A Letter to the Editor of ForbesIn my opinion "Barn Again" (Forbes, May 1, 2000) trivializes a subject no less important than the saving of New York brownstones, or San Francisco Victorians. Although most Americans are several generations removed from the land, barns are a part of our national heritage and representative of the effort that settled this country. Their construction, style, materials and use are indicative of local economic and ethnic influences; barns are vernacular monuments to the period when a majority of our population was engaged in settling and working the land of America. Many barns, particularly round ones, are notable for their design and innovative construction techniques. Several of us partnered with Michigan State University in 1996 to establish The Barn Journal (http://museum.cl.msu.edu/barn), a web site devoted to "the preservation and appreciation of rural architecture". Visit us, and if you appreciate Americana, you will like barns. Examine the honesty of timber frame construction, see the beauty of a Pennsylvania stone-ended barn or view a lonely prairie barn at dawn, and you will not wish them processed into paneling and furniture. We are losing barns at an appalling rate, and the landscape will be much the poorer if our 19th and early 20th century rural architecture disappears. End tables, indeed! Yours truly, Charles Leik, Editor |