Bye Bye Barn

No, it's not November of 2004 again. This is just a nice picture from the calendar back then that shows the old barn I want to tell you about. This little barn was the subject of quite a few pictures over the years, both by me and by countless others who I saw pulled over along the side of the road to shoot it. But when I drove by the field the other day, the barn was gone. I don't know what happened to it. There wasn't any sign of a fire or a pile of debris in the field. There was no construction going on that might indicate the property had been sold for development. I know I've been by there since the end of the most recent hurricane season, and it was still standing then. I'm hoping maybe someone took it away to restore it, and someday it'll be placed back out in it's natural habitat. Not only is this small barn attractive, it is a great example of a unique Florida architectural invention, the hundred-acre barn. Since we don't have cold winters here in Florida, you never have to worry about fitting all of your cows into the barn at one time. So this barn was developed to meet the needs of the local farmers, being just large enough to store the necessary supplies for a farm that was, well, 100 acres in size.

If anyone knows what happened to this barn, which was located near the intersection of US 41 and I-275 north of Palmetto, FL, please drop me a line. I'm going to miss it. Even before I started taking pictures, I drove by it and thought how picturesque it was.