BY VERONICA STIENBURG, ARCHIVIST
The Barn on Providence Motherhouse property has more of a history than you might think. We aren’t sure how old it is, but it was on the property when the Sisters purchased Heathfield in 1930; although, it was in a slightly different location and was facing a different direction than we know it. The barn was located closer to the Motherhouse. From looking at aerial photographs, it looks like it was just north of the root cellar. It was moved in 1963-64 as part of the construction project to build the Administration wing. The driveway near the laundry room & boiler room runs right where the barn was originally located. When the barn was moved further south on the property its orientation was changed, so the gable ends faced North-South, instead of their original East-West.
In the Fall of 2000, the idea was proposed to restore the old barn on the Motherhouse property so that part of it could be used as the home of the Heirloom Seed Sanctuary. In the summer of 2001 this idea came to fruition and the Barn was renovated to create a beautiful Seed Sanctuary and workshop space, including installing a new washroom, adding a metal roof, and re-siding the exterior of the barn.
At some point the barn’s original boards were covered over.
Removing the covering layer.
A layer of Tyvek was placed over the original boards and was a sided with a new layer of boards.
