The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-Step inside the cool interior of an old barn on a warm summer day, and as your eyes adjust to the dark interior, and your senses are assailed by the locked-in aroma of hay, livestock, and old timber, present-day focus can easily transport you to the past.

According to County Extension Agent Paul Carter, there could be fifty, or more, barns, of all ages, styles, and conditions, in Columbia County.

Two of the county's older barns are standing taller, and two more will be, soon, thanks to the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Heritage Barn Grant Program. The goal of the grant program is to provide owners with an avenue to repair and rehabilitate their barns, so they are safe and functional places for today's farm and business operations.

To qualify, barns have to be more than 50 years old and retain a significant degree of historic and architectural integrity. Owners who are interested in placing their barns on the Historic Barn Register are asked to complete a nomination form, by providing some basic information about the property.

When a barn is accepted by the Governor's Advisory Committee, it becomes grant-eligible. Owners must match every dollar in grant funds they receive with their own local funds.

One such qualifying barn is the c. 1910 Gothic style Newell barn on the South Touchet Road property, belonging to Sylvia and Howard Beuhler.

Sylvia Beuhler said before the ink was dry on their real estate contract, they were receiving tips on how to restore the barn to its former glory.

The Newell barn has suffered significant structural problems due to water damage and foundation issues, over time.

Earlier this year, the Beuhlers received an award in the amount of $34,326 from the 2019-2021 Heritage Barn Grant cycle. Additional money for the $90,000 project will come out of their own pocket.

The barn had wings added to both sides of the barn, sometime in the 1940s, and it took Howard Beuhler several months to remove them before actual work could begin.

Rick Nicely, owner of Pillars of Society Woodworks, LLC, with his son, Matthew, are currently working to replace the roof, repair the siding, rehang doors, build a set of new doors, and add a lean-to, to replace the old lean-to, on the back of the barn.

They are using wood from a barn of the same time period to repair the siding.

"It's the same red, it's really close," Sylvia Beuhler said.

Howard Beuhler said he likes the idea of having some type of connection to the past.

"The whole idea is to preserve some semblance of past history and past use, and at the same time try to have some regard for stewardship of the land," he said.

The Newell barn has been used for a variety of livestock and it will be used for agriculture storage when it is finished this year.

The century-old Barger barn located eighteen miles northeast of Dayton on Barger Road is another barn that will benefit from the 2019-2021 grant cycle.

This two-story Dutch gambrel barn will undergo structural stabilization, roof replacement, and exterior work, including new siding, windows and doors with help from a $39,783 award.

The property, just under 1,000 acres, was originally purchased by George and Sarah Harkins in the 1880s. Their daughter, Eva, and her husband, Guy Barger, grew wheat, oats, barley, along with alfalfa for the livestock.

The Barger barn was built in 1920 to house the mules, a milk cow, and other animals. Hay was stored in the loft.

The Bargers' son, Bob, and his wife, Louise, raised their family on the farm.

The farm was sold in 1970 and the new owners tore the farmhouse down. In the late 1990s, the land and barnyard were sold again.

The barn has been sorely neglected for the past fifty years, but in 2016 a new owner bought the barnyard and has plans of restoring the barn and other outbuildings so they can be used once more to house and raise animals.

The c. 1908 Shiloh barn located on Hwy. 12 just west of Dayton has an interesting history as described by the Historic Barn Register:

"The grounds of the Heinen Barn, (currently known as the Shiloh Barn,) were thought to have originally been ritualistic Native American grounds, (claimed jointly by the Walla Walla Cayuse and Umatilla tribes.) In the late 1800s, the farm started out as "Shiloh," a Methodist Camp meeting site. The first religious meeting at the campgrounds was held in the summer of 1871. The Shiloh meetings disbanded in the early 1900s. Philip Heinen, an immigrant from Germany, purchased the property in 1906. Heinen first camped there and kept a cow and chickens. The first structure he built on the property was the barn."

Mary Liebermann Phillips and her brother John Liebermann are the caretakers of this barn, which has been in their family for the past 112 years.

John Liebermann said the last milk cow left the barn in the early '60s, but the barn remained in continuous use for beef cattle and hay until 2003, after which repairing, refurbishing, and cleaning began.

He said the first task was to secure the building. The sides were collapsing outward so cables and turnbuckles were run the length of the barn for structural security. A new concrete foundation was poured and a set of stairs that had started to collapse was replaced. The sliding doors and rails were replaced using rough cut lumber to match the original, after which it was painted its ubiquitous barn red color.

Further work was needed to repair the roof, gables, and siding, at a cost of $19,057. An estimate was prepared by Silver Star Construction, and they were awarded $9,529 for the project.

Liebermann said the award was "very much appreciated."

"We as heirs take the same pride as our ancestors regarding the barn's care. We encourage our children to do the same," he said.

The barn is maintained and used today for tractor storage.

The c. 1910 Dutch-style Paquet Place barn, on the Bar Z Ranch, near Starbuck on Johnson Hollow Road, also benefitted from the same grant cycle.

The Dickinson family received an award in the amount of $39,692, to help cover the cost of foundation and roof replacement, and repairs to the siding, doors, and for additional hardware.

Dallas Dickinson said a major complication took place when a "huge" gust of wind blew the barn over, just after the foundation had been completed.

The barn turned out to be salvageable.

"We thought the project was a loss, but the architects at the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation took a look at the barn from all angles and told us they would follow through on their end of the grant," she said.

The project was completed in June 2018, within the grant's extended timeline, and less than a year behind schedule.

In 2019, Dallas Dickinson and her sister Lois, along with their contractors, Rick Nicely and Beau Sabin from Pillars of Society Woodworks, LLC received an award in Olympia for Outstanding Heritage Barn Restoration.

Dickinson said it had been difficult to watch the barn deteriorate over the years.

"The family felt it was important to preserve it. All farms need a barn," she said.

Ben and Sue Dickinson purchased the property from Clarence Paquet in the 1960s. The family has used the barn for livestock, hay storage, and for 4-H and FFA projects, and they plan to continue using the land for crops, and buildings, as they are currently used.

A total of $470,000 was made available by the state legislature during the 2019-2021 grant cycle to support rehabilitation projects on 21 barns across the state, according to Jennifer Mortensen, Outreach Director, Washington Trust for Historic Preservation. 122 barns in Washington State have benefitted from Heritage Barn Grant Program funding since the Washington State Legislature passed the Historic Barn Preservation Initiative in 2007.

For more information contact Jennifer Mortensen by phone at (206) 462-2999 or online at:

jmortensen@preservewa.org