Harrisdale barn, built in the summer of 1920, was a Gordon-Van Tine Company “kit” of pre-cut lumber shipped by rail from the Davenport company. It was actually the Harris’ family home during the summer of 1921, when their old house was torn down and the current house was built. Raymond Harris, Ardyth Harris Gillespie’s grandfather, hired help for much of the farm work while he served as “general contractor” for building the house. The home is as lovely as this brilliant reddish-orange roofed barn is today on this Heritage farm (150+ years in the same family). (2024 photo)
Today the barn is used for storing hay, straw, feed, and farm supplies. In the spring it also houses a flock of 15 Katahdin ewes and two rams. Currently there are 24 lambs (See 2024 photo below). Katahdin hair sheep, developed in the 1950s, are raised chiefly for meat. They grow a short, thick, coarse overcoat of hair for winter, which they then shed in the spring, leaving a softer, short coat of hair, as opposed to sheep breeds that have wool coats requiring yearly shearing.
