Colorado Log Barn is a Winner

TREVARTON RANCH BARN near Estes Park, Colorado

Picture yourself 8,000 feet up in the Colorado mountains, in the shadow of Rocky Mountain National Park, surrounded by high mountain meadows dotted with tall pine trees. This idyllic site is home to Trevarton Ranch (also known as Big Elk Ranch), a fourth-generation family ranch that has recently undergone a startling rebirth. At its core is a 92-year-old log barn, whose restoration won a BARN AGAIN! FarmHeritage award from Successful Farming magazine and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The barn's owner, Gary Williams, has been linked to the Trevarton Ranch for as long as he can remember. As a boy, he spent his summers helping his grandparents, Phillip and Lillian Trevarton, with their cow-calf operation. Before that, the log barn was the centerpiece of a mixed farming operation that raised turkeys and chickens, grew some hay and vegetables, and also had a dairy operation that could house and milk up to 100 cows. When ill health forced the grandparents to move off the 2,000 acre ranch, it was leased out for several years before Williams was able to move onto the property and take over its operations. It needed full-time attention. As the land had become more valuable over the years, ranching had become less profitable. "I had offers to sell to developers," said Lillian Trevarton, "but I was always determined to keep the ranch."

That opportunity arose when Boulder County purchased the development rights, in a unique arrangement that preserves the land as open space but allows it to continue as a working ranch. It also provided the cash to invest in improvements to the property, starting with the 100 x 60-foot log barn. Gary Williams made all the right moves- attending a workshop on barn preservation and lugging home plenty of ideas for fixing up the neglected barn. The roof's rotting boards and rusty tin were stripped away and a new red steel roof took its place. New cross braces were added to stabilize the sides, which had been miraculously standing on their own for years. Then Williams jacked up the sides of the barn, poured a new foundation, and replaced the rotted sill logs, finally restoring the weather worn original logs with a coat of linseed oil mixed with lacquer thinnner.

The old barn has been re-born. The central part is again used for hay storage, with a shop and a tack room occupying the two side bays. The renovated ranch now rents out pasture for cattle in the summer and fall, and boards up to 70 head of horses during the winter and spring. Additional income is generated from several sources-4,000 bales of hay sold to dude ranch operators, firewood sales, and leasing parts of the ranch for hunting outfitters in the fall and dude ranch operators during the summer. The whole extended Williams family has pitched in to do chores and make the ranch a success, and the restored barn is credited with providing some of the inspiration. In the words of Lillian Trevarton, "The barn is a landmark, a centerpiece, and a great source of pride for the ranch." It is also a model for fully restoring an aging farm building to a new functional use.

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