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By: Jim Fitzpatrick |
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Email: jim@nunica.com |
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Local Farmer in Polkton Township writes for the Coopersville Observer. |
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Along Brandy Creek By Jim Fitzpatrick
The Coopersville Observer March 2, 2009- - No. 100 |
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Once upon a time there were two large barns at Elmwood Farm, a name that few have any recollection of these days. The “back barn” still stands behind and beyond the hundred and some year old farmhouse. Another barn that used to be between the two isn’t there anymore. The farmer and his son tore it down; the roof went bad after years and years of neglect. Grandpa Will, the farmer’s dad, had always kept a good coat of red paint on the weathered siding. And the trim he painted white at the corners, around the windows and doors, along the eves. Over a lifetime of farming he had brushed many coats of silver paint on the metal roof, too. But, like the barn, Grandpa grew old and weathered; he made up his mind that he wouldn’t be climbing those tall ladders anymore. Well into his eighties by then; he said, “that’s enough of the old barn for me”. The ladders and paint brushes went on to collect dust where they hung unused in the tool shed nearby.
Grandpa got older and died. The roof on the old red barn began to leak and the water ran down the hand hewn timbers inside. Loose hay from seasons past soaked up the moisture and began to rot. Floor boards buckled, base timbers began to shift off from their stone foundation. Farmer Maurice told his son that the time had come, “this old barn needs to be taken down before it falls down on someone.” And so, the farmer and his oldest boy dismantled it board by board and beam by beam. Great Grandfather James, Grandpa Will’s dad, had left his signature and date in a section of concrete poured in 1901. Hired men of long ago had carved their initials on the inside walls. Grandkids in later years painted their names in bold red letters just inside a small entry door. Over the large double doors out front was the hand painted lettering that spelled out the name -- Elmwood Farm. |
