In the early 1860s, the production of burley tobacco introduced great economic promise to the state of Kentucky. The crop’s success witnessed an immediate surge in the demand for local farmhands, and the primary tool of their trade: the H-frame barn. Before long, this unique barn dominated the rural landscape, and came to be known as the “Kentucky Tobacco Barn.”

Ever since, these barns have stood watch over the land and served the small farmers who used them to dry chandeliers of tobacco. They have weathered hundreds of seasons, seen countless hours of labor that often times yielding cracked and bloodied hands. They have stood through Civil War and civil disobedience. They have overheard the voices of small, cheerful children, seeing these barns as their own medieval castles, surrounded by a moat made of hay, or as a pirate ship sailing off to uncover treasure.

However, in 2005 the U. S. government officially signed the death warrant for thousands of these American treasures: they lifted the limitations on the amount of tobacco single farmers can produce. This change in legislation has triggered a dramatic decrease in the number of small farmers who can economically survive, and is quickly rendering their barns obsolete as they are being emptied of their final crop.

Antique Arbor is dedicated to finding new homes for the distinctive wood materials that have made these barns lasting pieces of American history. After a hundred or more years many of these barns are starting to be driven earthward. However, although they can no longer stand, the quality and beauty of their wood still exists.

So ultimately, it may have been the daydreaming children who were able to see the barns for what they truly were. Antique Arbor’s reclaimed wood may actually be your castle, your ship, or your house, just waiting to take on its new form.