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Saving Older or Historic Barns10 Steps You Can Take to Protect Rural Heritage

How important is the barn? Is it unusual? Is it an important representative of a type of barn? Perhaps an architectural or visual landmark? Check out our toolkit on researching your property’s history for more tips on how to uncover the barn’s story.

1. Learn about the structure’s significance.

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Typical obstacles include safety concerns, financial issues, encroaching development, farm consolidation, and change of ownership. If the owner is unavailable, collect what information you can from neighbors, colleagues, and other likely sources.

2. Understand the specific threats to the barn.

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What is the current (or potential) support for the preservation of this structure? Identify the stakeholders, and see how can they help and what are they willing to do. Talking to the owner, assisting with repairs, finding a new owner, and providing expert consultations or financial assistance are some of the ways that community members can help save a barn.

3. Gauge community support.

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Public educational programs are a great way to connect with other folks interested in barn preservation. Programs can include local lecture series, hands-on workshops at barns that need repair, and barn tours.

4. Find your fellow “barn people.”

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The National Barn Alliance is a nationwide, nonprofit organization coordinating efforts to save America’s historic barns. They offer a wide array of barn preservation resources on their website, plus newsletters, conferences, barn tours, and meetings. It's a direct way to connect with barn enthusiasts around the country.

5. Connect with the National Barn Alliance.

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These programs can cover everything from entire states down to specific barn types, but most will offer education and technical assistance, recognition programs, and, in some cases, financial assistance. Many also help conduct survey programs and advocate for barn preservation. Your state historic preservation office should be able to point you in the direction of a program working in your area.

6. Look into state and local barn preservation programs.

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Barns are often demolished if they are vacant or under-used and if repair seems too expensive. Work with the owner to get an independent assessment of the barn's condition and to explore repair or reuse alternatives. Alternative uses can include a switch in agricultural enterprise (dairy barn to seed storage, for example), commercial uses (markets and supply centers), and public uses (clubhouses, theaters, even conference centers).

7. Analyze the structure’s viability.

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Research if any local regulations such as zoning or preservation regulations affect the current property or a future adaptive reuse. Also investigate what financial or technical incentives are available that could help save the barn. (A statewide or local program can help you here.)

8. Use appropriate preservation tools.

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Historic resource surveys help you document significant building types, record an area’s agricultural history, pinpoint threats, and articulate what has been lost. You can then use this information to push for historic designation and listing in local, state, or national registers. Such listings can, in turn, unlock regulatory and promotional perks as well as trigger financial incentives, such as tax credits or grant eligibility.

9. Conduct barn surveys and seek out historic designation.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Dorothea Lange

Publicly identifying a barn as threatened, such as including it on an endangered list, can help draw attention to the issue. You can also attract coverage by inviting reporters to barn rehabilitation events for firsthand visuals and interviews. Another method is to pitch feature articles about an area’s unique barns to the local newspaper.

10. Get eyeballs on your project.

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Ten on Tuesday features ten preservation tips each week. For more tips, visit blog.PreservationNation.org.