Bloggin’ on the Edge

Posted by Scott Spielman at 11:22 AM | Comments (2)

Maybe there’s a reason why the words preserve and persevere look so similar.

Sometimes it takes a lot of perseverance to make a preservation happen.

Look at the restoration of a historic barn in Northville Township for an example. Nobody was even sure the township should accept the donation of the crumbling structure that once sat off Sheldon Road north of Six Mile Road when it was presented to the board of trustees a few years ago. It had the potential to be the proverbial white elephant—a gift that could not be refused yet was too expensive to accept.

Trustee Marv Gans pushed for it, though, and then developed a plan to move it to the Thayer’s Corner park and ‘mothball it.’
His definition of ‘mothballing’ differed radically from just about everyone else’s. Soon, the barn, which dates back to the 1800s, had new sides, a new roof, new beams—hewn from the woods that surrounded it, just like in the old days—and was, for all practical purposes, fully restored.

A lot of people said he shouldn’t do it—I was one of them—that he was exceeding his authority as a township official and all that. Since then, though, the project has earned nothing but accolades from the state and other historical preservation groups. Most recently, it was named Barn of the Year by the Michigan Barn Preservation network.

So I stand corrected.

Another thing worth noting is that if Gans hadn’t pushed so hard for the project, it probably wouldn’t have happened. He’s quick to give credit to just about everyone else, but he helped secure about $212,000 in cash and in-kind donations to make it happen.

Without that, it would’ve been impossible and in today’s economic climate, that kind of public support is unlikely….

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