Barn Savers: A Lesson In Recycling

Author Linda Oatman High wrote the book "Barn Savers" about her husband's work.

John High is a Barn Saver. Rising at the crack of dawn each weekday, High
climbs into his battered pickup truck, driving to job sites anywhere from one to three
hours away from his home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
"I want to save every barn I possibly can," High says. "There are so many torn
down because I didn't get to them in time. It's sad."
In 1990, John High left his job at an excavating company - where he bulldozed old
houses and barns to make room for development - and began The Barn Saver Project,
saving the buildings he'd always hated destroying. Starting with an 1880's vintage bank
barn, High began taking old structures apart, piece by piece, saving the flooring, siding,
windows, doors, roofing, beams, joists, hardware, and even the contents - from lightning
rods to pig troughs.
    John High and The Barn Saver Project keep barns alive, salvaging 90-100% of
each and every one. For barns that will be reset elsewhere, High carefully preserves the
integrity of the building by drawing up a blueprint and using it to number each piece of
wood.
"It's a good feeling to know that I'm preserving part of our heritage," High says.
John High's Barn Saver Project is striving to lessen the environmental effects of
deconstruction, despite the hard economic realities. Using mostly only crowbars,
hammers, and his hands, ("I take them down in the opposite direction from which they
were built: top to bottom.") High works relentlessly to protect the quality of our air and
land.
"I feel very lucky to be doing something I love, that also is useful to our
environment," he reports.
"It's amazing how many different people use materials from my jobs," High
comments. He's donated materials to school plays, churches, Scout groups, and other
community service organizations. In 1999, John High donated the wood used by artist
Barry Hoch to build a new manger and stable for the old nativity scene in Nazareth,
Pennsylvania.
"That was a good feeling: knowing that so many people enjoyed the nativity
scene," High comments.
The Barn Saver Project is concerned also about the protection of wildlife on or
near job sites. John High has removed birds' nests from houses and barns about to be
deconstructed, and carefully moved them to nearby trees, where the eggs have
successfully hatched. High has also contacted beekeepers to bring down swarms of bees
from barns ready for dismantling.
In the ten years that John High and The Barn Saver Project have been in operation,
over 200 barns and houses (and their contents) have been kept alive.
"The barn removal was a great experience to watch step by step," reports Kathy
Bayer, whose barn was dismantled by High and associates. "The work involved in
dismantling is nothing we would have ever known if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes.
They made memories for us to share with others for years to come."
To document those memories, Kathy and her husband Yogi made a scrapbook,
with step by step photos of the disassembling process.
"It's rewarding," High says. "As the old saying goes, ‘they don't build them like
they used to.' Houses today are put together with toothpicks."
John High not only saves barns by choosing to take a place apart with good
old-fashioned elbow grease (rather than by swinging a wrecking ball and operating a
bulldozer), but he also saves landfill space, air quality, wildlife, and land from being ruined
by careless demolition. The financial rewards aren't nearly as high as the intangible
results.
"It's very hard work," High admits. "But I love it."
The Barn Saver Project (www.barnsaver.com) is now in the process of expansion,
with immediate need of a barn/warehouse in which to store materials. The barn will also
serve as the Barn Saver Art Barn, with artists crafting from materials saved from
deconstructed barns. (The Art Barn also hopes to offer works of art from The Dumpster
Divers, a group of Philadelphia artists crafting with recycled materials.) Art classes for
children will be available, featuring art projects made with recycled/reused objects.
The Barn Saver Project is open to proposals: fiscal sponsorship, donations, etc.
Please contact 717-445-8246 or lohigh@desupernet.net for further discussion.





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