On a recent road trip through the south central part of our county I endeavored to find and photograph the last of the old barns and fancy cupolas. In almost every case the house is empty and the farm abandoned, while the barn is in a sad state of disrepair.
Perched high above the farm yard sits the barn cupola. They came in a variety of shapes and sizes. In the beginning they were all made of wood and hauled to the roof peak during the final stage of construction. Carpenter took some pride in finishing the barn with a unique cupola which included an arrow weather vane which always started out pointed north. Strong winds and winter storms made it a challenge to keep the arrow pointed north. The fanciest ones also indicated the four main directons of the compass with the letters N, E, W, S.
Sometime during the 1940's and 50's they began to appear in all metal construction and were factory made. This limited the variety of the designs but they did get a little more fancy, while the metal increased their life considerably.
During the active life of the barn the top of the weather vane was decorated by a typical rooster, farm animal or a special design such as a sailboat.
As the farms were abandoned these decorations were either shot down by vandals or removed for safe keeping. It is unusual to see one still in place today.
Note this unusual pair, each with four letters of the compass.
If you have any knowledge of any existing barn cupolas, particularly ones with a weather vane, contact me and I will try to take some photos.
