WEATHERED OLD HOME IN FALL

Yesterday was sunny - - in the sixties as I headed out in my old Toyota Tacoma to experience the rural pleasures of this beautiful fall day. About fifteen minutes from my home I found this lovely weathered home sitting silently on a large piece of farmland. Was it vacant? Or was it occupied? I never found out. 

Above is a wire fence that ran along a long dirt road up to the house. Dried rust colored Queen Anne's Lace traveled along it. A small outbuilding was visible from the dirt road. 

I used Light-room to soften these two photos as I felt it produced my feelings for the day.

HANGING OVER THE CREEK

Otter creek is a lovely body of water that runs through Madison County. It even has some mini-falls that are moving quite swiftly this spring. 

I was driving along one side of the creek a couple of weeks ago -- admiring this vintage farmstead's backside when I noticed a small structure that was halfway hanging over the creek-side. The backside of the old wooden structure had stilted wooden legs built to the upper part allowing the whole structure to remain level.

Now what was this structure/outbuilding used for?  I believe I have the answer? Do you? Come on -- have some fun and try to guess. Here is a close up of the outbuilding. 

WORKING GARDENING SHED

An old Kentucky 19th century homestead still maintains several of its viable working outbuildings. One of its outbuildings is this small old vertical board shed that's original use is unknown. But today it serves quite nicely as a home gardening shed. It still stands strong upon its original location.


Ideally, one should leave original outbuildings upon their original sites. Old decaying outbuildings could  be considered for removal with the owner's permission. Below are a few examples of some that were removed.

I have a friend that has an old outhouse that she bought and had delivered to her backyard garden area. She uses it today as a garden shed. 

Another friend loved the old outbuildings that doted the landscapes in Michigan. She asked her husband to find her one and have it delivered to their property for her birthday. On her birthday she got what she wished for. She drys herbs and flowers and wanted the outbuilding for that purpose only -- sorta her studio to be alone with her interests.

I wish that old farms could maintain their outbuildings so they wouldn't fall to decay. However, many times there are either economical or physical reasons why they cannot be kept viable. 


I feel the next best thing to decline is finding new homes for them where they can be appreciated and folks driving by can have the opportunity to see a little bit of our farm history.

If you do remove a building from an old farmstead take photos of its surroundings for historical purposes. Your local historical society would be interested in copies of the photos (and  perhaps a history) for their archives.