The Last Best Barns

A Sneak Peak
As we continue to work on our forthcoming book, The Last Best Barns: A Pictorial History we’re giving our members a sneak peak at some of the striking pictures and fascinating history behind Montana’s historic barns that will be featured in the book. The full-color pictorial history with new photographs by Tom Ferris will be published by the Montana Historical Society Press in Spring 2010.

Photo courtesy of Jefferson County Museum, Clancy

Bernice Hay Barn

This hay barn near Bernice represents a quintessential example of a Montana hay barn. Unlike the brightly painted red gambrel roof dairy barns that dot the landscape, early day hay barns with their unfinished rough hewn siding and simple dimensions have never enjoyed the curb appeal that many other barns possess. This barn played an important role back in the mining era when the Calvin stage station, later to become the town of Bernice, was booming with newcomers seeking their fortunes in the mines. Hay was stored in the barn and used at the dairy farm and stage station at Bernice. Other hay barns in the area served a dual use. The hay barns on Torpey Gulch and Moonshine Gulch both stored hay but also (as the latter name suggests) housed homemade stills.