OAKLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Barns are everywhere, even in the city, but so often they go unnoticed. As old barns become dilapidated, they collapse or are torn down – but some people are working to document and preserve these historical and cultural landmarks.

Janine Saputo, a resident of Oakland Township and member of the Michigan Barn Preservation Network (MBPN) and Oakland Township Historical Society, talked about how she helped save a historic barn in northern Oakland County. It’s called the Flumerfelt barn and was owned by John Flumerfelt, who carved his name on a timber on the inside of the structure; the signature is dated 1879.

Dave Flumerfelt, a descendant of John, was on hand for the reconstruction of the barn at Cranberry Lake Township Park, only a few miles from where the barn had stood for over 100 years.

“We managed to save the barn, some pieces of the farmhouse and a row of trees,” Saputo said of the farmstead, which was being leveled to make way for a new development. “The developer was getting ready to tear everything down. We convinced him to save the row of trees.”

They saved the barn and what they could of the farmhouse for the relatively low cost of $28,000, plus a lot of donated labor. Saputo said many people showed up for the reconstruction.

“We actually took down three barns and used parts of the two to move the most architecturally significant one,” she said. “We saved the doors, we saved the hardware, we saved as much of the timber frame as we could. I was part of that from start to finish. I can’t believe how it all played out.”

The one they saved was of a timber frame construction design called kingpost, she added.

Saputo and one of her fellow volunteers at MBPN, Julie Avery, have not only been working to preserve physical structures, but also to document the existence of these buildings as modern life and urban sprawl grow up around them. Saputo, Avery and dozens of others do what’s called reconnaissance surveys to record what barns are left in a particular township.

Avery, who recently retired from the Michigan State University Museum, was curator of rural education and culture there. Her husband, Steven Stier, is president of MBPN.

“We got involved in barn preservation after looking into early building techniques and styles,” Avery said of them.

The survey work they do is called the Michigan Barn and Farmstead Survey. Although the project has received some funding from MSU, recently that was dropped and the effort is now all volunteer.

“The interest isn’t just the barn, but the entire farmstead,” Avery said. “As (the survey) went on, about six years ago the MSU created an online database to go along with the survey. The goal is to raise awareness about rural culture and to help people understand these vernacular buildings. The focus is on young people, since most people come to this when they’re older.

“The survey has been useful to some people doing histories on their families. Our hope is that people who want to learn more about the countryside will have a really broad resource. We have continually reaffirmed we want our mission to be not only about barns, but barns in the context of the rural culture.

“There’s a renewed potential for a traditional barn to be used for a growing number of small farms that are happening,” Avery added.

Avery said small farms, organic farms, local food sources and farm markets are the kinds of uses for which a traditional barn can be good, even as large outbuildings spring up to accommodate the large equipment used in production farming. The MBPN is now trying to build a group of volunteers to input data for the survey, which used to be done by paid workers at MSU. The group is also looking for people who know about repairing silos and windmills.

For addtional information about MBPN, to inquire about membership and to access a link to the Michigan Barn and Farmstead Survey, go to www.mibarn.net