Sunday, January 20, 2008

contradictory

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The other day I was returning home from doing a few errands. The light was so nice and it occurred to me that it had been quite awhile since I last visited the barn on McGough Road. I adjusted my route slightly and turned off the main highway headed towards the barn.

It's at this point that I get just a little nervous. It's entirely possible that when I return the barn (or building) will be gone, either razed for development or collapsed under it's own weight. One evening I was driving down Route 47 past a familiar old barn and my mind was jarred by the fact that the house that was across from the barn was gone. Simply gone. The land it stood on looked like it had been undisturbed for a century or more. There was no sign the house had ever existed not even a depression in the ground.

I drove on down McGough taking the first of many hairpin turns. Just before the second and third turn I came upon this and almost wrecked the car in my surprise!

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As long time reader Pablo noted in a recent post, the contradictions that are created as development moves into the farmland sometimes look downright silly. This mansion is only a mile from the barn, as the crow flies.

I'm entranced by the McGough Road barn. It seems to hold magic in any light, any season, any time of day.

9 comments:

Caffienated Cowgirl said...

The same thing is happening where I come from. Old barns and homesteads right next to new developments of obnoxiously large multimillion dollar homes.

That barn on McGough is gorgeous.

Donna. W said...

That is a great old barn. When I ride my horse on the back roads, I see mansions like the one pictured being put where farmland used to be.

Anonymous said...

McMansions are like mushrooms, I think. One day they just appear.

Love that barn. Reminds of scenes in rural Missouri.

Omelay said...

i find the most disturbing thing about those mansions are how unnatural they look. because they are using modern materials they can do things that were impractical in the past. stone work on dormers is a dead giveaway.

nice old barns are slowly leaving us. their artisan nature because of their material constraints is my favorite thing about them.

sugarcreekfarm said...

Beautiful barn, nasty McMansion. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

It seems to me, if this is the barn that I am thinking of, that years ago there used to be a small pond with ducks and geese on it next to the barn. I am glad that barn is still there. I traveled that road so much growing up. It is great to see some things are still sort of the same. Thanks for sharing, Suzanne.

poopie said...

I'm entranced by that barn too. As for the "big house"...whatever.

KatKit13 said...

Beautiful barn!

~sigh~ on the McMansion.

Val said...

Lovely old barn. We watch our old barns disappearing too in Western Canada. Large mega-farm operations buy up the little old farms and burn all the buildings. We are always releaved IF they don't tear out and burn the trees.
Enjoy your photos.