Barns: Abandoned and Not So Abandoned

A Barn Just Off California Highway 41

Something about deserted or abandoned buildings seems to speak to people. I’m not sure why so many are attracted to something so lonely. Maybe they identify with the mood of something being left behind. We saw the old barn in the header photo above next to a gas station / mini mart where we stopped in the middle of nowhere as a pit stop.

I’m not 100% sure this barn was abandoned, but it certainly appears that way from the outside. I saw it on the way from Paso Robles to Madera a year ago on the way to my nephew’s for Thanksgiving. It was definitely not a commercial area, but we were grateful for that one mini mart that had a public restroom on a long highway. Everything around it was agricultural land.

Barns Closer to Home

The barn below is a bit closer to home. It belonged to the old York Mountain Winery in Templeton, California. The winery was sold a couple of years ago to Epoch Winery. Although they are trying to preserve the history of York Winery, one of the first in our north county, they recently tore down the barn.