The Door County Historical Society will host its first Heritage Village at Big Creek yesteryear program of the season, a documentary “The Barn Raisers” on Saturday June 2. The award-winning film by Fourth Wall Films will screen at Collins Learning Center, 2041 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
"The Barn Raisers" is a historical feature film; the documentary tells the story of barns in the Midwest by examining them through the lens of architecture. What do barn settings, styles, methods and materials tell us about the people who built them, the life they lived, and the role these vanishing country cathedrals played in the settling and building of a growing nation? Barns were constructed by farmer-craftsmen, professional builders who traveled from job to job and even architects like Frank Lloyd Wright. A number of Wisconsin barns are featured in the film, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway Barn at Taliesin in Spring Green, the 1897 Dairy Barn at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Old World Wisconsin barns, and the story of notable African-American barn builder Alga Shivers who designed and constructed many of Vernon County's round barns in the early 20th century.
“How could we create something from practically nothing with just a handful of tools and no drawings? The answer is in the barns,” said Rudy Christian, a traditional timber framer and barn preservationist from Burbank, Ohio. “The Barn Raisers” paints a cinematic portrait of barns and builders, an important way of life that has been largely forgotten, and the film reminds us that these remnants from America’s rural past are still here to be interpreted and experienced.
Wisconsin's own historian and award-winning writerJerry Apps is interviewed for THE BARN RAISERS. Jerry is the author of numerous books, including "The Barns of Wisconsin", "One Room Country Schools: History and Recollections", "In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story". Visit Amazon.com for to own his wonderful work!
“The Barn Raisers” producer Tammy Rundle and her husband Director Kelly Rundle are Emmy-nominated historical documentary filmmakers. The Rundle team is passionate about telling forgotten but important Midwestern stories. When they realized that many barns disappearing across the rural landscapes, they determined to capture the story of our nation’s vanishing country cathedrals.
In 2018, the Door County Historical Society is celebrating the year of the barn. The day-long history tour will feature northern Door historic barns on Saturday, July 21, and details will be forthcoming early next month.
The member fee for the June 2nd feature “The Barn Raisers” is $5 and the guest fee is $10. To make a reservation for the 1:00 pm showing, mail your check to the Door County Historical Society Office, P. O. Box 71, Sturgeon Bay 54235. The Collins Learning Center doors will open at 12:30; a limited number of tickets will be available depending on advance reservations. If you are unable to attend, copies of “The Barn Raisers” are available for sale from the Door County Historical Society; the cost is $20. For further information, contact the Door County Historical Society at (920) 421-2332 or email [email protected]
Founded in 1926, the Door County Historical Society keeps history alive for future generations through the collection, preservation and sharing of the heritage of Door County. The Society is a membership organization that operates two interpretive sites: Eagle Bluff Lighthouse in Peninsula State Park and the Heritage Village at Big Creek in Sturgeon Bay.