The unusual cross-gabled barn on the historic Johnston Farmstead resembles a house. The Farmstead is on the National Register of Historic Places. Andrew Jackson Johnston worked for five summers in Alaskan fish canneries to pay for building the farmstead buildings. The barn was built in 1898 and is the oldest building on the farmstead. The roof was originally shingled, but the barn siding is original. Johnston built the barn from timber felled on the land and milled nearby. The barn was designed so that it could be driven through from the road to fields beyond.
The Johnstons farmed wheat, oats, hay, dairy cows, and chickens. Johnston rigged up an ingenious chicken-thief alarm that involved a trip wire that set off an alarm in his bedroom. If it was triggered, he fired a shotgun through his bedroom window.
When the farmstead was listed on the Historic Register in 1997, the owners planned to restore the lost cupola and paint the barn red. As of 20 years later, this has not happened.
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