Ongoing Projects at Valley View
TOBACCO BARN
In the Fall of 2007, we started the restoration of our historic tobacco barn. We installed permanent electric service to the barn. Then we rented a lift to repair structural damage on the south and east sides. While we didn't cut the wood with a hand saw, we did use a locust tree from the property on one of our repairs of a locust beam that had rotted at the top end of the roof. In 2008, we completed additional structural repairs, installed new poplar siding on the badly damaged south end and east side of the barn, installed a gravel floor, and staged materials for replacing the roof in the spring of 2009. We have built and need to hang the barn doors and then this barn should be ready for decades of service to Valley View. This barn will then serve as the main operations facility where we will store our equipment.
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DAIRY BARN
The Dairy Barn is the far more aesthetic and historically preserved barn on our property. Unfortunately it is also the barn in need of the most substantial work. Several years ago we went in and braced certain beams and columns to prevent the barn from collapsing or being further damaged by the elements. As of the Spring of 2009, we have engaged a structural engineering firm to assess the structure to help guide us on the opportunities to save and restore this barn. The work needed to complete this barn will likely take several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars. However, we have some very interesting visions for using this barn in educational programs and perhaps even serving as a venue for bluegrass, country ad other similar types of summer concerts. More good things to come on this one . . .
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And if you want to know what these two barns looked like back in the day when Milford was the country and this was a very active farm, they are both shown in the background of this picture taken in the early 1900s by a member of the Laudeman family. The Dairy Barn is directly behind the farmer. The end of the Tobacco Barn shown above is in the background on the right. Now that's pretty cool stuff!
BRUSH CLEARING
We have been working for several years to clear and remove brush and debris from the property. This has led to the creation of several scenic wooded trails and two cleared areas under a tree canopy for picnics. A local scout, Zack Rizzo, also earned his Eagle Scout on Valley View when he organized a crew of workers, obtained funding and cleared an area of brush and built three picnic tables for visitors to use. We plan to place a few benches and picnic tables in this location and one other location on the property, both of which are on the City of Milford's Urban Trails system. Brush clearing is going to be a perpetual job at Valley View, but there is much work to do right now as the brush and honeysuckle on the property has gone unattended for decades.
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MAIN ENTRANCE, KIOSK AND GATEWAY FENCE
Thanks to a generous contribution and the hard work of a few of our volunteers, we purchased and installing a large wooden sign on South Milford Road near the entrance to Pattison Elementary School in the fall of 2007. We also planted shrubs, grasses and trees and created a visible entry to our property from the road. About the same time, thanks to the generosity of Milford resident Mike Huseman and his company HGC Construction, we received a very generous donation of all material, labor and equipment to install a kiosk to post information about Valley View on the property. Then in early 2008 (a very snowy Sunday as a matter of fact) we went to the Four Seasons Marina on Kellogg Avenue. Not to take a pleasure boat ride but to pick up a few thousand pressure treated 2x6's that they had removed from their docks and planned to dispose. 10 of our volunteers gathered 4 pick up trucks and trailers and worked all day in a snowstorm to haul the lumber from the marina to Valley View. In the fall of 2008 a large group of volunteers gathered on the property with their kids on a Saturday and Sunday and converted the old dock material into about 600 feet of aesthetic fencing to create a gateway into Valley View from South Milford Road. Other than the nails for the fence and a bobcat rented to drill holes for the posts, this entire fence was free.
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