History of the Barn

The 1890 classic post and beam bank barn and farm was purchased by Charles and Helen Shear in 1953 and was used as an operating dairy barn until the early 1970’s. In 2009, Deb and Steve Conner (Charles and Helen’s granddaughter) purchased the house, barn and a few acres and began an extensive renovation on the 1870 farm house.

In 2018, after many years of disrepair and at the urging of family members and friends, Deb began a major renovation project on the barn. With the assistance of numerous historic preservation minded contractors, the deteriorating the barn was transformed into the Rustic Barn at Hopewell.

The Hopewell Barn is located about 1/2 mile south of the historic Hopewell Church. Built in 1872 and purchased by Deb in 2018, the church is listed on National Historic Register for its ties to Gene Stratton Porter. Gene was a famous author in the early 1900’s and the area of ‘Hopewell’ was used as the locale for the settings for several of her books.   The name ‘Rustic Barn at Hopewell’ was selected to pay tribute to historic roots of the Hopewell area.