Backgrounder

October 2009 Ohio’s Hill

Country Heritage Area

A unique characteristic of Ohio is the vast array of landscapes secured within state

lines. From urban to suburban and rural communities, Ohio has a distinctive history

of numerous industries. One that should not be overlooked, particularly in Ohio’s hill

country, is the agricultural industry, which has historically been a main contributor

to many of Ohio counties’ economies.

With any form of agriculture comes the mechanisms and infrastructure needed for it

to succeed. Given the reliance on agriculture and farming throughout Ohio, it is no

surprise that a major lasting quality is the barns that have been built during and

lasted through Ohio’s 206 years as a state.

The myriad of barns located throughout Ohio’s 44,825 square miles have prompted

numerous barn restorations, art projects, and even books documenting the history

and culture of these barns.

Barn Organizations

Barns are notable contributors to the heritage of Ohio. On account of this, there

have been efforts to sustain and conserve the historical barns throughout the state.

Friends of Ohio Barns is a nonprofit organization that has been supporting barn

conservation efforts since 2002. The group also serves as a membership

organization for “barn owners, barn lovers, and the folks who believe in the

stewardship of Ohio’s barns1.”

1 http://ohiobarns.osu.edu/content/contact.php
On a broader level, the National Barn Alliance serves the country to “provide

national leadership for the preservation of America’s historic barns and their rural

heritage2.” Although, according to the group’s page, Ohio has not been active within

the alliance since 2002, the organization has extensive research regarding barns in

the region.

Ohio’s Barn History3

The 1990s revived the mid-1980s grassroots movements to preserve Ohio’s barns,

which were originally neglected due to lack of funding. At this time, the State

Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) led by Ray Luce in Ohio, in conjunction with the

Director of OSU Extension, Kevin Smith, initiated the idea of a barn preservation

network and program for Ohio. The resulting meetings reflected Michigan’s Barn

Rehabilitation Workshops and utilized the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s

BARN AGAIN! Award concept.

In coordination with Friends of Ohio Barns and other local preservation and

historical organizations, OSU Extension and the Ohio Historic Preservation office has

successfully developed a BARN AGAIN! program in Ohio, whose purpose is to

provide how-to information for barn rehabilitation and reutilization, as well as

providing workshops with lectures and barn tours for barn owners and others

interested in barns (i.e. experts, contractors, and engineers).

Ohio’s Bicentennial Barns

The Ohio Bicentennial Commission chose to incorporate the historic and heritage-

filled barns throughout the state in its celebration of Ohio’s 200th anniversary as a

2 http://www.barnalliance.org/about.html
3 The following is from information compiled at http://www.barnalliance.org/
sate in 2003. An Ohio barn artist, Scott Hagan, was hired to paint Ohio’s

bicentennial logo on one barn in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Each painting was

unique to the barn and its style. More than 900 barn owners volunteered their barns

for painting4.

The project, which began in 1997 and ended in2002, “used one hundred

paintbrushes and 645 gallons of paint. As Hagan traveled across Ohio, he drove

approximately sixty-five thousand miles with his truck.5”

The barns made news across the state and country,

Barn Tourism Through Exterior Art

More recently, decorative squares have been painted on the sides of barns, where

advertising slogans were once seen. These squares are particularly prominent in

Gallia County, where “The Gallia County Quilt Barn Trail” has admirers roaming

around the county’s highways and back roads in a scavenger hunt for the next quilt

barn.

A Columbus Dispatch article from October 4, 2009 6cited a story in The Dallas

Morning News that said, “quilt squares adorn more than 2,000 barns in 22 states --

as close as Kentucky and as far away as Iowa.”

The article also said that “Quilt barns feature a wooden square, about 8 feet by 8

feet, painted to resemble a traditional Appalachian fabric quilt square, with the

patterns as varied and colorful as the fabric versions.”

4 http://www.monroecountyohio.net/pressreleases/viewrelease.asp?PRID=30
5 http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1725&nm=Ohio-Bicentennial-Barns
6 http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/travel/stories/2009/10/04/8_BARNS_ART_10-04-
09_F1_KHF6JMI.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
The quilted barn concept is becoming widely popular in the Appalachian region of

Ohio, spanning over 18 counties. The first quilted barn appeared in Ohio in 2001 in

Adams County, just west of Gallipolis, where the craze has recently been revitalized

by Bob Evans Farms. The Dispatch article said, “The company put up the first two

quilt squares in the county on its dairy barn in Rio Grande. The barn is just behind

the first Bob Evans Restaurant and next to the Bob Evans Homestead Museum, a

popular tourist stop.”

As previously alluded, these decorations have spurred a new kind of sightseeing, or

“barn tourism.” Project organizers are planning on producing a trail of the painted

barns, and hope to add at least twenty to the trail within the next year.

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Contact: Emily Shuki

216.970-6190
Emily.Shuki@gmail.com