Picturesque barns along the National Road and US 40 in Indiana

As a city boy, old barns don’t draw me in as much as old houses do. But I noticed and photographed these barns as I bicycled across Indiana.

This dilapidated barn is on an original alignment of the National Road west of Dunreith.

National Road west of Dunreith

I stopped to rest near this barn in Henry County.

Henry County on US 40

In Hendricks County, this is the barn that accompanies the gorgeous Rising Hall home that I’ve featured on this blog before.

Rising Hall on US 40

This old barn is right up against the road in Putnam County.

Old barn on US 40, Putnam Co.

This barn is part of Kastle View Farms, a Hoosier Heritage Homestead, meaning it has been in the same family for more than 100 years.

Kastle View Farm on US 40, Putnam Co.

Advertising was once commonly painted onto barns. Part of an advertisement remains on this barn in Putnam County near Putnamville.

Barn

This striking green barn is in Clay County.

Green barn, Clay Co., US 40

Here’s another view of the green barn.

Green barn, Clay Co., US 40

Finally, near Cloverland in Clay County stands this old barn that looks like it may have been used as a store at some point.

Barn in Cloverland

I’ve driven the National Road from its beginning in Baltimore, MD to its end in Vandaila, IL. To read everything I’ve ever written about it, click here.

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Comments

20 responses to “Picturesque barns along the National Road and US 40 in Indiana”

  1. Greg Clawson Avatar
    Greg Clawson

    Jim, I enjoy old barns and have photographed a few, my the stories they could tell.
    Most have fallen into disrepair, but there are a few that are still being used. There is one nearby that is round, it is too far from the road for a good photo. I need to stop and ask the owners if I could take some photos of it,

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’ve had mixed luck asking owners – good luck if you do!

  2. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    I’m always amazed at the variation of design your barn photos show. We have a few octagon barns where I live, but everything else looks cut from the same pattern. Even these photos look like the farmers were building solely on personal need, and varied the size and design based on this.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I guess there are specific designs for specific needs, but I’m not sure how they all work.

  3. brandib1977 Avatar

    You know how much I love barns. Thanks for sharing these from your journey!!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      You’re welcome!

  4. Marc Beebe Avatar

    As a country boy I used to work in old barns. Some of which tried to fall down around me while I was working in them. It’s good to see there’s still some standing; that they haven’t all been replaced by Morton steel structures.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      There are plenty of old barns all over Indiana!

  5. Jim Lucas Avatar
    Jim Lucas

    The place in Cloverland was not a barn. It was a grocery store named McDermott. The locals called it Mac’s grocery store. After that it was an antique store. Where the gas station is at 40 and 340 used to be a drive-in restaurant called the Clover Leaf.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Thank you for clearing that up!

  6. tikanyis Avatar

    This dates me, but I remember a “round barn” at the southwest intersection of Shadeland Avenue (formerly “Road 100”) and East 56th Street (south of Fall Creek) in formerly unincorporated (pre-Unigov) Lawrence Township in northeast Marion County…missed it when the farm was sold for development and the intersection became an interstate interchange with I-465. I WISH I took a picture of it!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      If we could only know in advance the things we wish we had photographs of!

  7. M.B. Henry Avatar

    A green barn!! :) How unique! Love the Rising Hall too!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’ve never seen a green barn other than this one!

  8. Steve Mitchell Avatar

    I love farm buildings – here in New Zealand they are mostly quite utilitarian, built usually of wood and or corrugated iron, and like yours they are in varying states of repair. Great subjects for photographs, especially when there is activity in or around them!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      New barns here tend to be simple structures of steel. It’s the oldies that are interesting!

  9. Khürt Williams Avatar
    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Barn stars are common here too. Another thing we see a lot of are these quilt-like designs. Here’s an example.

      Indiana barn

      1. Khürt Williams Avatar

        Wow! That’s wonderful. I feel inspired to go barn hunting again. Maybe I’ll find something interesting.

  10. Khürt Williams Avatar

    I see very few white and green barns around New Jersey. There are so many red barns that I don’t photograph many barns anymore. 😃

    In my area of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, barns tend to have a barn star (sometimes called a primitive star) somewhere on the barn, usually over the front doors. When I was in Vermont, where it seems there’s a barn every other mile, the barn star was common to all of them.

    Are “barn stars” common to barns in Indiana?

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