Ten years ago, Ross Young, Madison County’s Cooperative Extension  director, mentioned in passing that the county’s built-to-last barns — an emblem of almost 100 years of prosperous tobacco-growing — would eventually collapse due to lack of use. He estimated there were 11,000 of them — “more barns than houses” — across Madison’s 450 square miles.
Those listening perked up. To memorialize the heritage, they could launch a photo contest at the County Fair, which they did. But soon, a more complex approach evolved. With donations and grants, they could hire an architect to document the barn styles, interview the owners, create a website and add photos and historical detail for all to see. And thus, on Jan. 26, 2012, the Appalachian Barn Alliance was born. At its 10th anniversary celebration Jan. 26, 2022, at the extension’s headquarters in Marshall, where the idea first took form, Young had this to say:
“My love affair began when I was four years old, some 50 years ago,” he said. “My grandpa, who lived beside us, would come and get me in the mornings to milk the cow — in the barn, of course.
“From then on, the barn became the place we played, worked, hung out with friends, built forts and basically grew up. We came into the house [only] to eat and sleep.
“For many, the barn and the farm that surrounded the barn was their place of work, their office, their factory, their small business center, and since farming is a daylight-til-dark type of job, almost any farmer spent more time in and around the barn than they did in the house.
“Not only did the farming business take place in the barn, but so did many other activities. It’s where folks had social events, dances, large meals; my daughter got married in a barn! Garages weren’t a thing [at that time], so it’s where you worked on cars, stored your tools, parked your lawnmower. Often, a basketball goal was attached to one side, and it became a gym. When I was in high school, my weight bench stayed in the barn. I could talk for days!”
REMINISCING ABOUT EARLIER ‘FANTASIES’
The day before, as he had been preparing to retire after 31 years on the job, he reminisced about a bygone time. “I had created a vision for a historical site, agriculture-based, with burley tobacco demonstrations, a state-funded museum, a visitors’ center, an amphitheater, a ‘Disney World for Farming’ type of thing,” he remembered.
But then, politics got in the way. Some of the legislators who might have been helpful in securing state support failed to win their next elections. And real life intervened. Young has two children in their 30s and two more much younger. “He used to joke that he had two in college and two in diapers,” Sandy Stevenson, Barn Alliance president, chuckled.
Fast forward to more recent years. Through extended talks with the town of Mars Hill, where Young grew up, Stevenson and Barn Alliance volunteers — bolstered by contributions from members and grants from prestigious sources — forged a relationship in which the Smith Farm at the base of the Bailey Mountain Preserve (acreage which was deeded to the town by the Hoffman Foundation) will become something of a microcosm of Ross’  ‘Disney’ fantasy. Three barns on that slope, built between the 1930’ and ‘50s, will be restored by the Barn Alliance and be open to the public, starting with fourth-grade students on field trips for their North Carolina history studies.
“You can’t buy that,” Young said of the long-range commitment. “I’m extremely excited. The notion of the Smith Farm was definitely a piece of that vision.”
WRAPPING UP 31 YEARS
His greatest frustration as he wraps up a noteworthy career: “Not being able to find a ‘clip and paste’ substitute for burley tobacco,” which ceased to receive federal subsidies in 2004. But that’s countered by his proudest achievement: Madison County “leads Western North Carolina in ‘new agriculture,’” he said. “We claim to be the most diverse and progressive in commodity production and agri-tourism. We have 1,000 farmers growing more than 200 types of things. Our oyster mushrooms go to restaurants in Asheville.”
The greatest dilemma facing Madison in the next five or 10 years? “The expansion of bedroom communities; they want to build on flat land. I wish they would build on the slopes. Flat land is more fertile; we can [plant and] feed ourselves with it.”
In recollecting, Young marvels at his trajectory. During his last year of high school, his family, which raised cattle and grew tobacco, started cultivating Christmas trees, which he still grows. “Diversified agriculture led me to college [in Berea, Ky.],” he said. “No male in my family had ever even graduated from high school.”
Now, education — the mission of the Extension Service since its inception in 1914 — consumes him. “Every second grader in Madison County is taught to handle eggs and make an omelet. Every third grader has a garden at his school.” Later comes instruction on how to “raise food and show a cow,” summer camps, community clubs, sustainability, even “proper etiquette and table manners.” All told, “we teach 300 classes a year.” This — with seven employees and a host of volunteers.
“Credit goes to the amazing people of this community,” Young said. “Whether they grew up here or not, they have the same depth of sincerity and an almost spiritual reverence for this place. I’m blessed to have been yoked-up with them.”
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Madison County, Ross Young shared his reflections of the importance of barns to the way of life in past years and why the work of the Appalachian Barn Alliance is so critical to saving this heritage. Click on the 
