Barn Day has a new look this year
For more than a decade now, the Appalachian Barn Alliance has had an annual celebration of our barn heritage by hosting a tour of 3 farmsteads followed by a dinner with local music and a silent auction. To branch out a bit, we decided to have a different type of festivity. The ABA has switched its focus to restoring the three barns on the Smith Farm and to reconstructing two donated historic barns built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We are so proud of what we have accomplished that the tour this year will take place AT the Smith Farm at the Bailey Mountain Preserve on Saturday, September 6. You will still be guided past barns—FIVE different architectural southern Appalachian styles—by our knowledgeable researcher Taylor Barnhill. And, as past attendees will tell you, he will entertain you with stories about each of these!
Barn Day at the Smith Farm will still have a meal (this time it’s lunch) and local music and a silent auction. To maximize your experience, we will be limiting the number of tickets to 40 and asking that you choose a time for your tour with Taylor. Only 20 people will accompany Taylor on each tour—one beginning at 11am and the other at 1:15pm. Lunch will be at Noon. So, when you purchase your tickets, you will need to specify a tour time. Music provided by award-winning fiddler Roger Howell and the silent auction will be your background activities during the lunch hour. And, of course, there are paths around the lower Smith Farm and the Hoffman trail up to the peak of Bailey Mountain.
This is a great way to introduce you to the southern Appalachian architecture of our barns in a beautiful setting that the ABA has worked for four years to help create. Tickets are $25 per person ($20 for 2025 ABA members). We suggest that you reserve early because of the limit to the number of reservations. You can send a check to ABA, PO Box 1441, Mars Hill NC 28754 or use the PayPal Donate button on the homepage of our website to pay (https://appalachianbarns.org/) and be sure to specify the names of the attendees and the tour time. Call Sandy at 828 380-9146 if you have any questions.