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.
Loyd-Field-Kress Stone Barn
This three-level stone bank barn is one of Indiana’s most significant barn treasures. A carved stone placed high within the gable end reads “… built for Z. Loyd 1835”. However written historical documents state 1827 as the construction date.
John and Holli Greathouse Barn
This bank barn was built between 1850 and 1860. It features a brick foundation above ground and a beautiful stone foundation for the in-ground areas.
Sigman Family Tobacco Barn
This tobacco barn was built around 1900. Often barns are built for animals then altered for different endeavors. However, this barn was built specifically for the drying of tobacco.
Parsley-Wilson Barn
The farmstead was established before 1856 and is located in a beautiful section of western Johnson County. The attractive and historic home was built the same year. This barn was built in 1930, to replace the original 1856 barn, which was destroyed by fire.
Scott and Rhonda Auton Barn
Although the construction date is unknown, it no doubt was a very efficient dairy barn in its day, with a large milk house added to one side of the barn. Milk was moved into this area for cooling and holding until the milk truck arrived for the daily pick up.
Keith Pfoff Barn
Located on a hill on the outskirts of Vincennes, this old dairy barn provided an abundant amount of dairy products for this area of Knox County.
Spanger Family Barn
The eastern boundary of Knox County is formed by the White River. The Spanger farm is located near this area. The farm has been in the family for over 100 years.
Jerred Reiff Round Barn
This unusual “round” barn has twelve sides; its construction was started in 1911 and finished in 1914. It has vertical siding made of Sugar Maple.
Lisa Truman Barn
As if planted on the face of the hill’s crest, this bank barn has the best vantage point on the farm, complete with picturesque views of gently rolling hills and valleys.
Clear View Farms Barn
Clear View Farms was established in 1941. At that time the owner, Clark Rink, moved this barn and a house from a nearby farm and placed them in their current location on his new farm. When moved, the barn was placed upon a pre-constructed foundation and a new lower level stable
Yoder-Prough Round Barn
Menno and Caroline Yoder, ancestors of the current owners, purchased a 130-acre farm in 1900 and proceeded to raise their family of ten children on this very productive farm.
Amy and David Dance Round Barn
This round barn was built in 1906; it was originally a dairy barn and is often referred to as the Sam Bold Barn. The large hay dormer above the main entrance characterizes this barn.
Buckley Homestead Barn
This barn is an integral part of the Buckley Homestead County Park Living History Farm. The barn, home and many other buildings are available to tour most of the year.
Cedar Crown Farm Barn
Strategically placed on the crest of a hill and surrounded by picturesque and fertile land, this farm and barn can be found in the rolling hills north of Cedar Lake in central Lake County.
Door Prairie Barn
Marion J. Ridgeway built this nine-sided "round" barn in 1878 on a farm that had been in his family since 1831. Mr. Ridgeway saw a need for driving and work horses so he traveled to England, Scotland and France to purchase the finest quality breeding stock.
Lloyd Family Barn
This farm has been in the Lloyd family since 1850. The barn was built in 1890 to 1900, paid for by the sales of their popcorn crops.
Sherwood Family Barn, Rosehill Farm
The Sherwood family owns this bank barn on the Rosehill Farm. According to the family records, the barn was built in 1876. The first home on the property burned and the barn was used as a residence until the elegant new home could be built between 1877 and 1878.
William Bex Barn
Placed on a high ridge near East Fork of the White River, the view from this barn is a vista of magnificent rolling hills falling away toward the river.
Joyce White Round Barn
This 60-foot diameter round barn is presumed to have been built in 1905 and has been in Joyce's family since the 1940s. There is a bit of discrepancy about its age; some date this barn to 1911.
Rosenkrans Family Barn
In terms of beautiful rural scenes, it would be difficult to surpass this bucolic of setting of farm and barn in the southeastern corner of Madison County.
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