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Bringing the past to life
The Old Barns at Dry Run Farms has been an ever evolving vision and family endeavor.
Our landscape on the farm has changed dramatically through the years. Starting with the building of our family home in 2008, we moved the first old barn onto the property in 2010, a second barn was moved in 2021 and the third and largest barn was added in 2022. Today the property showcases three beautiful pieces of local farm history that have been transformed into a one-of-a-kind wedding venue and two barn homes used for overnight accommodations.
Our Story
Meet the Owners
Justin & Adrienne Barnes
Hello, I am Adrienne Barnes! My husband Justin and I are the owners and visionaries behind The Old Barns at Dry Run Farms. We met in college and settled here in Pickaway County on the family farm started by Justin’s grandfather. Justin is quite the jack of all trades, always up for a project and willing to tackle just about anything. About four years into our marriage, we decided to build a home for our growing family. We picked out a spot near the main farm and set out designing a home in the style of a gambrel roof barn and Justin spent the next two and a half years building our home from the ground up and I'm pretty sure he hasn't been without a project since. My passions lie in design and landscaping fueled by many hours of watching HGTV in my youth and lots of time on Pinterest. I'm so blessed to have Justin, who thoughtfully turns my ideas into reality. Together, we’ve been able to pull off some incredible projects.
Our fascination with old barns has grown over the years. Justin has such fond memories of time spent in the big bank barn on the farm he grew up on and we both love reflecting on simpler times and the farming methods that were used when these old barns were in their prime. A number of historic barns dot the Ohio countryside, but many are falling into disrepair. It is saddening to see these huge pieces of farm history being lost and we feel very blessed to have been able to save three local barns from around our community and to have given them a second life and renewed purpose.
Our History
Our journey began with the Carpenter Barn in 2010, as we embarked on the ambitious task of relocating and rejuvenating a barn nestled within a small woods on the farm. Justin began by jacking up each post and constructing wooden skids that ran lengthwise through the barn. He added some bracing to keep it from buckling during the move and attached chains to each skid. Those chains were then hooked to the farm's largest tractor and then to a bulldozer and on a freezing January day, it made it's 3/4 mile journey. This method continued with the Justice Barn in 2020, breathing new life into an unused local structure. As we embarked on these restoration ventures, our passion for preserving history and creating cherished spaces grew, culminating in the creation of the Venue Barn – a grand space that melds the old-world charm of an 1850s barn with contemporary comfort and conveniences. We've attempted to preserve the heritage of long forgotten old barns by giving them new life and purpose and creating spaces where families and friends can come together to celebrate this most blessed event in couples lives.
The Venue Barn
Origin Year: 1850
Justin and I drove by this barn at least once a week on our way to church for 20 years and never really thought a lot about it. The barn was owned by the Paul Schein family and was part of a homestead. The house on the farm had been recently torn down and one day we drove by, and Justin asked if I thought we should stop and look at the barn that was left standing. After stepping inside and seeing the big, beautiful hand-hewn beams that spanned above what was once a threshing floor and the wood shake roof overhead, we knew it was something special. We got in touch with the family and were so thrilled when they decided to sell it to us and see it take on a new purpose. With four kids, we wanted to create something that they could all become involved in down the road if they chose. With two barns already operating as overnight rentals a third didn’t seem to make sense. That’s when the idea of turning this barn into a wedding venue with the ability to tie in the existing two overnight barns for wedding accommodations arose. Justin set about cleaning the old hay out of the loft and bracing and leveling everything as best he could. At 30’ x 60’ this barn was a bit larger, so Justin added steel I-beams for bracing and as the skids so that it wouldn’t buckle easily during the move. In January of 2022, pulled by two of our neighbor’s large tractors, the barn made its three-mile journey through several fields, across three roads, and under power lines to its destination in our field just to the South of the other barns.
We wanted everyone to be able to enjoy every inch of the old, 1850 structure, so we decided to add on to the original barn structure with space for the bathrooms, kitchen, storage and extra seating. We tried to preserve as much of the original barn as possible and ended up with a unique barn inside of a barn. A fortuitous family trip to Amish Country during the construction process led us to a Mennonite man who saves boards, posts, beams and old sandstone foundations from barns that are being torn down. Our wheels immediately started turning on how we could work these historic pieces into the venue. We ended up with an amazing 10 ft long stone trough that once filled with ice will make a great beverage trough. A huge old grindstone now has a new life as a coffee table in the sitting area behind the fireplace, and rows upon rows of sandstone foundation blocks now make up our terraced seating area for outdoor ceremonies.
We really do feel blessed to have been able to undertake these barn projects and can’t wait to share these amazing spaces with brides & grooms and wedding goers.
The Carpenter Barn
Circa 1910
In 2010, we had the crazy idea to save a barn that was located in the woods behind our farm. The roof was leaking, and parts of the barn were beginning to rot, but restoring it in its original location didn’t make sense as it sat in a secluded, overgrown woods, surrounded by fields and a good distance from the nearest road. We decided to attempt moving it about ¾ of a mile to a location to the West of our house and fixing it into a guest house and possible home for our retirement someday. Justin set about bracing it and jacking up the posts and attaching them to skids and waiting for the ground to freeze. One very cold January morning in 2011, with the help of a good friend Charlie and his bulldozer along with the farm’s biggest tractor, the barn made its journey through the fields, across two creeks and to its destination. Justin put a new roof on it that following summer and I set to work on my trusty graph paper to start designing a home from this shell of a barn. We took our time with the project and eventually were rewarded with a relaxing, modern retreat with all the charm of an old barn. Realizing it sat empty much of the time and it would be years before we’d use it as a full-time home, we decided to open it up to guests and list it on Airbnb. We’ve loved meeting and hosting some fantastic families and groups of friends, and getting to see other people enjoy their time there as much as we do.
The Justice Barn
Origin Year: 1890's
In 2020 we visited a neighbor’s barn. Larry & Cinda Justice’s red, gambrel roofed barn had once housed horses, lots of hay and fond memories of their kids and their friends playing basketball in the loft. The barn, however, was no longer being used and they were open to the idea of it taking on a new life. So, Justin set to work again, cleaning it out, bracing and jacking up posts and creating wooden skids for the barn to slide through the field on. Once again, in early January of 2021, with help this time from our neighbor and his large tractor, we pulled the barn through frozen fields about a mile and to its new location. After almost two years of construction, it was transformed into a home and was ready to host guests as well.