Painting the Barn in Woodstock Vermont, and Chester, and Chelsea…

Barns are part of Vermont’s personality (think rugged, individualistic, utilitarian). But like many aspects of Vermont life, barns are threatened. Snow and maple sugaring are threatened by climate change. The country store, once the center of every town’s social life, is threatened by the Internet and Starbucks. Barns are threatened by gravity.

According to Save Vermont Barns, “Every four days, a barn collapses in Vermont.” But an organization called Artists for Barns is making a stand for historic Vermont barns. Their current focus is the historic Robinson Farmhouse barn (pictured above). A  Woodstock landmark, the Robinson barn has been inactive since the 1970’s and is badly in need of a new paint job. The exposed wood of its wall are susceptible to moisture, rotting, and you guessed it, gravity.

Saving Vermont barns depends primarily on the actions of individuals. In this case 16 individual artists from around New England. They have pooled their talents to paint the barn – figuratively, if not exactly literally. Their artworks (images of the barn) were sold at a live auction at the Woodstock Inn October 2, their paintings are on display at Woodstock’s Gallery On the Green until the 10th. The profits from the sale will buy the barn a badly needed new coat of paint.

There are many homes with barns in Vermont, I even have a homes with barns search on my website. Of the 190+ homes with barns generated by this search, these two strike me as Vermont heritage quality:

This barn is on Lovers’ Lane in Chester. The name alone is hard to resist, but the property is also exceptional: The Smokeshire Valley Preserve is a recreation and sporting retreat on 1,919 acres.

The cape style guest house on this property was built in 1819. The property also features a log cabin, hay fields, apple & berry orchards, a trout pond, a waterfall, streams, diverse wildlife, woods roads, and trails.

This barn (pictured left) on Hook Road in Chelsea is a bank barn, which means it is accessible at ground level, on two separate levels. This property is a classic Vermont farmstead. Photos associated with this listing include images of moose and turkeys on the propeerty, and great views of the interior of the barn.

The cape style home on this property was built in 1790.  And “The property retains the patchwork of fields & forest of the working rural landscape.”

Get out your easels!