Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/18/2020
NRHP Listing Date 08/11/2020
NRHP Reference Number SG100005436
The Brown-Swisher Barn, in Rockbridge County’s Walkers Creek Valley, embodies the distinctive characteristics of a bank barn (also known as a Pennsylvania barn) construction, a form of Swiss origin that German settlers brought to the Shenandoah Valley. The Brown-Swisher Barn’s character-defining aspects include its placement against a bank to provide wheeled access to its upper-level haymow, threshing floor, hay drops, and forebay; the latter created by an overshoot or overhang of the upper level over the lower level and foundation resulting in one of the most distinctive elements of the bank barn form. The lower level consists of animal stalls with Dutch doors and slatted vents and an interior lane or run for livestock. Other notable features of the Brown-Swisher Barn include pegged mortise-and-tenon timber-frame construction. A local barn builder erected the structure around 1918 during a nationwide agricultural boom sparked by World War I that increased local farm values.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: September 28, 2022
