According to the etching on the concrete slab of the barn on the Cernik homestead, it was built on 10/12/21. This beauty saw a lot of history in the making. The pitchfork sticking through Jimmy’s foot. Dave climbing the stack of bales of alfalfa to come face to face with a “Bobcat”. The alfalfa dust so thick it was hard to see when we filled the barn with bales. The pigeon coop attached to its side.
I remember SO many days where Brian, Dale, Jimmy and I would build things in the workshop at the bottom of the barn. The grinder that looked 100-years-old back then, throwing sparks everywhere as we sharpened anything we could. The “mama” racoon that was SO pissed off when we disturbed it in its little home it had made in one of the stalls.
Below is the story of when it was time to make a choice, tear it down or sell it, as told by Uncle Ray.
“Fall weather is upon us and rapidly approaching winter! Our thermometer showed 33 degrees this morn, and was quite nippy. Drove out to the farm today to see how the corn harvest is going and lo and behold the harvest is complete. Don’t know for sure what the yield was as yet but know it won’t be as good as hoped last spring when it was freshly planted. We got a heavy rain and the field crusted thereby preventing some of the corn from coming thru. Not bad enough to go back and re-plant but thin just the same. Also with the heavy rains we probably lost about 10-12 acres to standing water and couldn’t get back in to replant those areas.
There is a fella from Wahoo who expressed an interest in our barn awhile back and wanted to know if we wanted to part with it. After hemming and hawing around for about a year trying to decide if we wanted to put money into its restoration (it is starting to deteriorate now as the roof is bad, etc.). We decided to let him buy it. He has a nice place just east of the Sunrise cemetery east of Wahoo and plans on moving it there. He has a real nice, well landscaped tree farm and residence there. The barn will be placed between the residence and the road in a nice spot among the trees. He intends to completely restore it which is pleasing to us as otherwise it would some day either fall down or have to be torn down and hauled away or burned. He is a lover of old barns and built his home and carriage house out of a couple of old barns. My brother and I were given a tour of his house awhile and is really impressive, especially when he did nearly all of it himself.
He bought an old barn near Shenandoah, Iowa and another near Treynor, Iowa. Tore them down and hauled the lumber to his acreage and built his residence from those barns. Trimmed and finished the old beams and used them throughout the home. Really sharp. (Lots of work).
The mover is to come out next week and start raising the barn to install the steel beams underneath, etc. The actual move will start at 9AM on the 14th of Nov. Omaha Public Power will be there and go ahead of the move as it goes down the road to move power lines, replace them, etc. It is approximately 3 miles to his acreage from our farm. Don’t know how long the move will take but imagine it depends on how well it goes. Will go south thru the field a ways and then swing west to the road. South approximately 1 mile and then 2 miles west on a paved road to his place. Elaine and I stopped at his place today and saw that the footings, etc. are in place and are ready for the barn.
Hate to see the building go but the prognosis for its future on our farm is not good and it will be nice to go past his place in the future and see our old barn there looking great. My dad built the barn a couple of years before I was born. There is a concrete stoop on the south side that has the date 10/12/21 engraved in it, so apparently that is when the concrete work was completed years ago. Wish my Dad was still alive so I could ask him more about it.
The trouble is that (and I have heard this so many times from people) we don’t ask enough questions from them while they are still with us. You younger ones take note.”
Big Move
In Tuesday morning’s fog, a driver carefully makes his way through a cornfield toward County Road K east of Wahoo while hauling a 1922 barn. The barn was owned by Ray Cernik and was bought by Rick Woita. The barn was moved about 2 1/2 miles north to Woita’s residence.
Photo by Joe Evans/Wahoo Newspaper