Wisconsin Barns

Writer and historian Nancy Schumm-Burgess and photographer and journalist Ernest J. Schweit set out on a two-year quest to document the Wisconsin's iconic barns, which have come to represent a way of life defined by family, a connection to the land, ingenuity, and hard work. Schumm-Burgess digs up fascinating details on the backgrounds of the structures, including a rare log barn dating to the 1840s, a barn that once served as a stagecoach stop, and another designed by African American architect Algie Shivers. Schweit's photographs capture the storied structures in all seasonsfrom modest mid-1800s barns to round and octagonal structures to grand, arch-roofed edifices.