Barns
Lockheart Ridge Farm
Madden Barn
Stable Aisle
Ritters Ladder
Thomas Farm Fire Curing Barn
Faha Quilt Barn
Veneble Barn Hay Racks
About This Project
The barn is a disappearing symbol of Kentucky’s agricultural heritage. The Kentucky Barns Project is an attempt to showcase historic barns throughout the state, highlighting the various architectural structures, building materials, craftsmanship, agricultural functions, agricultural regions, and many of the cultural groups that immigrated and settled here. I continue my love affair with intimate detail as well as the larger structure, and capture the inside as well as the outside of the barns. The inside spaces of what was once the most important building on the land eminated the sense of absence and presence. Most of the structures I photographed were empty and no longer in use, underscoring how endangered these places are. Yet, there was also the presence of the past everywhere. The images not only show the variety of barns, but the diversity of Kentucky’s landscape, covering all seven regions and a large number of the 120 counties in Kentucky. The images are included in my book, Kentucky Barns: Agricultural Heritage of the Bluegrass published by the Indiana University Press, 2019.