Barn Raising in Collinsville Starts Today

Starting today, the Timber Framers Guild will partner with the Collinsville Illinois Area Recreation District (CARD) and Trillium Dell Timberworks in a project to repair and re-assemble the historic 36' x 85' Gindler Barn at a TFG workshop running through July 19 at Willoughby Farm, Collinsville, Illinois.

The 19th century Gindler Barn was donated to CARD in 2007; it will be the second restored barn to be re-erected at Willoughby Farm. CARD oversees more than 400 acres of parkland and provides recreational programs and special events for the community. As part of this program, CARD purchased the 40-acre Willoughby Farm, a community fixture in the Collinsville area since the 1900s and one of the last significant tracts of open space along the Collinsville bluff line.

CARD plans to make Willoughby Farm into a living history farmstead and a real working Midwestern farm as it was in the 1920s to 1950s. Another goal is for visitors to gain appreciation for the outdoors while hiking or strolling on interpretive trails in the conservation area. The farm area is 10 acres and the conservation reserve area is 30 acres. Willoughby Farm will also demonstrate and promote sustainability practices of the era and how those same values can play a significant role in protecting the environmental investments of our present and future.

Willoughby Farm is located on a secluded hilltop farmstead 15 miles northeast of St. Louis.

More information is online here.