Month: December 2024

This foursome was found in an Omaha hospital gift shop and took up residence in our house. Modeled after the town musicians of Bremen, Germany, these animals, common on the farm, work for a living. They provide humor, happiness, and honor where they live, and thrive in the world outdoors. 

The regal rooster on the top commands the show, crowing loudly, making sure that this quartet on the farm gets royal treatment and care from all who know them. The cow and the pig are dressed alike. Could they be related? They have different ideas of how to spend their day. One grazes in a field while the other roots in the mud, until cleaned up to pose here. The woolly sheep is dressed for winter, and three of the four are wearing a wreath of greenery with red berries in honor of the holiday. May these four, posing here and looking quite noble, wish you a very Merry Christmas.

A round barn was an exciting new idea for Scott County farmer Charles Nebergall. He discovered an architect named Benton Steele, who had built dozens of round barns in Indiana and Kansas, and hired him to design and construct this barn in 1914. It is 56 feet in diameter and features clay tile with square windows on the bottom half, board-and-batten siding with rectangular windows on the upper half, and a two-pitched conical roof with a cupola. It has no silo.

Originally a central drive divided the interior between the horse stalls and cattle stanchions, with grain bins and feed areas for the animals  on each side of the central drive, as well as separate hay chutes. It was owned by the Nebergall family until 1992, is now owned by the John Penne family, and is filled with antiques on two levels. The location is 9478 145th St., Davenport.