If you love barns, our region is the place to be. From the historic agricultural barns of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to the renovation of Historic Barns Park in Traverse City, our region is home to hundreds and hundreds of barns of all styles, ages, and uses.
On Old Mission Peninsula, one barn that dates back to the 1800s has been honored with the 2024 Barn of the Year Award for Family Agriculture by the Michigan Barn Preservation Alliance (an honor that just over 100 barns have ever received). It’s known, as all barns usually are, by the family name most associated with it over time: the Dean and Laura Johnson barn, or the Johnson barn for short.
Our IPR arts contributor Joe Beyer was intrigued after reading about the barn’s history in the Old Mission Gazette, so after reaching out for a tour he met Laura Johnson and Jane Boursaw (Johnson) at the barn for a discussion about history, architecture, and the amazing endurance of barns that he shared with IPR’s Dan Wanschura.
Links:
Get Involved with the Historic Agricultural Buildings of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Visit the Historic Barns Park in Traverse City
Get the Book: Barns of Old Mission Peninsula and Their Stories by Evelyn Johnson 2016
Quilt Barn Trail of Old Mission Peninsula
Barn of the Year Award from the Old Mission Gazette 2024
The Johnson Barn Gets a Makeover from the Old Mission Gazette 2021
A History of the Dean and Laura Johnson Barn from the Old Mission Gazette 2017
