The East Monitor Barn looks like a barn again for the first time in years. With the exterior restoration complete and campus infrastructure nearing the finish line, the next phase of work will fit up the barn’s interior as a training center and post-harvest food production space.
Phase Two of the 1901 East Monitor Barn Restoration is complete. The 123-year-old dairy barn is now straight, plumb, and resting on a new foundation. A fully repaired slate roof will protect the barn for generations to come.
Phase Two of restoration kicked off April 9, 2024. Work is happening on the ground (improving drainage) and in the air (stripping slate). Find details, photos, and introductions to two new team members in this post.
It’s a new year, and the East Monitor Barn is looking newer by the day! Since lowering the barn back onto the restored foundation, the restoration team has added steel reinforcement, reframed a large portion of the lower walls, and much more…
After three months defying gravity atop 164,000 pounds of steel I-beams, the roughly 500,000-pound East Monitor Barn touched down onto a restored foundation not long ago! In between our last update and lowering the barn, the restoration team completed finishing touches.
It’s incredible what can happen in just a few short months! How did the East Monitor Barn restoration team navigate the statewide flooding in July? What happened when they uncovered buried treasure at the restoration site? What thoughts did they share in a Stuck in Vermont feature? We get into all of that (and more!) in this July and August construction recap.
Video Alert!
Walk through and around the East Monitor Barn with Eva Sollberger in her latest edition of SevenDays’ Stuck In Vermont.
Project Supervisor Dan Lee has a meaningful history with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and its two iconic Monitor Barns. His journey started with a chance encounter with the West Monitor Barn during college, later leading to two impactful seasons as a Corps Member. Now, back on campus, Dan plays a crucial role in supporting subcontractors.
Vermont news station WCAX paid the East Monitor Barn a visit as part of Open Farm Week. They chatted with Executive Director Breck Knauft about the scope and the purpose of the restoration. Check out the video in this post!
Historic barn restoration, or a high-stakes Jenga game for giants? Right now, the East Monitor Barn looks like it could be both! But it wasn’t giants who put the 36 cribbing towers and 164,000 pounds of steel I-beams in place to support the now-levitating barn, it was an amazing team of normal-sized humans.