Orchard Adopts Barn

If you've been down County Line Road in the last few months, you know that something pretty dramatic has been going on. First, the ground in front of the store was torn up, then some concrete was poured, and then all of a sudden, a barn appeared! How did this all happen?

The story begins in the fall of 2002 in the very thick of the apple season. Owners Bonnie and David McAfee had been very happy with the existing store. However, during the peak of the apple season it could get crowded, and the business had expanded to the point where the apple pie, cider, fudge, donuts, kitchen, and retail space all needed a little more room. But how? Adding on to existing buildings might work, but something dramatic would be more in keeping with the orchard's history.

The orchard had always been unique in its building designs and choices. The main store is a pole-barn structure, but the inside is lined with barn siding recovered from old barns that were being torn down. Some of the beams are hand-hewn and recovered from those same barns. The little buildings like the check-in building, the check-out building, the bee barn, and the goat house were all found unused on a nearby farm, moved, and fixed up. There is a storage building on the other side of the woods that was disassembled, moved, and reassembled from the same farm. Building a bland, simple structure was never an option.

We had always admired farms with a grand old barn - the older the better. Such barns were beautiful, architecturally interesting, practical, and a tangible connection with the past. Unfortunately, such old barns are becoming rare as they age, fall into disuse, are torn down, and slowly disappear from the landscape. An orchard that can boast of a beautiful old barn has a sense of time and place that others lack. There are even national organizations such as Barn Again! that promote the restoration and use of historic barns.

While the orchard had some very nice buildings, we still had a pretty serious case of Barn Envy. Fortunately, that was about to change. One day, David spotted a little tiny ad for barn wood in a trading magazine called "The Farmer's Exchange". Once he saw the address, he knew exactly where the barn was: just a little more than a mile away on the corner of Swanson and 700N.

The rest of the season was full of trips down the road to look at and think about the barn. Yes, there were holes in the roof. Yes, there was some rotten wood. Yes, several animals had camped out in it over the years. No, the floor of the hay maw couldn't be used. Yes, the barn would somehow have to be MOVED over a mile. But the most important elements were there: the barn was structurally sound and had an absolutely beautiful classic shape.

Here are some pictures of the barn as we found it:

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The next step, of course, was to see if it could indeed be moved to our orchard. The first thought was to move the structure whole across fields and roads during winter. We contacted the same building movers that moved the little farm buildings around the orchard. (See our history page for details.) However, that building mover soon backed out over concerns that the fields were too rough and the job too big.

Undaunted, we went with the next option: J.P. Stitt and Sons Barn Preservation, LLC. Run by the Stitt family, these folks are specialists in moving barns. They determined that the best option was to "flake" the barn into big pieces, basically taking the barn apart and putting it back together again. (Ed. note: If you need to move a barn, these guys are really good. They did an excellent job and we recommend them highly.)

Next, we had to decide where to locate the barn. It had to be near the existing store, so the best place was right in front, in the parking lot. A foundation was poured...

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Meanwhile, the Stitts were hard at work taking the barn apart.

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After a parade of barn parts down 700N involving police and a small traffic jam, the pieces made it to the orchard. Everything was laid out in a nice, orderly fashion, and the process of re-assembling everything began.

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The barn was coming along quite nicely. It was given a layer of plastic and insulation to protect it from the elements, and a bright red skin to match the existing store. A new metal roof completed the outside renewal. A surprise father's day gift was a cupola and weather vane. Made by Don Murphy Weather vanes and Cupolas, it's a fitting crown. Two traditional Pennsylvania Dutch hex symbols for "welcome" and "love" grace the ends up high.

Inside, many changes were taking place. The link between the old store and the barn was built. Plumbing and electricity were installed. The hay maw got a beautiful new hardwood floor.

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The barn was ready just in time for the 2003 apple picking season.

After the orchard closes for the season on the 31st of October, the barn is magically transformed into a dining and reception hall. It is available from November 15th until August 15th the next year for your special event. Visit The Barn at County Line Orchard and Contact us for reservations.

This page last updated on Sunday, August 14, 2005