The Heritage Barn Project
The Heritage Barn Project was started in 2004. Gwen embarked on a self-prescribed project to document on canvas in oil paint, historic barns throughout her home state of Indiana. Gwen had several motivations and goals. First, she felt the need and desire to hone her talents. Second, Gwen has a love of old barns stemming from her childhood. She was concerned about the demise of these historic barns and wanted to preserve these structures. She hoped her painting project would spotlight and help save these rural treasures.
The project took more than 12 years of travel and painting to complete 186 historic barn paintings. Why paint? Why not just photograph? Gwen believes our eyes see differently than a camera’s lens. Our eyes can see the delicate nuances of color within shadows and soft hues within reflected light. Our eyes see subtle variations in values.
Therefore, she chose to paint on location as much as possible. She often spent many hours and even days standing quietly observing a barn. Time to see and feel all the subtleties mentioned, but also the character of each barn to, in essence, capture the barn’s portrait.
Below are the 186 barns featured in Gwen’s published gallery book, “Heritage Barns of Indiana.” The paintings are searchable by county and each painting features a bit of history of the structure.
You can find “Heritage Barns of Indiana” online by clicking here or at various galleries and shops in Indiana. For more information about the book or Gwen’s work, please click here to contact Gwen.
All the barn paintings are for sale. Please contact Gwen to find out if the painting(s) you are interested in are sold or available.
Bowen Family Barn
Located in central Orange County near Paoli, Indiana, this barn's home features rolling hills, small streams and historic mineral springs. It is one of the oldest and one of the most unusual barns in the state.
Castle Knoll Farm Barns
Lick Creek zigzags through the hillocks and knolls of Orange County. This cluster of barns is scattered over a hillside very near this famous creek.
Kieffaber-Worland Barn
This huge cantilevered bank barn is referred to as "Sweitzer” barn and was built about 1879. In this region it is known as the Kieffaber barn. It was constructed using salvaged beams from an even older barn, plus lumber harvested on the farm and milled on location.
Sonny Thompson Barn
Positioned very deliberately on the slope of a hill, this bank barn was built in 1896 and was originally a five-bay barn. It is positioned at an angle to the slope making the northwest corner of the barn the area deepest set into the hillside.
Bradfield Corner Barn
Bradfield Corner is a well-known area in Parke County thanks to Reason Bradfield, a successful early farmer. In the 1860s, he built a home, this barn and a number of other out buildings, forming an enclave that became Bradfield Corner.
Thompson-Whited Round Barn
Coal Creek meanders about and then ties into the Wabash River in the northwest corner of Parke County. Near this confluence is the home of a round barn considered to be the firs truly round barn built in Indiana.
M. Mullis Barn
French Ridge spreads east to west above Sulphur Fork Creek in central Perry County. It is a beautiful area of sweeping hill and gentle valleys. This barn enjoys a spectacular view from its perch on a hill on the Mullis farm.
Ubelhor Family Log Barn
When Michael and Philomena Ubelhor build this log barn in the 1880s, they created a now rare style of barn. This log beauty also can lay claim to its fourth generation in the family. It was originally a double-crib barn with an open area between the cribs.
Utzman Barn
Perry County offers miles of beautiful countryside including rolling hills, meandering creeks, curving roadways and even some steep ravines. This small and impressive barn is placed with a ridgeline behind and is surrounded by a grove of trees.
Johnson Log Barn
Originally owned by another family named Johnson, this farm rests in the northwestern corner of Pike County. It is a very old farm, though early records of the farm are lost. Only the old log home and barn serve as remnants of those early days.
Chellberg Homestead Farm Barn
This gable-rooted barn was built prior to 1885 in the style and form popular during the late 1800s. Wooden pegs secure the timber-frame construction.
Clinton D. Gilson Barn
Clinton D. and his wife, Rosa, had come from Ohio and purchased the farm in 1875. They had two sons who worked on the farm with Rosa, Cliton, with a crew of four men, went around the countryside building barns. Clinton earned $2.00 a day and each crew member earned $1.00 a day, working sunup to sundown.
McFadden Farm Stagecoach Barn
This barn is located in the beautiful rolling countryside of southwest Indiana. It was built in 1821, the year the farm was founded by Noah and Sarah McFadden. Many of the original pegged timbers remain, attesting to the durability of timber-frame construction.
Uhde-McFadin Family Farm Barn
Walk inside this large pass-through gambrel-roofed barn and painted on an interior wall you can see big faded black letters that state, "Built July 1920'. In the same family for five generations, Herman and Christine Uhde purchased the land in the early 1900s.
Faulstich Family Farms Barn
The Faulstich family acquired this barn and farm in 1940. It is not a large barn, but features four unusual ventilation shafts with cupolas, one near each corner of the barn's roof. This helped to achieve a more comfortable environment for the milk cows and other livestock.
Hoesel-Strand-Brown Barn
In 1894, this gable barn was built in a fertile farming area near the Tippecanoe River, in the northeast corner of Pulaski County where the river makes a swooping bend. The barn is located on the edge of a large and wonderfully shady grove of trees.
John R. & Grace-Torr Family Barn
In 1828, the Torr family settled in the gently rolling farmland of central Indiana. The farm, earning the title of “Hoosier Heritage Homestead,” is now in its sixth generation.
Marvin Evens Family Barn
This small bank barn is located on a steep rise overlooking Big Walnut Creek in central Indiana. Because of its placement, part of its stone foundation is surprisingly steep. The foundation stones are limestone and have been carefully dressed and placed.
Clevenger Family Barn
This three-bay gable barn was built in 1890. It features a large wagon door, which leads into the center bay and a gable-roofed dormer overhead with decorative elements.
Hill Family Barn
A small creek runs past this farm and barn south of Winchester, Indiana. It is a beautiful setting with the barn placed at the top of a rise.
Click below to search for paintings from
the Heritage Barn Project by county.
Owen
Parke
Perry
Pike
Porter
Posey
Pulaski
Putnam
Randolph
Ripley
Rush
Scott
Shelby
Spencer
St. Joseph
Starke
Steuben
Sullivan
Switzerland
Tippecanoe
Tipton
Union
Vanderburgh
Vermillion
Vigo
Wabash
Warren
Warrick
Washington
Wayne
Wells
White
Whitley