Greene Farmstead Tour

At the first meeting of the Greene Farmstead Committee (for lack of a better name), several people requested an opportunity to get inside the buildings to get a better idea of the space we were trying to program. Today they had their opportunity. We first went into the house and explored all of the nooks and crannies. The oldest portion of the house was built before the Civil War. As the family grew, so did the house. The last addition was a bedroom that was built for the Grandparents. It is a little peculiar, as you have to walk through a bathroom to get to it. The rooms are a little on the small side. I will be interested in seeing what the group will come up with as an end use of the house.

We then toured the upper portion of the barn. The lower section is boarded up and the only access is down a very narrow farmer's stair, so we did not go down there. It is actually several barns put together. The original barn has 30' handhewn oak timbers that are pegged together. The newest section is pine bolted together. It is exciting to think of what we can accomplish in there. There is a horizontal grain silo that is lined with tin. It is supposedly the first silo in DuPage.

After this we reviewed an old equipment shed adjacent to the barn. We also looked over the rest of the outside of the barn. That was the end of the tour, though people hung around and chatted about the experience and starting the conversation that will hopefully end up with a concept for the adaptive reuse of this grand ol' barn.