1

Having explored the house and farm chores, let's move on to the barn, located just to the west of the house.

2

The 'new' house on the Homestead.
20 April 2006
5116 Sir Frederick Banting Road, New Tecumseth, Ontario

3

The Meredith barn had been located to the north, but when it burned William replaced the barn with one to the west, where the current barn stands.

4

The south end of the barn.
1995
5116 Sir Frederick Banting Road, New Tecumseth, Ontario

5

The fire suffered by the Merediths was not the last barn fire at the Homestead.

The current barn was built in late 1916, after the previous barn burned in a threshing accident. The house was spared from the fire because the family members continually poured water on its roof.

Marie (Banting) Shields recalls that someone threw a cigarette butt, which started the fire. Although she claims her father, Thompson Banting, knew who the culprit was, "he never said a thing."

6

The East side of the barn.
1995
5116 Sir Frederick Banting Road, New Tecumseth, Ontario

7

Robert Thompson Banting recalls fun times playing in the barn:

"I recall the exciting times in the barn with my cousins from Uncle Ralph and Aunt Marie's families. Upstairs in the barn, we would swing like Tarzans from the ceiling block and tackles, from hayloft to hayloft."

8

Scale model of barn interior.
1920
Alliston, Ontario

9

Robert Thompson Banting remembers that, as a child, "We would chase the mice from oat bin to bin, then go downstairs and tease the penned up bulls and piglets."

10

Scrapbook Page
1916

11

The barn was built based on a Beatty Bros. design, of plank frame construction. It measures 90 feet x 42 feet, and has a brick foundation, three bricks thick.

12

Scale model of barn construction.
1916
Alliston, Ontario

13

The scale model shows the process of the interior construction of the barn very clearly.

14

Scale model of barn framing.
1916
Alliston, Ontario