Built to Last

This barn is out standing in its field.

At one time, there was probably a farm home nearby.  There were probably cattle and horses and farm implements.

Now, it appears to sit empty.  A newer and out of place sheet of metal placed over it's door to keep others out.

I've been looking at this barn for a long time.  Usually, the looking was done while zooming past at 65 miles an hour.

It would lead me to wonder - when was it built, what was it used for, and when was it left to stand as sentinel to the thousands of cars that pass each day?

I suspect the barn is well over 100 years old, that dairy cows milked by hand shared the interior with some goats, a horse, and dozens of farm cats.

Unlike the traditional barn raising you maybe have seen in person, but maybe seen in the movies (Witness) or on TV - this barn took time.

The rock was cut from some quarry, shaped into blocks and bricks, transported, and painstakingly placed carefully one on top of the other.

Built to last.

Contrast that to what is underway in Atlanta.  The Georgia Dome - used in the Olympics, for Basketball (including this year's Final Four), and serves as home to the Atlanta Falcons - is being replaced.  You see, it's 20 years old and no longer able to generate enough revenue for the team... or just simply out of date.

The Georgia Dome will likely be imploded - reduced to ashes and dust.

While this barn stands alone - along I-39 in Illinois just north of I-80 on the west side of the highway.  I've been looking at it for longer than the Georgia Dome has been around, and hope to see it for much longer.

Finally, on my last trip past this old, stately barn did I pull to the side of the road and take some pictures of a beautiful piece of America.