Her house is fairly modern, but it’s on an old Ellensburg homestead with two big barns, both dating to pre-1910. We got a tour of the place in January, and I sent Bernie the link to the Washington heritage barn registry. He’s spent the past 5 months clearing out the first barn, and identifying the work that needs to be done. He’d like to make sure the barns are preserved, and hopefully he can convince his mom.
We’ve seen so many historic barns fall into ruin around here, and it’s sad. The huge barn on our road was ignored for years, and it finally started to fall in on itself about 4 years ago. But a lot of the original barns from the Suise Creek settlement (Finnish settlement from 1900-1920 that includes our little farm) still stand. I hope to find the time to research the properties, then photograph the houses and barns. Maybe at least that way, they'll be preserved through photography.
