Homestead Fair

Barn-Raising Demonstration

Friday & Saturday—
The raising of a barn frame

Come over to the barn-raising site by the herb garden area and see the way early homesteaders handcrafted barns from logs felled from the virgin forest using a broadax, adz and handsaw. On Friday and Saturday we'll assemble and raise the wall beams of an eighteenth-century barn.

Annual Benefit Auction

Saturday evening - the auction of two historic barn frames

On Saturday, November 26, we will auction off two historic barn frames by sealed bid to the highest bidder*, with all proceeds going to The Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture.

Timber Frame 1: The Mast House
This hand hewn timber framed house was originally built circa 1790 in the historic Mohawk River valley of upper NY state.
The frame measures 20 feet x 32 feet, 640 square feet total, and is framed to allow for a loft or full second story.
Minimum bid: $22,400.
The sale price includes the complete timber frame structure cleaned, restored, fumigated, delivered and reerected on your foundation.
This frame will be raised for demonstration at the Fair.
Mast House Dimensional Drawings (click below to view):

                  

Timber Frame 2: The Ploughshare Barn
This rough sawn pine timber frame measures 24 feet x 24 feet, 576 square feet total.  The frame has a 12/12 pitched roof, which allows for a large loft upstairs.
Minimum bid: $18,900
The sale price includes the complete timber frame structure cleaned, restored, fumigated, delivered and reerected on your foundation.
Barn will be available to view at the Fair.
Ploughshare Barn Dimensional Drawings (click below to view):

                            

*Bids may be submitted any time prior to 6:00 P.M. Saturday, November 26, after which time all bids will be opened and the winner announced. All bids and inquiries may be directed to Kevin Durkin, care of Heritage Barns, 257 Ft Graham Rd, Waco TX—or call (254) 744-4148. Bids may be submitted at the Fair or via e-mail to kevin@heritagebarns.com. During the Fair, for information about the barn frame or the bidding, please ask for Kevin Durkin or Troy Dumont at the barn-raising area.

Historic Buildings Tour

On Friday and Saturday afternoons, join us at 4:30 for a walking tour of seven restored buildings at Brazos de Dios.

Over the years, we have moved these eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings from various parts of the United States and rebuilt them at our farm, not out of a desire to live in the past, but to preserve the good things of the past for the present and the future. For details about the buildings on our historic walking tour available throughout the year, click here.

On the tour you'll see:

The Hope Farm Barn
A Dutch barn originally built in the 1820's in New Jersey

The Teeter Mill
A 1760's mill with a gambrel roof originally built in northwestern New Jersey

The Homestead Cabin
A two-story log cabin from Missouri built circa 1830

The LaRue Barn
A timber-frame barn built about 1760 in the northern New Jersey town of Mahwah, close to the New York state border

The Middleburg Palatine House
An early American house built about 1780 in the Schoharie Valley of New York state

The Stone Arabia Smokehouse
The smallest of our restored buildings, originally from the Mohawk River valley of New York state, built circa 1860

The Bush Rd barn
A hand hewn timber framed barn originally built circa 1840

The Berne Granary
A hand hewn early American granary we've restored for use again as a granary.