The Lower Macungie Township Historical Society honored Dr. Don Yoder, co-founder and director of the Pennsylvania Folklife Society and the Kutztown Folk Festival, and Bob Ensminger, emeritus professor of geography at Kutztown University, during the Lower Macungie Barn Expo 2015.
Patrick Donmoyer, building conservator and exhibit specialist at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, presented certificates on behalf of the State Senate while Rep. Ryan Mackenzie presented certificates on behalf of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 137. The barn expo was a cooperative effort of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, the Lower Macungie Township Historical Society, the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania, and the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center and Library.
“It is really an honor and privilege to be here on behalf of the House of Representatives to recognize Dr. Yoder and Mr. Ensminger for their contributions to the historical record specifically on the topic of barns,” said Mackenzie. “As somebody who grew up in the area, I’ve seen how our area has changed over the years and keeping that memory of those barns is so important.”
Yoder, an emeritus professor of Folklife Studies and Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, was the first to promote the Pennsylvania barn as a symbol of ethnic identity and cultural heritage in order to promote the preservation of what has been called an iconic structure.
“This [award] means that the legislative body of Pennsylvania shows its interest in Pennsylvania heritage and in my long career in writing about it and my use of the term folklife and who the Pennsylvania Dutch were and so forth,” said Yoder. “I’m concerned that so many [barns] are unfunctioning now except among the old order of Mennonites and old order Amish and a few of our Lutheran and Reform, the majority of Pennsylvania Dutch, but I hope that the best examples can be preserved,” said Yoder.
Ensminger, author of the first comprehensive study of the forebay bank barn, has researched and written a number of articles that brought a greater understanding of the importance of the Pennsylvania barn. His work is responsible for the movement to protect and preserve the Pennsylvania barn.
“It [award] means that it’s fun to find barns and share them with other people and hope that they’ll be preserved,” said Ensminger. “They [barns] represent the architectural heritage of the Pennsylvania German culture. They’re the outstanding building along with the farmhouse of the farm scene in Pennsylvania and therefore we should preserve like we preserve all important monuments.”
Donmoyer said the Heritage Center likes to be involved with projects not just within its immediate community, but also throughout the region.
“In many ways people look to us as the hub of Pennsylvania Dutch culture and so for that reason it’s important that we’re a part of things happening all over,” said Donmoyer.
“We do get a lot of queries at the society about people looking into the history of their barns and I’m just here to learn more, too. There’s a lot of interest in barn preservation, but it’s such a big, literally, a big project that is often so expensive that we can provide some resources for people,” said Brendan Strasser, Kutztown Historical Society.
Donmoyer gave a presentation on his area of expertise, Hex Signs: Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars.
“The Lehigh Valley is somewhat different than the Berks County landscape. Berks County already has a very well developed appreciation and a barn tour associated with them,” said Donmoyer.
Donmoyer is hoping to try the same thing in Lehigh Valley and create a regional tour. He said Lehigh has fundamentally different designs, fundamentally different traditions, and similar barn types, but different landscapes.
“This is basically an uncharted area when it comes to developing a hex sign tour or something like what we have in Berks,” said Donmoyer.
Donmoyer said the significance of the stars found on the barns of Berks is that they are part of a rich agricultural history.
“When we look at any aspect of folk culture we’ll find that everything is interrelated; everything from people’s religious beliefs, their cosmological beliefs, their agriculture beliefs. When you look at an agriculture group of people who use images of the heavens on their barns, stars, it speaks volumes about their interest in the interconnectivity between the heavens and the Earth and the way in which that affected the agricultural process and was a part of not only their religious lives, but their agricultural lives and part of their productivity,” said Donmoyer.
“This is the perfect icon for our Pennsylvania German Heritage,” said SaraJane Williams, president for Lower Macungie Historical Society. “These majestic barns were built by wonderful craftsmen. They contain all of our heritage and we don’t want to lose them so we want to find ways to help barn owners preserve their barns and to create awareness about the significance and uniqueness of Pennsylvania German barns.”
“Actually, the most important feature is it’s spiritual; you have to feel it. That there were special things that went on here 100 years ago, 175 years ago, and it was a world of nature. It was a world dominated by the natural world and not mechanization,” said Greg Huber, Macungie.
“The importance of this project is to raise awareness of the importance of the Pennsylvania barn especially in areas that are situated geographically between suburbia and urban landscapes and agricultural landscapes,” said Donmoyer.
Donmoyer said part of the reason that Lower Macungie is such an important area is that it has a rich history in agriculture, it has a tremendous number of barns and yet many of those barns today are not being used for agriculture. He said Lower Macungie is right in the line of division between suburbia and agriculture.
“Raising awareness in areas like this will have a tremendous effect as we move further west into more rural agriculture properties. The more barns that are preserved along this corridor the better because it means that that appreciation is going to characterize this area and continue to keep the barn as an important part of the landscape,” said Donmoyer.
The barn expo covered all aspects from environmental issues to barn stars to ways to help barn owners whether it’s repurposing barns for business or for homes or apartments.
