Tag Archives: Barns

One Day; Two Mills | MN Southeast

June 27, 2012 Dan Traun

This last Saturday (6/23) Cyndie and I headed to Southeast Minnesota to tour two historic mills. The one I have known about for a while and the other we recently learned about from the Innkeeper at the Jailhouse B&B in Preston, MN when we stayed there this past March.

It was another one of those gorgeous early summer days with 300+ miles of back roads out in front of us and a 12+ hour day. Our first stop was at the Pickwick Mill in Pickwick, MN (just South of Winona, MN); the second stop was Schech’s Mill located between Caledonia, MN and Houston, MN. Both offered great tours chocked full old belt-driven machinery. Pickwick was more of a self-guided tour whereas Schech’s was more of an intimate tour with fascinating history and demonstrations from the proprietor.

I am working on the photos from each location and will post soon. For now, though, the following shots are from all points between home, the two mills and back home again.

Destination, Photography

Vernon County, WI – Day 2 | Driftless Area Weekend

April 22, 2012 Dan Traun

Vernon County, similar to Monroe County, is full of rolling hills and deep valleys. It reminded me of a continuous roller coaster ride. It was an extremely lovely Spring day, although the scenery reminded us both of Fall with the color of the trees budding out. The entire Autumn pallet was present and accounted for – the yellows, oranges and reds were extremely vibrant.

Our primary goal for the trip was to seek out the round barns in the area; I think we were able to shoot most of the 13 round barns 1 of the 2 covered bridges. It was a great 2 day trip and I look forward to a return trip soon.

Destination, Photography

Monroe County, WI – Day 1 | Driftless Area Weekend

April 21, 2012 Dan Traun

Cyndie and I traveled East to a driftless area in Wisconsin over April 21st & 22nd 2012. Our first afternoon we traveled through and took in a good portion of Monroe County.

Read more about Driftless Wisconsin.

We headed Northeast out of La Crosse to the West Salem area to begin our backroadin’. Our goal for this trip was to capture all of the round barns (mostly in Vernon County – Day 2) and covered bridges in the area. Upon arrival in Monroe County, we were met with so much more than round barns; the regular ones were just as picturesque if not more so. These rounds barns were either in really good (restored) shape or, as it were with one of them, covered with a tarp or the scene was just too busy for a good photograph. My preference is the old, the decay, the moss-covered and weather wood, missing boards…you know, falling apart. I realize these structures do not exists purely for my photography pleasure and the owners concerns are more with form/function and perhaps the grips of a local or national historical society guideline or two.

I was instantly locked onto the very different styles of copulas that adorned the tops of these Wisconsin barns. There was quite a variety than what I have noticed thus far and they were very different from the ones around home. The barn windows and doors were a wonderful highlight of the trip as well. We ran into a great property just East of Mindoro, WI. Ten of these thirty-six images were from that one farmstead (Images 4-13). We slowly made our way to Sparta, WI – running parallel to and just North of I90. It was a great start to the trip – gorgeous country sides and a nice Spring day.