November has its moments, and a good number were on display on Friday. A half hour with nothing to do but cast off and drift for a bit. Climb around on the ridge above Ellsworth Lake. Watch the breeze riffle the needles of a young white pine. Make a circuit around an old barn that creaks and groans in the warm sun.
F.H. Skow owned that land around the turn of the last century. There hasn’t been a farm there for a long time, though. The old barn perches on the edge of Elmer’s Essex Road sand and gravel pit now. One day it will come down, but not just yet. I gave it a wide berth, just in case. Gravel trucks moved in and out, the red Coast Guard helicopter cruised overhead. It was time to go.
Torch Lake Views 
Martha
November 19, 2011
Love your old barn slide show. Old barns are cliche, but they are important to the area, the history and character. I know Wisconsin would not be the same without them and the barns that are fortunate enough to be restored are well and truly loved.
Gerry
November 19, 2011
Somewhere around here there’s a picture of my Gram and Grampa’s barn in Wisconsin. I loved that place. Barns aren’t cliches. Barns are iconic. Emblematic. Symbolic. Fragrant.
Fee
November 20, 2011
It must have been well built to still be standing after umpty years of neglect – it’s a shame when such things fall into disrepair. Lovely slideshow.
Gerry
November 20, 2011
People got really good at barn-building around here. There are still a surprising number of barn artisans around, which is why there are more standing barns than you’d expect in a place with comparatively few horses and cows.
Still, once there’s no farming, there’s not much a person can do with a barn, and, well-built as they are, they’re the devil to get down. That’s why a barn without purpose is often allowed to simply fall down in its own good time. This one is nearing that time – rain and snow have eroded the foundation on the downslope side.
I’m glad you liked the slideshow. It’s my tribute to the good old barn, and all the others like it, gradually sinking back to earth. I can relate.
Dawn
November 20, 2011
Love barns…my favorite of these shots is the closup one with the window boarded over, one board slipping so the view is seen through the opening..
Gerry
November 20, 2011
Thank you, Dawn. I was quite taken with that view myself, with its little surprise. Doesn’t look quite real, does it!
shoreacres
November 20, 2011
The only things that can match such a barn are the corn cribs, and an occasional tool shed.
I was amazed on my recent trip to see what appeared to be “three story” barns in Wisconsin and Illinois. They were behemoth barns – and just beautiful.
In Iowa and Illinois I actually saw two “quilt barns” – one per state. Do you have them? With a quilt pattern painted on the ends? They’re really marvelous, though they’re not generally the sort of barn that’s falling down. Those have a different sort of beauty – like yours, here.
Gerry
November 20, 2011
Well, there are silos and maple sugar shacks and chicken houses, too. And ice houses and root cellars and privies. And attics. (I had an exceptionally fortunate childhood.)
You would like the Barns of Antrim County post–here.
There are quilt barns out on the Old Mission Peninsula. I found the brochure here. Not to be outdone, folks over on the Leelanau Peninsula made a barn quilt and raffled it off for charity. It was taking too long for my sloooow internet to find that link so I gave up, but I believe I have done my bit to attract quantities of Tourist People. When it comes to barns, I don’t see how you can go wrong.
Joss
November 22, 2011
So many planks! I suppose nowadays barns over your way are all made of corrugated iron, same as here. I was interested to see that one of the barns in Antrim County post was made of stone – the one for Shetland sheep. We still have lots of those left too. Although, more often there are people living in them not sheep.
Gerry
November 22, 2011
I don’t suppose anyone is building new barns of wood now, although I don’t know that for sure. A fair number of farmers Around Here are putting a lot of effort and hard-earned cash into maintaining their vintage barns. I’m not the only one who loves them.
There are certainly a lot of pole barns–the corrugated metal ones. They do the job, though without adding any charm to the landscape.