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Do you know of any other unusual barns in Butler County? If you know of a worthy barn we missed, let us know! We would love to have your favorites for future editions. 866.856.8444 or Visitors@VisitButlerCounty.com
C) Harvest Valley Farms Market: 6003 Cunningham Rd. (Rt. 8) 724-898-FARM B) Harvest View Farm and Market: 143 Eagle Mill Rd., 724-282-8038 A) Butler Farm Market: 901 Evans City Rd. (Rt. 68), 724-486-2194 While you’re out enjoying The Barns of Butler County, be sure to stop by our farm markets where you can take a taste of Butler County home with you. Our markets feature products grown and made right here in Butler County.
From Our Fields to Your Fork 310 East Grandview Ave., Zelienople, PA 16063 866.856.8444 www.VisitButlerCounty.com
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Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau
Once you become a Butler County barn aficionado, take our quiz at www.VisitButlerCounty.com. If you miss two or less questions, we’ll send you a Barn Trail sticker!
Test Your Knowledge During your time spent here, we hope you’ll get out and explore the 790 miles we call home. From rustic and rural, to festive and friendly, experiences await visitors of all types. Scenic and serene parks offer just about any outdoor activity you can think of, on water or land. Museums, art galleries, specialty shops, festivals, wineries, historic sites and golf courses can be found around every turn. The four seasons bring delightful changes, so you’ll find something to fall in love with any time of the year. One of the best parts is – it’s easy to get here! The Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-79, I-80 and Routes 422, 19 and 8 all run through the county. So stop reading and plan your Butler County getaway today!
Create your Experience in Butler County!
Following Rt. 19
Following Rt. 68
Following Rt. 8
1. Powell Farm 2. Harmonist Ziegler-Wise Barn 3. Drover's Inn Farm 4. Betsy's Barn 5. Wimer Barn 6. Miller Farm
7. Marburger Dairy Barn 8. White Oak Farm 9. O'Planick Orchard 10. Sunnyview Farm
11. Maharg Farm 12. Fairfield Farm 13. Four Points 14. Sunset Hills 15. Cotacachi Barn 16. Love Barn
Route 1
Route 2
Route 3
We invite you to spend a day meandering along our scenic back roads to enjoy The Barns of Butler County. The 16 featured barns are tucked among our rolling hills in three different driving routes. So put the windows down, turn the radio up and forget about your e-mails for a while. Now is the time to enjoy an old-fashioned drive with no place to go except through the beautiful farmlands of Butler County.
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Alpaca Palace, (102 Knottingham Ln., Butler) 724-787-6214 Old Point Alpaca Park, (340 Rattigan Rd., Chicora) 724-445-7712 WestPark Alpacas, (1037 West Park Rd., Slippery Rock) 724-738-9380
If you really like Alpacas, visit these farms not included on the Barn Tour: 14) Sunset Hills Farm Alpacas 724-586-2412 13) Four Points Alpacas 724-586-9677 11) The Maharg Farm at Succop Conservancy – Guests are welcome to enjoy a tour of this barn. 724-586-2591
However, you are invited to arrange tours of these barns:
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PLEASE REMEMBER
Many of the barns on this trail are on private property. Please keep your distance and be respectful.
* Source: US Department of Agriculture 2007 Census of Agriculture
here’s nothing like a day in the country. The scent of freshlycut hay, the sound of cows mooing in the pasture and the sight of tractors planting tilled fields seem to transport us to a time when a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive defined "family entertainment."
Number of Farms: Approximately 1,100 Average Number of Acres: 116 Largest Valued Crop: Vegetables, melons and potatoes (ranked 12th out of 67 PA counties) Biggest Crop: Oats for grain (ranked 6th out of 67 PA counties)
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A Self-Guided Driving Trail
Butler County Farm Facts*
The Barns of Butler County Harmonist Ziegler-Wise Barn (2) 303 Mercer Road, Harmony
Year Built: 1805 Size: 50 x 73 ft. Unique Features: The region’s oldest barn
Need to stretch your legs? The Harmonist Ziegler-Wise Farm is the starting point for Harmony’s hiking and biking trail. Succop Conservancy, home of the Maharg Barn, also has a number of walking trails.
The Harmonist Ziegler-Wise Barn is home to the only surviving barn among the three communities established by the communal Harmony Society of German Lutheran Separatists. The barn was built in 1805 to shelter sheep and was modified in the 1850s. The silo, built of paving bricks, was added ca. 1950.
Powell Farm (1)
9600 Goehring Road, Cranberry Township
Harmony was the Harmony Society's first American home. The community’s 9,000 acres were bought by Abraham Ziegler in 1815 after the Harmonists moved to southwestern Indiana Territory. The farms were settled by several Ziegler children and other Mennonite families. Son David's farm included this barn and the adjacent house by the Connoquenessing Creek.
