Shelby County barn will be featured on Iowa Barn Foundation’s statewide tour

 STATEWIDE — Ninety-two restored barns, including one in Shelby County, will be featured on a statewide tour organized by the Iowa Barn Foundation. The foundation raises money to preserve the state’s decreasing number of barns, and all barns on the tour have received a grant from the Iowa Barn Foundation to assist with restoration. The tour will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the weekend of September 14 and 15.
 In 1987, Dennis and Linda Heflin purchased the rural Harlan farmhouse he was born in, which has been in the Heflin family since 1910. The barn was originally built in 1901 by Amasa Stutzman as a horse barn. Heflin said he used the barn for horses and as a maternity barn for cattle. He said when the barn started to fall into disrepair, he had considered tearing it down. However, “I wanted to be able to see it and feel proud that it was ours,” he said.
 Heflin applied for and received funding through the Iowa Barn Foundation  to assist in the restoration of the barn prior to its centennial milestone. The barn has been part of the Iowa Barn Foundation’s Fall Barn tour since 2001.
 Heflin’s barn is noticeable because of its unique roofline, which he said is officially described as  a “Queen Anne, equidistant, cross gabled, truncated” roofline. At one time, there were four similar barns in the area, Heflin’s now is the only one still standing.
  Heflin said he and Linda  have enjoyed being a stop along the tour. “A lot of times it’s parents or grandparents and children stopping, and they share memories of their barns and farms.” He encourages everyone to take the self-guided tour, which is free and open to the public.
 Also included on the tour this fall are eleven round barns. An online guide of the barns featured on the tour may be found at iowabarnfoundation.org/barn-tours
 Since 1997, the foundation has given out $2.3 million dollars in grants to help save nearly 300 barns.