Education in Eramosa: Part 2 – Exploring the OAC Dairy Barns

By Emma Rutledge

In this month’s blog post, we have an article written by Emma Rutledge, who is a history student at University of Guelph. Experiential learning is a great way for students to get out of the classroom and develop real-world skills informed by their studies. OBP was thrilled to partner with the University of Guelph to take a look at some familiar barns on the campus. Follow along on Emma’s experience to learn more about these historic barns!

If you read my previous blog post (Education in Eramosa: Part 1 – Exploring Farmer Tim’s Historic Barns), then you will know I am one of two students in Kim Martin’s Experiential Learning Course that is working with Ontario Barn Preservation. My last post discussed our adventure to Farmer Tim’s two nineteenth century barns, but today I am going to be talking about three new (old) barns that we have explored since then. 

If you are a University of Guelph student, odds are that you have seen these three structures. Maybe you are an agricultural student and frequently travelled here for class, or maybe you were walking down the cow path admiring the horses one day and happened to have noticed three barns in the background. These are the OAC Dairy Barns, and my classmate and I were lucky enough to get the opportunity to survey them.   

Upon entering the barns for the first time, I have to admit we were impressed but a little confused. As history students we wondered, where are the wooden beams? Rusty nails? The cobwebs? Although, once we were led upstairs we soon realized that above this spotless and modern barn sits a piece of history, frozen in time.

These barns, although described as separate, are actually three buildings joined in a “U” shape. Prior to exploring the barns, we were informed that two of the structures are additions, the original building having been constructed in 1912. For the sake of this post, I am going to refer to them as Barns #1, #2, and #3.

Barn #1, being closest to Gordon Street, was the first one we entered. It was shocking to see how grand the space is (Image 2). Some interesting details include a granary, cupolas, and a giant hay door. In terms of determining the age of all three barns, the beams are the most obvious indicator. In this barn specifically, the beams are quite thin and all of the wood appears to be in excellent shape. Our suspicions that this is a newer barn were confirmed when we entered the second structure.

Image 2: Interior of OAC Barn #1, taken at Guelph University.

Barn #2 is my favorite, and the one that we believe to be the oldest of the three (Image 3). It is the building running perpendicular that connects the other two barns. The ceilings are lower and wooden beams thicker and much less uniform in their shape and condition. This barn had a lot of interesting components, including an old conveyor belt for hay that runs down the center of the room. In addition, we found a scarf joint and mortise and tenon joints with very long pins. The roof was also significantly different in this building, obtaining more of a Gable shape, as opposed to that of a Gambrel seen in the other two.    

Image 3: Interior of OAC Barn #2, taken at Guelph University.

Three adorable barn cats led us (or more like they ran away from us) into the final structure, Barn #3 (Image 4). This barn appeared to be the newest and runs parallel to Barn #1. Although it is very similar to the first barn, the wooden beams had metal components, which indicates that this is a more modern structure in comparison to the other two. It includes an interesting collection of small storage rooms or stalls that create a partial divide in the room.

Image 4: Interior of OAC Barn #3, taken at Guelph University.

It was incredible getting the chance to explore these barns on our own and investigate them. It has really inspired me to research more about how they have evolved over the last one hundred years. When you are in the space you can tell that these barns have such rich history that I believe should definitely be preserved and shared. I think people would really take an interest in them if they knew what was hidden away in these lofts. 

Also, can we talk about how amazing these hay lofts would be as student housing?! If the University is reading this, I think the Aggies need a new residence… I’m thinking rustic chic?

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To all OBP blog readers: If you have not already done so, please support Ontario Barn Preservation, a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization – by becoming a member! 

If you are interested in the business of repairing, reconstructing, engineering, designing, old barns please consider advertising your amazing skills on our Barn Special-List. 

If you own an old barn that you would like to offer to someone else, or you are hoping to obtain one for your own project, make use of our Barn Exchange page. 

If you own an old barn and would like to save it in the virtual world for future barn lovers, historians and researchers, check out our Your Old Barn Study page.    

And please send us your own barn story, photos and/or art for submission as an OBP blog post, for education and enjoyment, at: info@ontariobarnpreservation.com