Please Don't Quote Me By Caralee Aschenbrenner What you see here is a barn raising but the barn has already been built and is being raised up so it will become taller with the lower floor being built under it. Explanation follows.

The barn sets today at the very north edge of Lanark beside Straddle Creek and because of its site in the 1930’s became a landmark for years for its secret life as a “professional” distillery—a still run for months by big city boys. (See PDQ Me—”The Day the Fish Died,” June 15 & 22, 1988)

William Hanna, DeKalb surveyor, sent these several years ago which we have neglected printing but we appreciate them greatly and you readers will, too. They are treasures. Here in part, is some of the letter, the balance will be added next week:

“The box stalls in Grand-dad’s Lanark barn were made of solid walnut timber. That barn was known to me and my brothers because our dad had a postcard of it. Grand-dad had taken the old barn, raised it up with the help of movers and built a lower floor under it. The old barn became the loft and the roof,. It must have become a local event because postcards were made of it and sold in Lanark. (No date is given, however.)”

Barn:

A large farm building used to store hay, grain and other farm products or for sheltering livestock.

From Middle English—bere, Old English, berern

Barn Raising:

The group effort in the building of a barn.

The effort and pride Grand-dad put into the barn was really a reflection of his love of horses. The general area in which the barn still sets became legenday even before the infamous still incident. See next week.

world wide web prairie advocate