Year Built: 1864 Size: 36 x 90 ft. Unique Feature: Built with materials gathered from surrounding lands This farm is easily recognizable by the white fence that surrounds the farmhouse and barnyards. The farm was purchased by the Powell family in 1945 and is currently used to raise 50 head of both dairy and beef cattle.
Forebay
Where the barn overshoots its foundation, providing shelter for livestock.
When the barn was built in 1864, foundation stones and timber found nearby were used. The barn is covered in pine siding and originally had a four-foot overhang and Dutch doors which were removed so a new wall could be built flush with the siding and new sliding doors could be installed. A metal hay track and hay forks that were used to lift hay into the hay mow are still located inside the barn. A new white roof was installed in 2009 to reflect the heat and keep the barn cooler during the warm summer months.
Most barns built in Butler County are Pennsylvania Bank Barns. These barns were popular in the 19th century when German settlers began building them throughout the state. Bank barns are normally built into the side of a hill, allowing for entry on two separate levels. Animals are often boarded in the basement space while the second level is used for feed and grain storage.
Wake Up Near the Animals
is the 05, this Built in 18in the region!
The History of Drovers Inn
Drovers Inn Farm (3)
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The inn/home on this farm was built by the Harmonist Society sometime around 1810. It may have been built as a shepherd’s home and then used as an inn for travelers. It was possibly the only frame house built by the Harmonists, with all others being brick.
339 Mercer Road, Harmony
Year Built: 1835 Size: 40 X 80 ft. Unique Features: Stone barn features four silos Located just north of the town of Harmony, this property was included in Abraham Zeigler’s purchase of the community in 1815. Zeigler gave the farm to his daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband Aaron Schontz. The barn is constructed entirely of stone and features round date stones at each gable peak with the inscription: Aaron and Elizabeth Schontz. Jacob Wise purchased the house and barn in 1886 and it remains in the Wise family today. For more than 100 years, the farm was operated as a modern dairy farm. In addition to the unique stone barn, the four silos, one of which is built within the barn, are also unusual. The first two, built in 1914 and 1918, were among the first silos in the area. They were made of tile and used to store winter feed for the dairy herd. About 100 years after the barn was built, an additional silo was constructed with used brick.
In the mid 1990s much of the farm was sold to developers. Historic Harmony bought the barn in 1999 to ensure its preservation as a museum annex. The $180,000 investment included the site's purchase, an architect's historic structure report and repairs including more than 2,000 new roof slates, new siding stained a historically accurate red (probably the barn's third sheathing) and new electric service. The entire farm is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.
Silos can be constructed from many materials including steel, concrete and even bricks.
Marburger Dairy Barn (7) 1506 Mars-Evans City Road, Evans City
Year Built: 1980 Unique Features: Visitors can meet the cows who reside in this barn
Historical findings reveal that the upstairs was probably used as two large sleeping dormitories and the downstairs was a tavern. Double porches were built on both the front and back. A current restoration effort is underway to replace the front porches.
This barn is at least the third structure to be built on this site. The first barn remembered by the Marburger family caught on fire in 1912 when a threshing machine exploded.
The inn became an overnight stop for drovers moving livestock from the north to Pittsburgh. The side yard and barn held many pens where cattle and other livestock were held overnight as the drovers slept in the inn, thus the name, Drovers Inn Farm.
St o n
The lower level of the barn contained stalls for dairy cattle and horses that worked the surrounding farmland. Fifty dairy cattle were kept in individual stanchions and milked twice a day, producing as much as 300 gallons of milk daily. After tractors were introduced, a one story addition and another cement silo were added.
The next barn was a large bank barn that housed horses the family bred and raised. By the end of the 1930s, the farm changed over to a dairy farm and the barn was enlarged in the ‘60s. Unfortunately, history repeated itself in 1979 when an electrical fire destroyed the structure, one of the largest dairy barns in Western Pennsylvania. Nearly all of the cattle survived the fire. The present “free stall” barn was built in 1980 and features five silos that store feed. The barn is home to about 150 cows who are milked twice daily in a 12-cow milking parlor. Since the barn was built, several structural changes Dairy Fact have been made including opening up the walls A typical which were originally solid. Dairy cows tend to Pennsylvania cow will give more milk when they are cool – just one produce 7-10 gallons example of how Marburger Farm is dedicated to of milk a day. improving milk production.
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Don’t have enough time to see all the barns in a day? Then spend the night and experience a Butler County farm stay. You’ll find cows, horses or alpacas waiting to greet you when you wake up. D) Armstrong Farms: 724-352-2858 E) Locust Brook Lodge: 724-283-8453 F) McMurray House: 724-794-8188 G) Sunrise Cabin and Stargazer B&B at Sunset Hills Alpacas: 724-586-2412 H) The Inn at Four Points Alpacas: 724-586-9677 I) Heather Hill Inn: 724-538-5168
A large cistern was built into the wing opposite of the internal silo. It collected the rain water from the roof and used gravity to distribute water to each stall.