Details announced of historic barn tour

The Palmer barn near Castalia

Historic restored barns on three Winneshiek County farms will be among the barns featured during the Iowa Barn Foundation's free, self-guided, all-state barn tour September 27th and 28th from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. both days.  Most barns on tour have been restored with matching grants from the Iowa Barn Foundation.  Other property owners received awards of distinction from the foundation for restorations they undertook themselves.

Winneshiek County barns included on the tour are:

The Lea-Oakley Barn is at 2279 County Road W 42 in Decorah.  This native limestone Norwegian barn was built by John Johnson in 1862

The Palmer barn at  1206 150th Street in Castalia was built by 200 to 300 men during a one day barn raising.  The barn was made with rock from a nearby quarry and oak harvested from woodlands on the farm

The Hotvedt barn at  1996 County Road A 14, west of Hesper on the state line is on a farm that was the original site for Mabel's Steam Engine Days

There are also barns on the tour in Allamakee and Howard counties.  Maps showing the locations of Northeast Iowa barns on the tour are available at all three Winneshiek County locations.