Barn Moved 1,500 Miles To New Farm Home

Barn Moved 1,500 Miles To New Farm Home AG WORLD 26-4-23 Dean Leatherman recently took barn moving to the ultimate extreme when he moved a barn from the family farm 1,500 miles from Bedminster, Pennsylvania to Hesston, Kansas. The result is a traditional red and white Pennsylvania bank-barn at home on the Kansas prairie. "Coordinating the removal from 1,500 miles away was the most difficult part, but thanks to my brother and brother-in-law, it went well," says Leatherman, a professional contractor who also has a tree farm in the Hesston area. Planning was key to the enterprise. A nephew who is a structural engineer sketched the frame and helped Leatherman label each beam and joint for reassembly. A rented crane and an electrician's cherry picker aided in tear down, which only took a couple days. Roof, barn boards and flooring were left behind, as were several lean to's that had been added over the years. All the framing was shipped to Kansas, as well as rock from the original foundation. Exact measurements were taken before the barn came down to allow Leatherman to prepare the Kansas site. More than 100 dump truck loads of dirt were used to recreate the hillside for the haymow entrance. Stone foundation walls on three sides had to be built. "I was really amazed at how well it fit," he says. "I know that if you get good accurate measurements, you are usually okay, but the barn sagged in some places. I didn't know if all the logs would go back together the same, but they did." Putting the barn back together was a matter of following the chart and the numbers. Even with modern tools and cranes, the job was not easy. Beams up to 50 foot in length and weighing over 1,000 lbs challenged the modern day builders and created new respect for the original craftsmen. Leatherman did as much as he could himself in the evenings, though he did bring his construction crew in for final assembly. His Sunday school class helped with painting and other friends stopped by during the process to help out. A couple changes were made to the old barn. All new kiln-dried pegs were used along with steel angle reinforcements at key stress points. "My nephew ran load rations on his computer to identify where the greatest stress would be," says Leatherman. "Those wood joints just wouldn't hold up to our Kansas winds." The old barn no longer serves its original purpose. The downstairs has been made into a meeting facility for church and community groups, with kitchen and bathroom, tables and chairs. The old haymow now holds Leatherman's tree nursery equipment. Some things do remain the same. A rope swing and a basketball hoop were installed in the haymow. Family memories remain strong and more continue to be added. A niece recently held her wedding in the barn. While the move may not have made business sense, it continues to make sense to Leatherman. "It's a lot of fun just to look out and see the old barn," he says. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dean Leatherman, 8827 N Hoover Rd., Hesston, Kansas 67062.

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