Adaptive uses for old tobacco barns. Here, an Alamance County landowner has converted an old tobacco barn into a workshop, with a patio under the shed and a garden surrounding the building. All across the state's tobacco growing regions, farmers and landowners have modified old tobacco barns for garages or for storage of other equipment or materials, and some have found even more creative uses for the old barns. Others preserve the barns simply out of respect for a long family tradition.

The Staley family of Level Cross (Randolph County) has converted this old log tobacco barn into a cozy stained glass and pottery workshop, which is also the favored hideaway for the family cat.

Do you have an old log barn you want to preserve and aren't sure what to do? A good starting point is the National Park Service's Preservation Brief # 26, The Preservation and Repair of Historic Log Buildings, which can be viewed online at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/TPS/briefs/brief26.htm. 

Who preserves tobacco barns?

A few tobacco barns are being preserved in public and private museums such as the Duke Homestead State Historic Site in Durham, the Tobacco Farm Life Museum in Kenly, and Horne Creek Living History Farm in Surry County. Except for these rare examples, virtually all of the tobacco barns in the state are privately owned.

No farmer or landowner can be expected to pay for maintenance of a building that no longer contributes to the farm operation or its income, and there are no public or private grant programs to assist the preservation of old tobacco barns. (A small number of barns on historic farms listed in the National Register of Historic Places might be eligible for federal and state rehabilitation income tax credits). The majority of old tobacco barns standing today will probably disappear in the years ahead.

However, some barns may be good candidates for some sort of adaptive reuse on the farm or property, and their repair and maintenance may cost much less than construction of a new building of similar size. Making simple modifications to their barns, hundreds of farmers now use old tobacco barns for storage of equipment, materials, or other crops.

Before removing an old barn, consider whether it might have any other potential use on the farm or property. Barns that are located at a convenient distance to the farmhouse or other buildings might warrant continued use for storage, as a garage or workshop, or other functions. Then determine the condition of the barn. If it is relatively free of water or insect damage, it may endure for many years with simple maintenance.

Tell us about tobacco barn preservation projects you know about

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