OLD BARN № 108

This is a rather small barn with an incredibly simple design. I have seen relatively few barns that have nothing but a door and such minimalist construction! But, perhaps the sides or back of the barn might have more interesting features. Or maybe not, as function must take precedence over appearance when one is busy running a homestead. This barn is situated in a tiny, but delightful, patch of pasture land off a four-lane highway. This little barn and pasture would be perfect for a couple or three goats. The land is at a lower level than most of the surrounding area, so a view from the side is impossible, even from a nearby side road, unless one actually walked onto the property.

It was also somewhat difficult to get the photo I made. I had to park the car a short distance away and walk to the single available vantage point, but fortunately there was a sidewalk to make it safer along the quite busy road. Then I had to position myself "just so" to get the shot through the trees flanking the sidewalk and the low-lying area where the barn was erected. I'm sure passers-by wondered, "What is she doing, half-hunched down, pointing her camera at the trees?" 🤔😂 I wonder how many people have actually noticed that little barn, hidden away by the many tree branches as they were passing by on the highway. Surely, I am not the only one who noticed it...?!?!?

^{~ screenshot from WorldMapPin.com ← the world map for Hive posts! ~}

Across the four-lane highway from Old Barn 108 is a pretty pasture where horses graze. Long ago and before the four-lane highway was commissioned, it is a possibility that all of this was one large farm, on what is now opposite sides of the road. The lovely horse in the following photo was seen from the spot indicated on the map above. I've seen as many as three horses there at other times.

As can be seen in the satellite image, behind the pasture is a small creek ("Town Creek") and then another pasture and a small patch of woods leading up to where Old Barns 061 and 062 are located. One could literally walk from Old Barn 108 to the other two in just a few minutes, perhaps getting one's shoes wet in the creek along the way unless one finds an exposed rock or two to assist with the crossing. 😜

I always thought that field of yellow flowers to be pretty in the springtime when I passed by. I assumed that the flowers were buttercups, but later learned that buttercups are poisonous to livestock, so maybe the flowers are something other than buttercups? Maybe woodsorrel (Oxalis), although that isn't good for livestock, either. I'm not sure what else they might be, but perhaps one of my readers knows of other possibilities? Regardless, I think it is quite a beautiful photo with that fabulous horse surrounded by natural beauty!

Along this same stretch of highway, a very sad thing happened in March, 2011. A case manager from the Department of Social Services (DSS) was transporting a 10-year-old girl to a foster home along with her two brothers ages 15 and 17. Another driver, coming from the opposite direction, crossed the center line and hit the car head-on with her truck. The teenage boys survived, one taken to the hospital by ambulance, but the other was airlifted because of the seriousness of his injuries. However, the social worker and little girl were pronounced dead at the scene. The DSS worker left behind a husband and two children of her own, and the three children in her care already had a rough life in foster homes. The offending driver was charged with DUI, as there was medication in her system that prevented her from operating her vehicle safely; she should not have been driving at all. This small roadside memorial remembers the two souls who died there. 😢

In the following screenshot from GoogleMaps™, the little roadside memorial can be seen near center, beside the sidewalk. Behind it is the fence around the pasture where the horses graze. To the left of the big tree in the scene, the gate to the pasture can be seen, over which the photo of the horse was taken from the sidewalk a couple years before the above mentioned accident happened (I used my zoom feature, rather than trespassing on the property up to the gate).

^{~ screenshot from GoogleMaps™ "Satellite View" ~}

There are other things I could write about this section of highway, but will save those things for another time. The little barn, the horse in the pasture, and the remembrance of lives sadly lost are enough for now.

The following is my original shot of the barn, for those who like to see them, such as @bigtom13 and others. My biggest editing priority was removing the branches of the tree beside the barn that obscures the building.

Hopefully, too, since this barn was build on top of a concrete slab instead of bare earth, perhaps it will not topple as some barns do because of the ground's settling or eroding away, or part of the structure collapsing. (See my last barn for a sad example of that very thing!)