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Barn raising, DeKalb County, Indiana, USA, about 1900

A Barn raising is an event during which a community comes together to assemble a barn for one or more of its households, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America. In the past, a barn was often the first, largest, and most costly structure built by a family who settled in a new area. Barns were essential structures for storage of hay and keeping of horses and cattle, which in those days were an inseparable part of farming. The tradition of "barn raising" continues, more or less unchanged, in some Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and some rural parts of Canada. The practice continues outside of these religious communities, albeit less frequently than in the 19th century, in the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Barn_Raising_DeKalb_County_IN.jpg This photo by professional photographer J.E. Curtis is of a barn raising on the farm of Daniel and Matilda Dickerhoff in Stafford Township, DeKalb County, Indiana, around the year 1900. ... Image File history File links Barn_Raising_DeKalb_County_IN.jpg This photo by professional photographer J.E. Curtis is of a barn raising on the farm of Daniel and Matilda Dickerhoff in Stafford Township, DeKalb County, Indiana, around the year 1900. ... DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. ... Äž: For the film, see: 1900 (film). ... A barn in southern Ontario, Canada A barn in Wisconsin A barn in Poland Barn redirects here, for other uses, see Barn (disambiguation). ... North America North America is a continent [1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... This article is about Old Order Amish, but also refers to other Amish sects. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      The... This article is about the U.S. State. ... For other uses, see Indiana (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... Official language(s) None (English and French de facto) Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 39th  - Total 33,414 sq mi (86,542 km²)  - Width 210 miles (338 km)  - Length 320 miles (515 km)  - % water 13. ... For other uses, see New Hampshire (disambiguation). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

The event

A barn raising is a one or two-day event during which a community comes together to assemble a barn for one of its households. A certain amount of preparation is done beforehand. Lumber and hardware are laid in, plans are made, ground is cleared, and tradesmen are hired.

Materials are purchased or traded for by the family who will own the barn once it is complete.

Generally, participation is mandatory for community members. These participants are not paid. All able-bodied members of the community are expected to attend. Failure to attend a barn raising without the best of reasons leads to censure within the community. Some specialists brought in from other communities for direction or joinery may be paid, however. Distinguish from slover, censer and censor. ...

There is an organisational structure. One person, who is often paid, is in charge of the barn raising. Older people who have participated in many barn raisings are crew chiefs. On the whole, the affair is well organized. At most barn raisings, the community has raised barns before and is able to approach the task with experience both in the individual tasks and the necessary organization. Young people participating meaningfully for the first time have watched many barn raisings and know what is expected of them.

Only certain specialists are permitted to work on the more critical jobs, such as the joinery and dowling of the beams. (Post and beam construction is the traditional method of construction in barn raisings.) There is competition for these jobs, and they are sought after. There are gender roles. Women provide water and food. Men work on the barn itself. Children watch; boys fetch parts and tools. Timber framing is the modern term for the traditional half-timbered construction in which timber provides a visible skeletal frame that supports the whole building. ...

ñ== Social framework ==

In earlier American rural life, communities raised barns because many hands were required. In areas that were sparsely settled or on the edge of the frontier, it was not possible to hire carpenters or other tradesmen to build a barn. The harsher winters gave more urgency to the matter of barn construction than was present in the relatively milder climate in Europe. Similar conditions have given rise to alike institutions, such as the Finnish one of 'talkoot'. Talkoot (from Finnish: talkoo, almost always used in plural, talkoot) is a group of people gathering to work together, for instance, to build or repair something. ...

Barn raisings occurred in a social framework with a good deal of interdependence. Members of rural communities often shared family bonds going back generations. They traded with each other, buying and selling land, labor, seed, cattle, and the like. They worshipped together. They celebrated together, because cities were too far away to visit with any frequency on horseback. Despite traditions of independence, self-sufficiency, and refusal to incur debt to one another, community barn raisings were a part one's life.

Contrast with church construction

Churches were considered as important to communities of the 18th and 19th centuries as were barns. In like fashion, they were often constructed using unpaid community labor. There were important differences. Churches were not constructed with the same degree of urgency, and were most often built of native stone -- a more durable material than the wood of which barns were made, and more time consuming to lay. Barns, once completed, belonged to an individual family, while churches belonged to the community. For the architectural structure, see Church (building). ...

End of an era

Barn raising as a method of providing construction labor had become rare by the close of the 19th century. By that time, most frontier communities already had barns and those that did not were constructing them using hired labor. Mennonite and Amish communities carried on the tradition, however, and continue to do so to this day.

Group construction by volunteers enjoyed something of a resurgence during the 1970s, when houses, sheds, and barn-shaped structures were constructed for all manner of purposes except, of course, the keeping of livestock for a profit. Echoes of the tradition can still be found in other community building projects, such as those carried out by Habitat for Humanity. Official Habitat for Humanity logo Habitat for Humanity is an international, Christian, non-governmental, non-profit organization devoted to building quality, low-cost, affordable housing. ...

Barn raising in fiction

For scenes of barn raising see the movies:

• For Richer or Poorer (1997)
• Witness (1985)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
• Kingpin (1996).

These accounts are heavily romanticized.

• In the Simpsons episode, "Bart of Darkness", the Simpsons family inadvertently raises a barn when attempting to erect an above-ground pool.

For Richer or Poorer is a (1997) comedy film starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley. ... The year 1997 in film involved some significant events. ... Witness is a 1985 movie released by Paramount Pictures, starring Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, and Lukas Haas. ... // Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson Rambo: First Blood Part II, starring Sylvester Stallone Rocky IV, starring Sylvester Stallone The Color Purple, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Rae Dawn Chong, Adolph Caesar Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and... Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - Movie CD cover Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a musical film released in 1954. ... The year 1954 in film involved some significant events. ... Kingpin is a 1996 Farrelly brothers film starring Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray, Vanessa Angel, and Randy Quaid. ... The year 1996 in film involved some significant events. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Bart of Darkness is the first episode of The Simpsons sixth season, which originally aired September 4, 1994. ...

Barn raising as a metaphor for online communities

See MeatBall:BarnRaising

See also

• Talkoot
• Dugnad