Unwind as you drive down the picturesque back roads of Bucks County, and take notice of the beauty around you. Bucks County’s history and heritage is deeply rooted in its landscape, and we are fortunate to have much of it still intact. This series of self-guided driving barn tours of Bucks County will help you to explore our truly unique countryside while learning about its history along the way. Many of our “castles in the fields” stood witness to the American Revolution and the founding of this country. Whether they are still being used on working farms or adaptively reused as houses or offices, barns remain relevant fixtures and guardians of the history of our county and country.

Listen to Jeff Marshall, our President and barn historian, talk about a fascination with barns and the importance in preserving them.

We hope that by learning about and recognizing the beauty of these barns, you will be inspired to help protect them. Enjoy discovering the story of Bucks County through these iconic structures. Barn voyage! Please remember: most barns featured on this tour are privately owned, so enjoy them from a distance! A smartphone and a navigating buddy are recommended for this tour.

To request a printed brochure forthis tour, contact Alex at adashkiwsky@heritageconservancy.org.

This tour was made possible thanks in part to funding from Visit Bucks County.

NOTE: Some of the following addresses are not exact, but they will get you in the general vicinity of the barn. Because many barns were built across from their respective houses, it can be difficult to determine a barn’s address!

Use hashtag #barnvoyage when posting on social media!

1. 3016 Moyer Road
Hellertown, PA 18055

Located on the north side of Route 412 at Moyer Road is a large Standard barn where the stonework goes to the peak of the roof. Difficult to see while traveling the busy road, there is a single round porthole at the very peak of the barn above the window. It is of three-bay construction. No gable wall openings in the barn appear in the form of slits or louvered windows. Peiler ecks appear at the two front wall corners and are extremely wide; the one at the southeast corner that extends along the forebay wall is approximately six feet.

2. 2916 Springtown Hill Road
Hellertown, PA 18055

This barn is located close to the road. The elevation that is visible is the functional rear of the barn. This barn is actually a two-level bank barn and is a rare example of a Pennsylvania German Sweitzer barn. Sweitzer barns are the earliest style of forebay barn in Pennsylvania and were precursors of the Pennsylvania Standard Barn. The key visual distinction between the two barn types is that the roof of the Sweitzer Barn extends out over the forebay, giving the barn an uneven gable or saltbox roof appearance. This barn has another feature generally found on early stone barns. These are splayed loopholes, or ventilator slits, that are clearly visible on the elevation along the road.

3. 3298 Route 412
Hellertown, PA 18055

This stone barn is located right along the road. The central bays of this stone barn are wood construction. The central section of the barn appears to represent a barn with a double threshing floor (or wagon bay), giving the barn a four-bay wide configuration rather than the more typical three-bay configuration found on smaller barns. Although difficult to see from the road, the westerly gable end of the barn has a pair of door hoods above gable entry doors.

4. 3609 Route 212
Riegelsville, PA 18077

This large stone structure is one of a number of English Lake District barns on the tour. It has several distinctive features. One of the most unusual is the fact that the barn faces north. Most barns faced south to allow the sun to warm the stable area. The front of the barn was the side with the stable doors leading out to a barnyard. This barn has a pent roof along the north elevation that provided protection to stable doors that opened out to the barnyard. The barn ramp that typically faced north on the back of the barn faces south on this barn. A careful look at the barn shows a group of bricks in the center of the gable wall. There are spaces between the bricks to provide ventilation to the haymow. There is also a hood that provides protection to a feed aisle door on the westerly gable end of the barn.

5. 2955 Bodder Road
Riegelsville, PA 18077

This frame-over-stone bank barn is an example of a simple structure that still has small ornamental details that show the pride that went into its construction. These details include diamond-shaped cutouts in the peaks of the gables that are referred to as “swallow holes.” These holes provided ventilation in the hayloft and provided access for swallows, owls or martins. The small door within the large wagon doors has strap hinges with rams head details.
This barn resides on a working farm and is used for its original intention of crop and farming equipment storage. It still stands as a testament of the hardworking farmers that helped to build our country.

6. 6145 Route 412
Riegelsville, PA 18077

Perhaps one of most recognizable barns in Upper Bucks County, this is an architectural gem. Its prominent location highlighted by a large, three-part cupola make it a destination barn. The cupola has a tall section with a pyramidal roof flanked by hipped roof wings with windows and louvers. Large brackets support an extended roof on all four elevations, and the barn’s board and batten siding catches shadows and gives the barn a distinctive appearance. The barn is a bank barn with a wood frame superstructure atop a stone basement level. The barn has a forebay, albeit one that does not span the entire barnyard elevation. The barn was designed by the property’s former owner, Henry S. Jacoby, in 1896-97.

7. 3005 Slifer Valley Road
Riegelsville, PA 18077

This barn is a Standard Pennsylvania Barn. It is a stone structure with a frame front (forebay) wall above a recessed stone wall with a number of doors that lead into separate stalls. The gable ends of this barn are stone all the way to the peak. Many similar barns are stone only to the level of the top of the long (eave) walls, with the gables constructed of wood. The wooden forebay is highlighted by four swirling swastika hex signs. The barnyard has a projecting gable roof wing and a stone wall that forms an enclosed area for animals.

8. 2789 Slifer Valley Road
Riegelsville, PA 18077

There are actually two barns on opposite sides of Hickory Lane. The barn on the west side is a traditional gable roof structure, and the one on the east side has a gambrel roof. The gable roof barn forms the core of a barn complex. There is a main, two-story bank barn with a series of extensions on the rear bank side. There is a nearly independent gable roof wing attached to the southwest corner of the main barn. The gambrel roof barn (pictured) is a ground barn with the main doors located on the either end of the barn rather than on the long sides. The barn is surmounted by a series of metal ventilators.

