What is the Wisconsin Rural Building Conservancy?
We at Saxonia House are among thousands that love Wisconsin's big dairy barns. They are the symbol of Wisconsin and found on most of our auto license plates. However, all across the state, agriculture is changing rapidly and the iconic rural farm buildings are in most cases obsolete. Unless owners find new uses for these buildings they will gradually fall into ruin. This would be bad for many reasons…tourism, new business startups, and space for community gathering. Presently, no organization here in Wisconsin promotes Rural Building Preservation. We intend to fill that need with a multifaceted program of rural building preservation, patterned after many other states that already have rural building programs up and running. We plan to custom make a winning program for Wisconsin. It will consist of four main thrusts:
Annual barn awards given out for building owners who have done a superb job of repairing and adapting their buildings for new uses.
Creating and managing a Wisconsin Barn Registry.
Creating actual land and building conservation easements that have certified buildings.
Accepting building and property donations for perpetual use and preservation.
Our program will also be offering memberships in a Wisconsin Barn Lover’s club that will host special events at the Saxonia House, annual ethnic barn tours, workshops on barn preservation, discounts on preservation consultation and discounts on barn paint and materials through various partner suppliers.
Wisconsin must do better for it’s rural building heritage than it is! We hope to help fill that very obvious need.