VERMONT BARN CENSUS: CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS
How many barns are there in Vermont?  What kind of condition are they in?   Are we losing significant numbers each year? What can be done to preserve these icons of our history and landscape?  The goal of the Vermont Barn Census is to carry out, for the first time, a statewide census of Vermont's barns that will lay the foundation for further efforts to preserve them.

For Immediate Release

Volunteers Sought To Help Inventory Vermont’s Barns

Public Invited To Attend Workshop To Learn How To Help Preserve Barns

GRAFTON, Vt. – Do you love the sight of a weathered barn against the green hills of Vermont? Would you like to help preserve these iconic symbols of Vermont’s agricultural heritage?

If the answers to these questions are yes, officials with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation and Historic Windsor Inc. hope you will come to a series of workshops Saturday, June 27 at The Old Tavern at Grafton and volunteer to help take an inventory of Vermont’s barns.

“We’re really trying to answer basic questions about Vermont’s barns,” said Nancy Boone, acting State Historic Preservation Officer. “How many barns are there and what kind of condition are they in?  Are we losing significant numbers each year?   And what can be done to preserve these symbols of our history and landscape?”

The goal of the Vermont Barn Census, which began last year, is to carry out, for the first time, a statewide census of Vermont’s barns that will lay the foundation for further efforts to preserve them. 

The project is recruiting volunteers in all of Vermont’s 251 towns to identify barns and other agricultural outbuildings in their communities.  Adults of all ages and students from elementary to high school are welcome to participate.

“Taking part in the Vermont Barn Census couldn’t be easier. The Census is designed to be carried out by individuals or by groups,” said Judy Hayward, Executive Director of Historic Windsor, Inc. “Volunteers are welcome to survey one barn or many. No prior experience in agriculture, construction, engineering, or history is required!”

A website set up by organizers (www.uvm.edu/~barn/) is designed to give participants the background information and tools needed.

Volunteers explore their communities to locate barns and take photos and some notes about barn features, history, use and current condition, and then submit the data over the Web.

So far, volunteers for the Vermont Barn Census have recorded information on barns from southern Vermont to the Northeast Kingdom, Hayward said, and organizers have heard from individuals all over the state and had some great conversations on the past and future of Vermont's agricultural heritage.

The workshop program schedule is as follows:

10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Understanding the Structure of Historic Barns: Jan Lewandoski, internationally renowned timber framer, Traditional Building, Greensboro Bend, Vermont

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. & 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.   The History and Architecture of Barns and other Agricultural Outbuildings: Prof. Thomas Visser, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation Program at UVM, and author of  Field Guide to New England Farm and Farm Buildings

2:30 to 3:00 p.m.    
How You Can Inventory Barns for the Vermont Barn Census: Nancy Boone, Acting State Historic Preservation Officer, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

3:00 p.m. - Optional barn tour      

There is no charge to attend, but organizers are asking those who plan to attend the workshops to please contact them via email at histwininc@valley.net or by telephone at (802) 674-6752 to register no later than June 22, so that they may order lunch and refreshments that will be provided at no charge to volunteers for the project.

The Barn Census is a project of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, UVM Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, and Historic Windsor’s Preservation Education Institute, Save Vermont Barns, Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and Preservation Trust of Vermont.

To learn more about the project, visit the website that is maintained at the University of Vermont, www.uvm.edu/~barn/, or to learn more about the project sponsors visit one of the following websites:

www.historicvermont.org or www.preservationworks.org

This project is funded by a Preserve America Grant through the National Park Service to the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

Contacts:

Heather Cox, Historic Windsor/Preservation Education Institute
(802) 674-6752 or histwininc@valley.net

Nancy Boone, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
(802) 828-3045 or nancy.boone@state.vt.us