National Barn Alliance’s 2016 Spring Meeting to be Hosted by Preservation Program at Belmont College in Ohio!
The National Barn Alliance (NBA), whose mission is to protect and preserve America’s historic barns and rural heritage, is partnering with the Building Preservation/Restoration (BPR) Program at Belmont College to offer a unique glimpse into the physical labor and craftsmanship behind saving our barns. The Spring Meeting will be held at Belmont College in St. Clairsville, Ohio, from April 8-10, 2016. BPR Program students will be leading hands-on demonstrations during the conference. The meeting is open to NBA members, but registration is required as available space is limited.
The NBA is pleased to make this connection with one of the country’s leading hands-on preservation training programs, led by Program Coordinator, David Mertz, since 1989. Mr. Mertz also serves on the Board of the Preservation Trades Network (PTN)—an organization that the NBA is partnering with again for their annual conference later in the year. The NBA holds an open Board Meeting focused on the organization’s major initiatives and bottom line each year which also seeks to introduce the organization to a new group of Preservation students at institutes of higher learning. In 2013, this event was held in conjunction with the Department of Historic Preservation at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and, after a failed attempt due to a snow storm in 2014, with the Historic Preservation Program at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania, in 2015.
Danae Peckler, NBA Board member and Past President, is excited for this year’s meeting at Belmont and the hands-on learning experience that it will provide. “Education, networking, and the physical act of preservation are three of the four tenets in our mission, so this meeting really hits at the core of what we seek to do as an organization,” she observed. “We are thrilled to be hosted by Belmont College and the talented students in its renowned preservation trades program.”
The NBA anticipates a number of representatives from its organizational allies and other preservation groups will also be in attendance. “Our Spring Meeting will be held just two weeks before the Friends of Ohio Barns’ 17th annual conference in Butler County, so together, we hope to increase awareness and support for barn preservation in the state, at large,” said current NBA President, Don Truax. “We want people to realize that historic farms and barns embody the built record of everyone’s story – and our story is worth the fight.”
If you are interested in attending the NBA’s Spring Meeting at Belmont College in St. Clairsville, Ohio, April 9-10, or want to learn more about this great event, please contact info@barnalliance.org. Space will be limited, so please remember to register early. NBA Membership forms can also be downloaded from their website here: https://www.barnalliance.org/join-us/.
This day long workshop on September 19 will provide practical solutions from experts on how to maintain, rehabilitate, and adapt old barns for today’s needs. Participants will learn about the history and technology of barns as well as barn maintenance, adaptive reuse, and preservation. Rick Collins of Trillium Dell Timberworks will headline our workshop speakers. The workshop will also highlight a new Indiana law which offers a 100 percent property tax deduction for heritage barns not used for farming or business purposes.