9. 2655 Slifer Valley Road
Riegelsville, PA 18077

Located along a sweeping bend in the road, this preserved farm complex has a remarkable collection of buildings. There is a large Pennsylvania Standard Barn highlighted by hex signs painted on the frame forebay wall. The forebay had originally been recessed, with the main floor of the barn cantilevered above it. The forebay wall has since been moved out to the eaves in order to create space for horse stalls in the lower level of the barn. A date stone with the inscription ‘1846’ is at the corner of the barn on the drive side. The barn has two perpendicular wings that form a courtyard type of barnyard. There is a multi-sectioned stuccoed brick and stone house and a truly remarkable stone-ended log outkitchen along the road.

10. 2545 Slifer ValleyRoad
Riegelsville, PA 18077

This property stands as a testament to a preserved farm that brings nineteenth century buildings into twenty first century agriculture. The property features a farm store that brings the bounty of the farm directly to the public. The barn is a frame bank barn that has been covered with shingles. Although lean-to sheds have been added to the south and east sides of this barn, the recessed forebay can be easily seen once inside. There is a nearly independent gable roof wing perpendicular to the main barn on the barnyard side of the barn. The main barn is supported by a large, double drive-through corncrib silo as well as other farm structures behind the barn.

11. 2135 Route 212
Coopersburg, PA 18036

This barn represents an example of a working farm. The main barn is supported by a series of smaller historic and modern outbuildings, giving the appearance of an agricultural village. Looking closely at the forebay of the main barn, you can barely see faded hex signs on either side of the winnowing doors. One can appreciate the fading decorations as symbolic of the end of the era of farming as it was in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Like many barns, the recess under the projecting forebay was enclosed to allow for the housing of a larger dairy herd. There is a smaller frame building near the barnyard. This smaller structure has a shed roof addition that appears, due to the number of small doors, to have been used as a piggery.

12. 1965 Route 212
Quakertown, PA 18951

This barn shows how traditional barn features were maintained even as new barn features were incorporated. This barn is a traditional Pennsylvania Bank Barn with a projecting forebay. The most dominant feature of the barn is the gambrel roof. This gambrel barn is slightly unusual in that there are no large doors under the peak for loading hay into the large loft. Like older style barns, this barn has a walled barnyard and a series of smaller sheds and structures, including a double drive-through corncrib that supports the main barn.

13. 1925 Old Bethlehem Road
Quakertown, PA 18951

Most early stone barns used narrow ventilation slits; however, there are a relatively small number of barns in the region that have round ventilators. This barn has these ventilators on the gable end facing the road. The barn has several other features that are rare but can be found on other barns on the tour. One of the distinctive features of this barn is the fact that the bank is on the south side of the barn rather than on the more typical north side. The barn has another unusual feature on the side opposite from the road. It has a projecting peiler eck on the front elevation. The one on the end of the barn facing the road may have been removed when a small shed addition was constructed. One can see where a gable door with a triangular hood was filled in on the gable end of the barn facing the road.

14. 2332 Kunsman Road
Quakertown, PA 18951

This is an example of the classic Bucks County barn with a frame superstructure set on top of a stone first level. These barns are referred to as Standard Pennsylvania barns. The frame level extends out over the stone stable level, creating a protected area in front of the stable doors. Like many of these barns, the projecting forebay is supported by simple posts. Attached to the corner of the main barn is a smaller gable roof wing. There is also a clay tile silo associated with the barn.

15. 2564 Springhouse Lane
Riegelsville, PA 18077

This attractive barn is an example of a primarily stone structure with a frame forebay wall. It is a large barn divided into four bays rather than the more typical three bays. The gable end of the barn faces the road. Located high in the gable are the initials A.C.M. and a stylized heart. Above the date stone, a small portion of the gable is wood frame construction rather than stone. Located just under the peak of the roof is a swallow hole cutout in the shape of a Maltese cross. The barn has a few other interesting features, including a stone wagon shed on the gable end of the barn facing the road and a stone abutment wall on the earthen bank leading to the loft and wood-frame shed roof wing on the bank side of the barn. The two double sets of large wagon doors have extremely long strap hinges, and there is a smaller door (for use by humans rather than barn animals) within one set of wagon doors that is decorated with ornate rams head hinges.

Knecht’s Covered Bridge
Knecht Bridge Road
Riegelsville, PA 18077

Knecht’s Covered Bridge crosses Cooks Creek. It was built of hemlock in 1873 using a system known as Town lattice truss style. The bridge is designated as Bucks County Bridge #192. Knecht’s Bridge is 110 feet long and 15 feet wide. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1980. For more information about the 12 remaining Bucks County covered bridges, 10 of which you can still drive through, go to www.visitbuckscounty.com/things-to-do/driving-tours/covered-bridge

Other Places to Visit:

Covered Bridge Tour – This tour of Bucks County’s 12 remaining covered bridges starts at the Memorial Building in Washington Crossing Historic Park on the Delaware River. The tour is planned so the traveler can start at any one of the bridges. For directions, visit click HERE.

Bucks County Wine Trail – Experience the rich heritage behind the wines expertly crafted by the family wineries of Bucks County. The gentle rolling hills, deep well-drained soils, and moderate climate combine to make Bucks County one of the premier grape-growing regions of the East Coast. See how wine is produced. Talk with the people who make it happen. Tour the cool wine cellars. Experience history in the making. For the list of wineries, click HERE.