Enjoy a Weekend of Iowa Barnstorming September 14-15
If you are looking for something different to do on a September weekend, consider taking a self-guided tour of Iowa’s historic barns.
The Iowa Barn Foundation is holding its annual All-State Tour on Saturday and Sunday, September 14-15, featuring a record 92 barns across the state that will be available for visiting inside and out from 9-5 both days. Iowa is proud to host the largest barn tour the country!
The fall tour highlights barns that have received a restoration grant from the foundation and those that have received an Award of Distinction or Preservation Award for restoration funded by the owner. Many of the owners will be on hand to share their memories and regard for the structures and answer your questions.
The Foundation is especially excited to have a record eleven round barns included in the tour this year. Of the approximately 200,000 barns built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, only 250 were round – including some octagonal and multi-sided.
There are a record eleven round barns on the fall tour this year, six of which are on the fall tour for the very first time this year. These barns feature some of the most amazing design and architecture you will find in any building in the state of Iowa.
The self-guided fall tour is free and open to the public, made possible by member donors. An online tour guide can be found on at iowabarnfoundation.org/barn-tours. Member donors receive the foundation’s spring and fall magazines in their mailboxes filled with barn photos and stories as well as a printed guide to our spring and fall barn tours. Learn more about membership at iowabarnfoundation.org/product/membership. Questions can be emailed to [email protected].
As a volunteer-led non-profit, the Iowa Barn Foundation’s goal is to maximize member donations to provide restoration grants to save the state’s historic barns. Since being founded in 1997, the foundation has given out $2.3 million dollars in grants to help save nearly 300 barns. Member donors receive our spring and fall magazines in their mailboxes filled with barn photos and stories as well as a printed guide to our spring and fall barn tours.
Kaufman Barn, 6206 Streff Road, St. Donatus (Dubuque County) – From St. Donatus, take US 52 north 2.2 miles, and then turn right (northeast) onto 291st Street (which turns into Streff Road), and travel 0.7 miles. Barn is on the right. The 30×80-foot bank barn is an early Iowa barn which was recently restored. The farm was homesteaded in the 1850s. Barn has table roof, large rolling doors on a track, entirely constructed from wood. A dirt floor remains with its original milk stanchions, horse stalls, long beam construction. The haymow door slides down the front of the barn on a track suspended by two large counterweights. Two log structures and a stone house are on the property. The barn recently received an award from the Dubuque County Historical Society (Award of Distinction).
Steines Barn, 36746 Bellevue-Cascade Road, Bellevue (Jackson County) – Go 1/2 mile west of Bellevue on IA 62, then turn right on Bellevue-Cascade Road (D61) and go 1.5 miles to barn. This simple, primitive barn was built in the early 1900s
Engelke Barn, 25379 297th Avenue, Bellevue (Jackson County) – Go 1/2 mile west of Bellevue on IA 62, then turn right on Bellevue-Cascade Road (D61) and turn right onto 297th Ave. This early 1900s barn stands at the end of dead-end road next to the county’s rodeo grounds was lovingly restored in 2018-19.
Trenkamp Barn, 893 450th Ave. Preston (Jackson County) – Take IA 64 east out of Preston, turn south onto 450th Ave. Past cemetery. Barn was built by Justus Berg in 1926. Bernard and Correna Trenkamp purchased the farm in 1945 and used it for dairy cows and horses, and when the horses were no longer needed, the dairy was expanded. When the Trenkamps retired in 1974, Steve and Doris purchased the farm. Steve has been restoring the barn using native lumber when possible (Award of Distinction).
