American than the sight of a big red barn, but these days it's getting harder to spot this iconic image of simpler times.

Before and after: This circa 1860's barn was moved 200 miles and reassembled as a summer vacation home in Northern Michigan.

(Nancy Kotting)

Because of decay, development or both, these once lofty buildings are vanishing fast. As time runs out, preservationists are finding creative ways to save the country's barns.

"I walk in to this, and I always see what could be. I never see what was," says Nancy Kotting as she walks through an abandoned century-old barn in northern Michigan. This barn was once the center of a thriving family farm, but now it's ready to collapse.

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Kotting, who operates a barn restoration and conversion business near Traverse City, Mich., hopes to find a buyer before the building is lost forever. "It has character. In that beam are hand-hewn marks, you know somebody broke a sweat," she says.

There's hope for this barn, because Kotting says the bad economy is actually helping preservationists like her to save these old buildings.

"In dire economic times, people are driven back to efficiencies, and they're forced to become creative with what they have," Kotting says, adding that many Americans feel a special connection to barns. "Each and every one of us has within two to three generations, a barn. Grandfather, uncle, great-grandfather, somebody , in your blood worked in a barn."

America's historic barns have received more attention in recent years. Some states offer grants to encourage reuse and preservation. Vermont recently conducted a barn census, calling on residents to photograph and document the state's historic barns. The most recent national count by the U.S. Department of Agriculture listed 664,264 working barns built before 1960.