Barn.jpg
Barn.jpg
The focus of the workshop efforts was
Belles Barn, located at on land now owned
by the state of NJ and managed by the Dept of Fish and Wildlife. [It was previously featured on Knowlton’s annual Historic Barn Tour.] The Knowlton Township Historic Commission has been working to find an adaptive use for the barn and surrounding land that will put The structure into active service to prevent what is feared to be its slow decline and eventual loss. Preliminary discussions with Sister Miriam MacGillis of Genesis Farm have begun on the possible raising of heirloom livestock at
the site.
According to Knowlton’s Historic
Commission chair, Hal Bromm, concern for the survival of Belles’ Barn led historian and commission adviser Dennis Bertland to suggest the workshop. Preservation New Jersey staff member Swathy Keshavamurthy worked to organize a collaborative effort with the Heritage Partnership. Bromm feels that “focusing attention on historic barns helps remind us that these proud utilitarian structures reflect the area’s important agricultural history, much of which has already been lost through neglect”.
It is widely known that the state agencies managing these lands are unable to fund the stabilization or repair of existing historic resources. “Knowlton Township and their surrounding rural agricultural communities
In northwestern Warren County have worked aggressively to preserve farmland, often without the important cooperation and support necessary to protect the farm structures and farming homestead environments that affect the proud heritage of generations-long agricultural use of the land”.
Special thanks to Elric Endersby for giving so generously of his time and to Historic members Jon Bellis, Karen Lund, Carl Shuster, Karin Strom, and Emiliy Dobosh for making the event possible.