Old and In the Way

I’ve been driving by the old dairy barn on Mount Philo Road for 22 years—you know the one, a couple of miles north of Charlotte Central School. When I lived east of Route 7, I sometimes drove by it in upwards of six times a day. I was always fascinated by it—such a beautiful curiosity, imposing, impressive, a relic of Charlotte’s strong agricultural past. 

I am not going to recount the barn’s history in this edition—I’ll leave that for another time. I can share its present and its future, however. Last year, my husband and I bought the five-acre lot the barn sat on. It had been through several attempts at resurrection: a failed bid to become an event facility, a dashed dream of a family home renovation.

Several local farmers considered basing some of their operations out of the structure, but the expense and regulatory concerns made this option unfeasible. The barn, while incredible, was simply too big to remain on a five-acre lot. After the barn became ours, we, too, went around and around trying to determine what to do with it. Turn it into a garage for the spec house we planned to build? Dismantle it and rebuild it on our own property? Sell it in pieces? All the options seemed daunting. But one day, the answer came in the form of a Charlotte neighbor, who has admired this barn for years. He stopped in the driveway and offered to take it down and rebuild it on his own property. With the means and a crew, he is carefully deconstructing it down to the last beam and putting the pieces back together. 

While we’ve been working at the site, people stop by every day. The stories abound. 

“I took care of chickens in that barn all through high school.”

“My pony lived in that barn when I was a girl.”

“I’ve loaded a lot of hay into that barn.”

“Loaded a lot of hay into that barn.”

“Man, I loaded a lot of hay into that barn.”

In the 22 years I’ve been in town, I’ve never seen a human go in or out of that barn. But my Charlotte history is short, and, while the barn looks like a relic to me, it is part of a Charlotte present that is very much still alive. Charlotte’s rich farming culture is easily overlooked amidst our changing landscape, but it cannot be denied. We are a better town for the farmers that work our land, and while this one piece slips away, more will come in its place. We have our farming families that have been here for generations, and Charlotte is fortunate to have several young farmers who grow and raise food—from organic vegetables to free-range eggs to beef, pork and lamb.

I’d love to hear your stories and memories of the old barn on Mt. Philo Road. In the next installment of Sunny Side Up, I’ll share some history of the barn and the farm it was part of.