-Photo by Deanna Rohrer
This majestic barn makes a statement with its gambrel roof and deep red color in the Iowa countryside. Deanna Rohrer's photo captures the sunlight hitting one side, creating shadows from the nearby trees.

ESTHERVILLE — Iowa barns come in all shapes and sizes, colors and conditions — and Deanna Rohrer has taken photos of barns in all of these states and more.

Rohrer, a retired Emmet County district conservationist from Estherville, said her interest in photographing barns began several years ago. Through her job working for the USDA — Natural Resources Conservation Service, she primarily worked with farmers and their land to keep their soil intact.

“So when I was out and around the countryside, I would take pictures of barns,” she said.

Her travels over the years have taken her through the heart of Iowa – from northern counties like Emmet and Kossuth down to more centrally located Humboldt, Webster, Calhoun and Hamilton, to more southern areas like Boone and Marshall counties.

“I would see a really neat one that I really liked, and the sunlight was just perfect on it,” said Rohrer, “and I would take a picture and bring it home to show my husband.”

-Photo by Deanna Rohrer
Deanna Rohrer captured this barn in a wooded setting with a dusting of snow on its roof. Each Friday for more than 10 years, Rohrer has posted a different barn photo on Facebook, calling her posts, "Farm Friday."

But she felt the photos were “just too pretty not to share.”

“It’s just such simple beauty that you can see in these barns,” Rohrer said. “It just seems like it was a simpler time as well.”

So, she began sharing — posting one barn photo, every Friday, on Facebook.

And she’s been doing that for more than 10 years. She calls her post “Farm Friday.”

“I’ve snapped some absolutely gorgeous pictures of barns,” Rohrer said.

Some have been in pristine condition, others have been run-down or dilapidated — even leaning to one side. Still others, somewhere in between.

“I enjoyed being out in the countryside,” Rohrer said, “finding old barns dotting the landscape, and capturing their essence and beauty by sharing them with family and friends.”

Among the more popular photos she’s taken are those of the more rare round barns, dating back to the 1800s.

“Most were used for dairy, I think,” Rohrer said.

Traditional red barns with a gambrel roof are also a favorite. She said that red was used because it contained linseed oil and iron oxide to help preserve the barn, preventing rot, mold, and fungus. Over the years, she said, as paint improved, white was introduced.

“I think the most interesting are the ones that actually have a hayloft above them.” Rohrer said. “Those would be your two-story barns.”

She especially loves seeing those with the haymow door on the outside.

Also of interest to Rohrer is how barns have been repaired over the years. She said people who went through the depression years would often use anything they had on hand to repair a barn, so one might see different colors of tin and wood used throughout the barn.

Today, those who can afford to are modernizing their barns.

“I’ve been in two very distinct ones that I remember,” Rohrer said. “In one, the whole loft they had turned into a music studio.”

In another, she recalled how the family had restored their old barn so it could be used for family reunions and other gatherings.

“It was very nice when you walked in, and the whole upstairs was completely redone,” she said. “They had a kitchen, pool tables, ping-pong tables, couches,” and even old memorabilia.

Other owners use their barns to make a statement or spark conversation. She’s seen some with the American flag on the side, and still another with a flag made with different colored shingles on the barn roof.

A unique barn west of Spirit Lake has “E-I-E-I” written on the side, with the “O” left off, taken from the song “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”

“It’s just really interesting how people will make it their own if they’re doing some renovations or something with it,” Rohrer said.

She said a new trend taking hold is people building barndominiums, which are houses that look like a barn on the outside, but inside have the layout and amenities of a modern home.

“For a lot of folks, (barns) bring back really good childhood memories … when they were on the farm and playing out there,” she said. “It’s something that’s slowly getting lost.”

Rohrer, who grew up on a farm north of Fort Dodge, has many of those same memories. Her family had a “great big barn,” which housed dairy cows and provided milk for her family. She recalls building many a fort out of hay bales.

“You spent hours and hours moving bales of hay so you could build tunnels,” Rohrer said.

She also remembers “just going out and doing chores with my dad. He used to milk cows, and I used to love to watch the cats line up, and Dad would squirt milk into their mouths.”

Rohrer appreciates the history barns represent.

“Just think of all the families and neighbors that had to come together to raise these barns,” she said. “It was a huge community event and get-together. Everybody knew everybody; you knew who your neighbors were.”

She said the Amish still build barns, but as a society, she said, “We’ve lost that.”

“It makes your heart heavy to see a lot of these disappearing from the landscape,” Roher said.

But as long as there are barns, Rohrer plans to continue taking barn photos and posting them on Facebook — doing her small part to preserve part of Iowa’s unique history.

“Each barn has its own story to tell — the good with the bad, the struggles and hardship,” she said. “All can be interpreted on the weathered boards.”