The original barn was built in the 1860s and was first recorded in Caton town records in 1870. Over the years, it has witnessed many gatherings and moments of life on the farm. For our family, the barn was always a special place growing up — the setting for countless play days filled with imagined battles, princesses, and childhood adventures.

In the winter of 2014–2015, we began restoring the barn by removing its unsafe, crumbling foundation. The structure was carefully lifted onto cribbing and raised an additional three feet to give it new life and stability.

The next three years were filled with long family workdays, led by our incredibly talented father, who carried the vision for what the barn could become, along with our friend and neighbor, Bill Ginnan.

Many of the materials tell their own story. The beams you see today are all original to the structure. The remaining lumber was milled by the Amish, with the floors and main sill beam cut from trees on our own property. That main sill beam came from a massive hemlock tree in our woods. It was dragged down to the barn, where our friend Daniel Stoltzfus hand-cut the 45-foot beam with his chainsaw — straight as an arrow.

Finally, in 2016, we opened the barn doors for our very first event, beginning a new chapter for this historic space.