VIENNA — If these barns could talk… Jayne Helton Williams says she always has liked old barns. She likes to see the cobblestone foundations, the old logs and the hand-hewn timbers. She has a rustic soul and as a person who grew up on farm, she knows about the blood, sweat and tears it took to build the barns and all the hard farm work that took place within them. If these barns could talk, oh the stories they would tell.

Williams recently completed a “bucket list” project with her 2019 calendar titled “Maries County Century Farm Barns.” Her idea began with her love of barns. She was raised on a crop and cattle farm along the Little Maries River owned by her parents, Vernon and Gladys (Renfrow) of the Meta area of Maries County. She appreciates what the barn symbolizes to farm families who grew up playing and working in the barns. On the inside page of her calendar, she thanks those farmers who gave her permission to use their barn on her calendar. She writes, “I have always admired the historic character of old barns, whether they have been restored or still reflect their weathered authenticity. Behind some of these faded barn doors lie many untold stories of those who feed our nation and contribute to the heritage of Maries County.”

So many of the barns in Maries County are getting old and Williams wanted to document them, preserve them in photographs that can be enjoyed by more people. It is a form of tribute to the rugged county early settlers and the farms they worked and kept in their families. She got the idea for the calendar and obtained a list of Century Farms from the county extension office. She had a plan and she moved forward with it and along the way she learned a lot about the old barns in Maries County. She heard some interesting stories, too, such as a barn built with lumber bought on credit from a neighbor with a saw mill. Then the barn’s owner bought a black and white television and the neighbor with the saw mill became upset because he had not been paid yet the barn owner now had a television. So, the barn owner borrowed money to pay the neighbor for the barn lumber.

Williams said she tried to match the individual barns with an appropriate time of year, even if the link was small, such as a red barn for February and Valentine’s Day and trees budding in the spring for April. Williams enjoyed her outings to the barn sites and she walked around the barns, looking for the best angle to take the photos. She used the camera on her phone. 

Modern Litho printed the calendars on heavy paper. Williams paid for all of this herself. She gave each of the owners of the featured barns a copy of the calendar. She has extras and is selling them for a nominal fee while they last. The barn calendar is a project Williams said she always wanted to do. 

The cover of the calendar is a Maries County sunset along MCR 316 on the east side, the road where Williams lives. It’s a barn owned by Big Iron Cattle Company—Jimmy Zumwalt. She liked the sunset and barn combination and chose it for the cover.

January’s featured barn is owned by Roy and Bonnie Dillon, Highway 68 in the St. James area of Maries County. The photograph was taken when it was snowing. The barn’s exterior is corrugated tin painted white. It’s a photograph of a beautiful snow scene. The original owners of the Century Farm were Everett and Josie Dillon who acquired the farm in 1908. The current owners are Roy and the late Bonnie Dillon and Edna and the late Terry Dillon. 

February’s barn is owned by Tipton Farms in the Vichy area. It is a wooden, red barn (for Valentine’s Day) photographed in a snow scene. The original owner was H.C. Tipton, who acquired the farm in 1902. The current owners are Wilma and the late Leroy Tipton.

For March, the barn-scene is one with lambs in the yard of the corrugated tin barn. Williams selected this barn for the month of March on the calendar because of the spring lambs in the photograph. The Century Farm is owned by Joseph and Taffiney Newbound who live in the Belle area. The original owners were David and Malissa Holman who acquired the farm in 1881. 

April’s barn selection is the big barn built by Tilghman Moses Feeler, an early and prosperous farmer along the Gasconade River in the Vienna area. The farm was acquired in 1883 and was named a Century Farm while owned by Russell Burke and Jolene Feeler. Williams said the barn is one of the largest in the county. She likes the old foundation stones on the big, wooden barn. She chose it for April because of the leaves beginning to come out on the trees around the barn. 

May’s barn has a rainbow in the photograph, which was taken by Mary Jane Steinman who told Williams she had a nice photo of the barn and a rainbow. The Century Farm is located in the Argyle area and is owned by James and Mary Jane Steinman. Original owners who acquired the farm in 1908 were Joseph and Anna Steinman. 

June’s barn is from the west side of the county. It’s a well kept wooden barn with new red tin siding. It’s owned by Eileen A. Leuthen. The farm was acquired in 1891 by Bartholomew Fitzpatrick. 

The barn for July was selected in honor of World War II Veteran, the late Alfred Wagner. It currently is owned by his widow, Pauline Wagner. The farm in the Paydown Road and Vienna area was acquired in 1900 by Alfred Casper Wagner.  Williams put an American flag in the hay bale on the outside of the old barn that also featured a quilt patch cutout on it as Pauline is a fine quilter. 

August’s barn is the second oldest structure featured in the Century Farms calendar. It is owned by Mark and Stephanie Buschmann and Lawrence and Dorothy Buschmann. The original owners were Henry and Joseph Buschmann, who acquired the farm in 1869. The old, wooden barn is in good shape and has been taken care of. The sunflower patch showing the Century Farm sign is a patch of flowers at the top of the farm’s driveway. 

The September barn photograph features a sunset on the large, old barn currently owned by Mike and Robin Kleffner in the Brinktown area. Williams said she liked this barn’s stone foundation. The original owners of the farm, acquired in 1911, were Theodore and Theresa Kleffner. 

The old, working barn on the Thomas and Marilyn Kloeppel farm in the Dixon area of the county is the one Williams chose for October. It features the Sycamore trees in fall colors and also a cow and calf in the barnyard. The old bell that was on the farm when it was homesteaded now serves as the structure that holds the Missouri Century Farm sign for the Kloeppel farm. 

The November featured photograph was taken by LaVaughn Zimmer of the Elrod barn on Highway 42 East that was destroyed by fire in March of 1993. It is the oldest barn pictured in the calendar. The Marvin and LaVaughn Zimmer farm was acquired by Thomas Benton Elrod, Sr. in 1856. The barn has lean-to on two sides and was built from logs from the farm. In the background of the photograph is the old log house where nine Elrod children were raised. 

December’s selection is the red barn on the George A. and Nina Stratman farm, established in 1914. It shows the old nativity scene the Stratmans put up in the east side door of the barn that is close to Highway 42 West near Vienna. Nina Stratman said the nativity was given to the family by George’s sister, the nun, Sister Agnella Stratman of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, whose mother house is in Ruma, Illinois. It was going to be thrown away and Sister Agnella brought it to the farm in a pickup truck.  The Stratman family has had the nativity for over 25 years. George repainted the pieces of the nativity and that was some time ago, Stratman said. The farm along the Maries River was acquired by Frank Stratman in 1914. In the barn’s interior, the old logs and hand-hewn timbers can be seen.

The finishing touch on of the 2019 Maries County Century Farm Barns is “The Farmer’s Prayer” by Ronald Knox on the back of the calendar. The poem is printed on top of a photograph of large hay bales in a field surrounded by trees.