Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
a Kramlich barn (file) 9629
Contractor Jon Skoglund removes old shingles and prepares the substrate for new shingles in 2016.
The Kramlich Barn restoration at the east edge of Colfax on Highway 272 is on hold after most of the work has been completed on the 1919 barn, now pulled taut.
The work has been paid for by a matching grant from the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) and the Cocking family of Colfax, which owns the barn.
Contractor Jon Skoglund of Cashmere straightened the barn two years ago. Penni Cocking of Seattle, daughter of Paul Cocking of Colfax, will apply for another grant this week for the barn’s last phase.
“The major work is done,” Cocking said.
Penni and daughter Amber Williams’ plan to use the barn for drying flowers as part of an edible-flowers/organic garden farm business now called “1919.”
The deadline for applying for a new grant with DAHP for its 2017-19 biennium is Thursday. Approximately $450,000 in grant funds are available for barn projects around the state. Recipients will be announced in late summer.
Cocking was set to apply this time for what she called “much less” money, for the last phase of replacing windows, adding galvanized metal gutters and possibly painting the barn.
“We may not paint it after all,” Penni said. “We are working with a painter to preserve its look. I really like that look. To keep what it aged to, but keep it strong.”
For the windows, Cocking has located a replica barn window maker in Wisconsin.
The gutters would be used to collect rainwater for drip-irrigating the garden to come.
“We don’t want the gutters to interfere with the historic look of the barn,” Cocking said.
The Kramlich barn was leaning by more than two feet before Skoglund began.
New footings of concrete were also poured on the south side. Skoglund estimated the barn had about five years remaining before it would have fallen over. After he finished, another contractor installed new cedar-shake shingles on the roof.
In the end, will the Kramlich Barn be a shining red barn on the hill?
“I’m gonna try real hard not to do that,” Cocking said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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