Long the epitome of agrarian life, old wood barns are vanishing from the American landscape.
Most of my lifetime has been spent in painting and writing, with the steadfast purpose of either reviving or retrieving certain worthwhile things of the American past, yet always witout being bitter about present-day devastation. Perhaps my nostalgic dreams did hide an occasional bitterness, but the richness and pleasure derived from rekindling earlier times overcame it…there has been a small voice of despair for the survival of America which I believe deserves to be heard at this time…
As far as our beautiful countryside is concerned, that particular part of the American heritage has gone already wherever we have “developed” it. The urge to become rich at the expense of the land, to commercialize the countryside at the expense of the landscape, is a recognized national trait.
Eric Sloane, in the introduction to his book, “I Remember America,” 1971
What a wonderful artist and preservationist Eric Sloane was, a masterful and careful recorder of the American past and its farm architecture, notably barns, covered bridges, outbuildings, tools and agricultural implements now gone from the scene, as well as myriad other examples of America as it appeared in another age.
The artist, who died in 1985, was an eloquent painter and draughtsman who combined faithful realism with an artistic vision that remains to inspire future generations. In fact, his illustrations of the vanishing American countryside are priceless documents that will be carefully studied in the future, much as the photographic record of the late 19th and early 20th centuries will be pored over by historians and laypersons alike.
I particularly enjoy looking through his book, “I Remember America” because it provides a very nice retrospective of his work, though not from his last years. For people who value depictions of the beauty and grace of the old farm tools and manufactured items, as well as graceful depictions of the houses, barns and other buildings which populated rural farmsteads, this book and others by him are richly rewarding. Those titles include: “A Reverence for Wood,”“American Barns and Covered Bridges,” “An Age of Barns,” Eric Sloane’s Weather Book,” “America Yesterday,” and “The Seasons of America’s Past,” a copy of which Zi gave just ordered for my collection.
Growing up in the large urban metropolis of New Orleans, I could only get glimpses of barns and farmsteads out the window of the car as we drove to South Carolina on vacation trips through rural Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina in the 1960s. At that time, there were still a lot of those old structures still standing, although most wood barn construction ceased in the 1940s. In Iowa alone, some 1,000 old barns disappear each year.
So, It is always with distinct pleasure, derived from good memories, that I look at two black and white photographs of my friends Eddie and Ralph standing in front of a huge, but rapidly decaying, wood barn deep in the countryside of Richland County, South Carolina. It was the winter of 1974, and we were exploring the backroads in the northwest part of the county. The weather-beaten boards and siding had no trace of the white or red paint when the barn was newer and functional. It was located on an abandoned patch of farmland. But what a graceful and beautiful old building! I’m admiring it now, and thinking about that trip in the country so many years ago with my friends, both of whom I’m in contact with again after all those years have passed. And the friendship lives in photos such as that old barn from 1974. I printed black and white image in a darkroom Eddie had set up in his house. Those were memorable times as we learned the art and craft of photography together.
In the photos, both Eddie and Ralph
hold the cans of Coke they always seemed to have open, and it was evidently a mild winter day, as coats were not necessary. I was standing off in the near distance trying to get a picture of the entire barn and then a picture closer-up that showed off that wonderful aged wood.
I feel sure the barn is now a pile of rotting lumber and tin roof, covered by weeds and undergrowth, if the land itself hasn’t been cleared for farming or development and every last trace of that barn removed. After all, it has been 50 years, and the elements take their toll. I don’t even remember the general location now. I wouldn’t know what rural road to follow in hopes of discovering the plot of ground. But I have my memories.
It is just sad and unfortunate that these structures can’t be rneovated and saved, like so many old abandoned farmhouses, but the cost is prohibitive, and the family farm is rapidly disappearing from the land.
Eric Sloane’ legacy was to show us for all time the early craftsmanship and handiwork of rural America, and let us delight in the knowledge that, yes, there was a time when function and convenience were not the major concerns of rural architecture, and life was lived at a much slower and saner pace than today.
For more on Eric Sloane and barns, visit these sites:
The old barn we visited in 1974
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