Perseverance Farm: a unique farm restoration

By Nancy Kauffman

            Connection Writer

Weaving in and out of the restored outbuildings on Barbara and Joe Schaefer’s circa 1780 Berks County farm is much like taking a trip back in time.

            The property is complete with a storybook pond and a hand-dug well that, until fifteen years ago, provided water for the families who had lived there.

            “You couldn’t see the well, much less the pond,” Barbara said, as she recalled the couple’s first visit to the property in 1998. “It was so overgrown,” she said.

            But, beneath the undergrowth and the years of neglect, Barbara and Joe saw much more than an old farmhouse and its dilapidated buildings.

            “This was a dream we both had for many years,” Joe said, as he recalled their lengthy farm hunting experience. The couple had lived all across the country, but as retirement neared, Barbara and Joe began searching for a property closer to their Pennsylvania roots.

            After six years, the Schaefer’s found what they were looking for.

            “It was here,” Barbara said, referring to what the couple has dubbed Perseverance Farm. “It just needed a lot of work.” “We wanted something that hadn’t been gutted of the old features,” she added. As to the cluster of outbuildings, she said, “We are both involved with animals and we can use the outbuildings.”

            After nearly two years of restoring the house and taming the grounds, the y turned their attention to the outbuildings.

            “The first thing we looked at was the barn,” Joe said, and explained that the forebay was ready to collapse. They began the process of meeting with builders. “a lot of people don’t want to touch old buildings,” Joe said, and recalled the first builder whose solution was to “knock it down and put in a new pole barn.” “These buildings all had special uses,” Joe explained. “Each was designed for a specific animal, equipment, or food storage.”

            After speaking to a number of contractors who were “reluctantly willing” to tackle the project, the Schaefers met Jim Slabonik, whose Boyertown business, Hometown Carpentry, Inc., specializes in barns (dismantling, reconstructing, and repairing), aged woods and hand hewn beams.

            “Jim impressed us,” Joe said. “He was willing to do it our way: recycle the materials and put things back the way they were.”

            With a knowledgeable and enthusiastic builder on board, the Schaefers began work on restoring the barn.

            Jim dismantled the crumbling forebay and salvaged what he calls ‘the good stuff.’ “We might get six good feet out of a twelve foot chestnut timber,” he explained.

            Joe recalls that the structures condition was so tenuous the Jim Slabonik was the only one who would go up on its roof.

            While most of the salvaged materials went into the barn’s restoration, some found their way into other projects. “We used some of the materials to make a new roof over the well,” Jim said.

            Beam by beam, post by post, Hometown Carpentry resurrected the barn. Jim and his crew crafted authentically-styled new barn doors and installed them with old strap hinges. Even the posts supporting the new forebay were chamfered to match the original construction. The new posts were then reseated on large stones just as they had been in the early 1800’s.

            Dane K Masonry of Bechtelsville, who had handled the stonework in the Schaefer’s farmhouse restoration, repointed the stone walls, seamlessly integrating the new pointing with old German (or raised) style pointing.

            With the barn fully restored, and a skilled team of craftsmen in place, Joe and Barbara began to tackle the other outbuildings. A wagon shed that had originally been used to store equipment was next. Then came the smokehouse and bake house/summer kitchen, complete with a working beehive oven. Then the corn crib, which became a chicken house. A new sheep shed was constructed using the barns old siding. Even the outhouse was faithfully restored.

            “We saved everything,” Joe said. “I pulled and straightened all the old nails. Now every time we hang something up, I grab an old nail.”

            Even though the Schaefer’s remained true to the historic integrity of the farm, it is not without their own unique imprint.

            Joe and his brother, William, built a gazebo by the pond. Barbara requested that it cantilever over the pond so she could lean over the rail to feed the fish. Joe stocked the pond with koi and bass. They have planted over seven-hundred evergreens, the start of their own Christmas tree farm. After 9/11 they put up a flag pole.

            And then there are the animals. Tom and Jerry, the two resident Narragansett turkeys, gobble as they strut under the barns new forebay. They represent just one of the heritage breeds (native American breeds developed in North America ) that Joe and Barbara have welcomed to the farm.

            In just six short years, the Shaefers have managed to rebuild centuries of history. But they’re not finished yet.

            “We met two older women who used to visit their grandparents on the farm,” Barbara explained. “They said that the only thing missing (from the original layout) is the spring house.”

            In clearing the grounds, Joe and Barbara uncovered a pile of rocks by the pond, which could possibly be what is left of that structure.

            “Someday I’d like to rebuild the springhouse,” she mused.

Printed in "The Community Connection" on February 11th, 2005.

Pictures printed with this article....