Sunday July 6, 2008

 

 

Repairing the Old Barn Roof

 

On Thursday morning, when my brother Clair stopped in to borrow something, we learned that this was the day a roofing crew was removing shingles from the old barn and replacing them with a steel roof.

 

 

The roof of the old, Hershey family barn was in need of repair, and those of us who have wonderful memories of it are pleased to see it being restored.

 

 

By lunch time, the shingles had been removed from part of the roof.

 

 

 

 

I went there (a quarter mile away) to make sure Josiah had plenty for lunch.  The photo is of my nephew Tristan and Josiah having lunch at a picnic table next to the farmhouse.  When Clair realized that Josiah was available today, he was pleased to have him help with cleanup on the ground.

 

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(Insert for slmret)

Those white things in the background of the previous photo are calf pens.  The following is a photo of Tristan one year ago when he was watering the calves.

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Josiah at his job for the day.

 

 

One of the workmen and my youngest brother Steve discuss the job.  The newer, dairy barn (built in 1992) is behind Steve.  I understand there are currently 350 cows, heifers, and calves on the home farm, and another 150 heifers in rented barns. 

 

 

I did a bit of research in my Grandpa Hershey’s book to find out how old this barn is.

 

 

My Great Great Grandpa Hershey bought the farm in 1875.  I couldn’t find the date, but a short time later the original barn burnt down when the renter’s children were playing with matches.  This is the barn that replaced it.   

My Great Grandpa Hershey’s moved here in 1888. 

 

 

There are great stories in the book, of activities that happened on the farm in the early 1900’s, and I suppose there would be wonderful stories from the 1800’s if someone had taken time to write them.

 

 

There have been several additions and changes to this barn throughout the years.

 

 

When I went to the post office at 3:00 p.m., someone had just delivered ice cream sandwiches…

 

 

…and old, broken lumber was being repaired and replaced.

 

 

By evening Josiah was ready to relax, and asked if he could invite some guys to watch a video.

 

 

Grandson Josiah, and his friends, Tim and Joram. 

It’s fun watching these three together, because they are all part of the Hershey family – with ties to the old farm.  Tim’s grandma and Joram’s grandpa are my dad’s siblings.

 

 

This part of the roof was looking better by noon on Friday.

 

 

It will be nice when the entire roof looks like this.  Daddy and Grandpa (and Great Grandpa and Great Great Grandpa) would be pleased to observe this project.