What We are Continually Working on:

Grants & Awards Received:

  • Completed the Beech Glen, Laurel, Spring Creek, Walnut, Mars Hill and South Marshall townships for archival information and self-guided driving tour brochures
  • Continued research of the most historically and architecturally significant barns throughout the whole County
  • Established a partnership with the Town of Mars Hill to support the Smith Heritage Farmstead barns
  • Began our documentation of the barns with help from a $10,000 grant from the Marion Stedman Covington Foundation (received in November 2013)
  • Completed a searchable database of the information collected with help from a $5,000 grant from the Marion Stedman Covington Foundation (received in November 2014)
  • Continued documentation of the next township with help from a $7,000 grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Foundation (received March 2015)
  • Continued documentation of the next township with help from a $6,000 grant from the Johanna Favrot Fund for Historic Preservation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (received July 2016)
  • Received Gertrude S Carraway Award of Merit at the Preservation NC Annual Conference (received September 2017)
  • Continued documentation of the next township with help from a $5,000 grant from the Richard J. Reynolds, III and Marie M Reynolds Foundation (received October 2017)
  • Continued documentation of the next township with help from a $8,000 grant from the Madison County Tourism Development Authority (received October 2018)
  • Created a 60-minute Virtual Tour and three 4-minute audio recordings of “Barn Memories” with help from a $2,500 grant from the Terrence Mills Fund for North & South Carolina of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (received December 2019)
  • Developed the driveway and parking at the Smith Farmstead at the Bailey Mountain Preserve with help from a $12,000 grant from the Madison County Tourism Development Authority (received February 2021)
  • Worked to stabilize and repair the barns at the Smith Farmstead with help from two grants of $5,000 each from the Richard J. Reynolds, III and Marie M Reynolds Foundation (received May 2021) and  the Marion Stedman Covington Foundation (received in June 2021)
  • Installed descriptive signs at the 3 barns at the Smith Farmstead with the help of two grants: $1735 from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership for the signs (received in May 2021) and $1080 for the building of the kiosks to hold those signs from the Madison County Community Foundation (received October 2021)
  • Took 120 4th grade students from 3 schools in Madison County on a field trip to the Smith Farmstead ($2000 grant from First Bank Mars Hill — every year beginning in 2021 school year)
  • Received grant for $20,000 to stabilize and repair the burley barn at the Smith Farmstead (Received June 2022)
  • Began to record “Barn Memories” to place on signs inside barns on the Smith Farmstead with QR codes, a photo, & brief description with a grant from the Hart Family Fund for Small towns (received October 2022)
  • Began project to raise money for public restrooms on the Smith Farm with a grant from the Richard J. Reynolds, III and Marie M Reynolds Foundation (received December 2023)

Our Goals

  • Repairing, restoring the barns on the Smith Farm Heritage Farmstead in Mars Hill
  • Applying for grants to help in this process
  • Raising money for the matching funds for grants
  • Creating a website with the information accessible to all
  • Finding barns and their owners to record the history of the use
  • Generating self-guided driving barn tours as visitors and residents alike learn more about Madison County’s rich agricultural traditions

Current & Past Projects & Programs

  • Historic Barn Series in the local newspaper The News Record and Sentinel with stories about historic barns in our first few years and restarted in 2018. A feature in Plough to Pantry magazine and online magazine in the 2016 issues
  • Annual Fall county-wide Historic Barn Photo Contest open to all ages from 2012 through 2017. Now an integral component of the County Fair’s Photography category
  • Information Booths at events throughout the year: Bluff Mountain Festival in June and at the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Festival in October
  • Fundraising Concerts: 2012 with Josh Goforth and Laura Boosinger; 2013 with Balsam Range at the Arts Center; 2014 with Joe Penland and Laura Boosinger; 2015 with Susi Gott & Marty Lewis plus Matthew Curry & the Carolina Two; 2016 and 2017 with Brian Gurl; 2018 with Susi Gott & Marty & Donny Lewis
  • Annual Barn Day with Researcher-led barn tours, dinner and silent auction. First Annual Barn Day was held in 2014
  • Annual Farm to Table Dinner at the Farmers’ Hands in Mars Hill. First one was held in 2016. Discontinued in 2019.
  • Annual Pastoral Palette Art Gala at various locations in the area. First one was held in 2019.
  • Annual Field Trips for all 4th grade students to the Smith Farm. First one was in 2021