GRANGE HALLS AND RURAL COMMUNITY

FERNWOOD GRANGE ENTRANCE

Grange halls have existed in rural areas of our nation since the mid-1800s. Their growth was attributed to community activities associated with farmland living -- serving as a meeting house of sorts for country folks. It was a time of real family farms not corporate farms, 

They played a large role in our historic agricultural community. However the grange buildings have been slowly disappearing as land is being bought up for housing developments, malls, and commercial structures. 

I always look for the old grange buildings that usually sit forlornly on our former rural lands. As family farms have been exiting these areas, now one might find a grange sitting next to many commercial buildings or new subdivisions -- deteriorating ever so slowly.  So many have disappeared from our landscapes. At one time the above Fernwood Grange was among six granges in the Newberg area of Oregon. Today Fernwood Grange is the last remaining of the original six -- the result of city encroachment. 

Grange buildings are dying off as our culture changes.

For more info on granges across the nation click here 

DOWN BLUE LICK ROAD

Down Blue Lick Road one can see the remains of an old agricultural base -- now dotted with ranch homes on acreage. One wonders what this area looked like before the building splurge of the past thirty years. Who owned and worked the land? Who sold the land? I have a tendency to be theoretical as I ride down many roads similar to Blue Lick -- once farms now mostly  ranch type homes. The historical markers on the land appear as outbuildings and barns. Not many. Just a few to remind you that there are old memories that travel with the land.  

The small old barn above is slowly deteriorating. When it falls what will take its place? The fabric of farms is steadily being torn to shreds with only an outhouse there, a barn down the road, and perhaps a storage shed mingled in with the new garage.  -- not even farm houses seem to survive. 

Why are we in such a rush to let our farming past with all its beautiful structures fall into ruins -- almost right before our eyes?