The "Presevation For Future Generations" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of a beautiful  barn built in the 1860s along Rt. 501 to the north of the city of Lancaster, PA.  Recently I wrote about the Mayer-Hess Farmstead on the Fruitville Pike, a farm about two miles from the Hoober-Eby farm where I am standing today.  Lancaster County,  PA has a deeply rooted religious history when it comes to farming and the people who farmed the land in and around the county.  

It dates back to the Native Americans who toiled in the fields of the county, then to the Pennsyl- vania Dutch or Germans as well as the Mennonites and then the Amish.  County farms naturally had barns and the preservation of those barns is one of the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County's main interests.  

Preserving the Mayer-Hess farm and farmhouse is a priority as is the preserving of the Hoober-Eby barn.  The barn retains a high degree of integrity, but is slowly deteriorating.  The house and pig barn that stood near this barn have already been demolished and restoration and preservation of the barn must take place soon before the elements claim this great structure.  

This barn now stands on the property of Lancashire Terrace Retirement Village where my wife worked for quite a few years in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  I often asked her if they would mind if I would do a photo shoot of the barn and surrounding area and she told me I was welcome to visit, but I never did.  She told me they used the barn for storage, but today on my visit I noticed while looking through a few of the windows and broken side boards that the interior is collapsing onto itself.  

Certainly didn't look safe for anyone to enter or use for storage anymore.  I can only imagine the activity that must have gone on around this barn and accompanying pig barn back in the mid to late 1800s.  It would be exciting to travel back in time to the era when farming was the primary occupation of Lancaster County and the farm and barn were the hub of excitement.  I only hope that our heritage in Lancaster County can be preserved for future generations to experience.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.