Group effort helps preserve historic barn
by Sven Gustafson, The Daily Oakland Press

It's twilight time for the old Flumerfelt farmstead and its three surviving red barns.

Already, large upscale homes and subdivisions surround the parcel at Gunn Road and Kern. To the east, where manicured lawns meet the scrub at the farm's edges, seven diesel scrapers are lined up, waiting to level the farm's rolling hills, some of which still sport corn stubble from last season's harvest.

On Monday, the Bingham Farms-based developer Silverman Cos. will begin tearing down most of the farmstead.

"That's why we're working now," said Carolyn Dulin, the president of the Oakland Township Historical Society.

On Friday, the site was abuzz with activity as about a dozen volunteers gathered to save one of the barns. Wielding hammers and crowbars, the group is disassembling the barn piece by piece, an effort likely to continue through Sunday, weather permitting.

The goal is to eventually rebuild the barn about six miles away at the township's Cranberry Lake Farm and Park on West Predmore. Dulin said the barn will replace another barn that burned down years ago.

"We're saving a historic barn," Dulin said. "One of the things in this barn of particular interest is a signature scrawled and painted inside that said, 'J. Flumerfelt' " and included the date 1879. "The Flumerfelt name has been around for 100 years here. They farmed the land.

"When we were looking for things to save, the idea came to us to save the whole thing."

Toward that end, the historical society found help from the developer, which donated $2,500; the township's Historic District Commission, which chipped in $10,000; and a local construction company, which donated equipment to take down heavy parts. The group also brought in Steve Stier, a historic barn restoration specialist from Ingham County.

"Unfortunately, the thing that's not notable (about the barn) is that the land is being developed right here," said Stier, who estimates he's helped oversee 10 barn dismantling projects across the state. "If the historical society didn't take it and if the developer didn't support it, then the building would be destroyed."

Stier said the small size - about 29 feet by 35 feet - suggests it may have been used as a carriage barn. He said the structure also boasts unique construction elements, such as a 6-inch ridge beam used to support the top of the rafters, mortise-and-tenon joints held together with wooden pegs and interior siding.
Historical society member Mary Asmus said the barn also features a lightning rod and distinctive beams.

"Some of these logs aren't even hewn at all," she said. "There's still bark on them."

"It's like detective work," Asmus continued. "You have to base it on clues like materials. Most often, barns were moved. So that makes it tricky."

The 233-acre farmstead most recently supported the Kern Tree Nursery and was formerly farmed by the Peters family, Asmus said. The site will eventually hold 78 upscale, single-family homes on 65 acres, said Jeff Helminski, a project manager with Silverman, which is developing the site but not building the homes. He noted that many of the large oak and maple trees on the property will be spared.

While just one of the three standing barns will be saved, workers plan to salvage parts from the nonadjacent, third barn to replace rotten or damaged boards.

The group next plans to lay a foundation and hopes to rebuild the barn this summer. The barn will eventually house artifacts.

A recent, two-year survey conducted for the Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing found 62 barns older than 50 years remaining in the township.