Anyone know the history of these barns?
Does anyone know the history of these barns? The top barn is located in Independence on Route 46 and the lower barn is on Janes Chapel Road near Oxford.
animal lover I don't know but it is a shame that they are rotting away. There used to be another barn on Janes Chapel Road that was circular. It fell down about 10 years ago.
Babs 
The barn on Janes Chapel road that fell down was the round barn. It collapsed during a heavy snowstorm.
waybill 
singlemaleinnj The one in independence the beers used to farm 20 years ago then he bought cannonballs
Billy bobThank u for the info I know about the round barn it fell down because somebody took the supports out for scrap. I am looking for as much history on these for a Facebook page that has the old sites and the history.
Given the shape on the first one, my first guess would be post WWII when those roofs became more common.
I do hate to see an old barn in disrepair since replacement will probably never happen. Although the one just west of Blairstown is being restored / remodeled in an incredible fashion.
mistergoogle The first barn is part of a farm. The farmhouse was between the barn and Rt. 46. The house was taken down when the bridge on Rt.46 near Kozimors garage was rebuilt around 1994.
The round barn I am not sure of its original purpose but in the late 70's contained antique cars for storage.
boobalaa thank you mistergoogle...we have been going all around taking pictures of these old places and putting them on a facebook page...its fun to actually get the history and keep it alive.
JD4020 The barn in the bottom of the picture that animal lover posted (Janes Chapel) is not standing as of this morning.
maja maja, yeah we drove by it on Sunday and it was down. We updated our page to reflect that. This is why I was trying to get more info on it as the older buildings are not surviving the winter we had. I was trying to preserve the history as much as possible.
animal lover, for some reason I thought the round barn either belonged to the Neville family, or they might know something about it. In the early 70's we did a competitive trail ride from the barn and it was empty back then. (the ride was horses)
Ms Fishy I would have to ask tonight about the round barn...I think it did go down during a storm. Stories I heard was somebody took out the copper support beams for scrap and then it did go down in a snow storm. We never saw that one. Friends of ours live on that street if it is the one I was thinking of.
If anyone knows any other cool places to visit...we are always looking for more to investigate and take pictures of.
What barn just west of Blairstown, mr.g?
There are several abandoned railroad tunnels in the area if that would interest you, animal lover. Manunka Chunk on Rt. 46 in Belvidere (double tunnel, on a curve-pitch black and erie inside), the Oxford tunnel under Rt. 31, Roseville Tunnel in the Byram Area, and the Pattenberg tunnels (one is active) not far from Round Valley Reservoir. They're always worth a trip.
Also the Hainesburg viaduct in Blairstown and the Delaware Viaduct that crosses over Rt. 80 and the river.
MeisterNJ What about the old farm on 517 across from 711? That one always gets my attention.
ladeevee In the Highland of Independence there is a building (barn)that may interest you. When the development was built they were not allowed to tear it down, I was told at the time it is the oldest standing building in Warren County.
Margaret1 Thank you for the suggestions will check them out. We went to the farm on 517 it is a cool place. Also would love to know any history about it. The Internet has it as the slaughter house
The roofs on the barns across from Panther Valley have collapsed. This winters heavy snows caused much damage there. The Round Barn was left to deteriorate over the years. It gradually fell apart and collapsed due to neglect.I took pictures of The Round Barn for years to document its sad shape. The barn was built in 1933 by the Pfaff family.Round barns are very unique. Nobody cared.
Did I miss where you posted a FaceBook link.... I love old barns and silo's left standing. I know they always have a story....
Jo Anne A cool place to check out is the old Rutherford estate back behind the trail behind Tranquility Farms. Pretty cool and has a lot of history.
Stace The barn in the Highlands has been getting (VERY slowly) restored/turned into a residential house since I was a child and was growing up there. (1988-2012) The woman who owns it is NOT friendly and I don't reccomend going near the property. There is a pond behind it that we tried to fish in and she took us to court for tresspassing, we were 10 year olds! It is a very cool structure to look at though. We believed the area was a cow farm, we used to find cow bones in our yards!
I wondered if there was anyone living there. We walk by it sometimes when we take the kids around the neighborhood. Always interesting to get more back story on the local points of interest.
This farm is located on Rt 517 near Panther Valley. The barns on this property were heavily damaged by this winters heavy snows.
Meister, just out of town on the right. Actually not sure how old a structure it was but they are fixing it up to the nines.
One of those tunnels is haunted I think; we need John C. to tell more.
The Pfaff round barn - Townsbury - Janes Chapel - was built by my great grandfather - Henry Pfaff......my mom was also born in a house nearby....and my grandparents owned Pfaff's General Store on Dutch Hill (Belvidere Ave) in Oxford for many, many years. The photo I attached is of my grandfather, Herman Pfaff (on left) and my great grandfather, Henry Pfaff.
Sandra Martin Fritz 
pmnsk What a great thread!
I will visit the facebook page.
My house was built in 1740 and was part of the house next to me which use to be a large cow farm. My neighbors restored the barn and silo. Love seeing old buildings restored and cared for. I still find old stone foundations in the woods and still see parts of fencing that were once for the cows and find old draft horse shoes.
Thanks for the post!
Summer The Barn in the Highlands development in Independence, was part of a farm. There were two or three farm houses between the barn and Rusling Rd. When the area was developed in the Mid 80's the farm houses were torn down and the barn was left and reconditioned as a residence. By the way, most of the houses in the Highlands were not built on site, they are Modular Houses and came in Four parts and were put together on site with a huge crane. After they were put together, Ralph Flanders, who later became Mayor of Independence, built the garages attached to them.
I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing the old barns and for caring about my great grandfather's (Pfaff) round barn. It made me sad to find out it was gone. My mom and dad were also married in Jane's Chapel. I know that has been a house for a long time now.
I don't know the history of the barns across from Panther Valley/7-11 but I got some recent shots of the farm house on the same property I would like to share....I also heard it was a slaughter house but I'm not sure of that...
MichelleM. 
Michelle,
My family farmed that place for over 30 years. I grew up in that house and its such a shame what has happened to the house and barns.
I love this thread. In my last house I researched it's history. If was fun.When the farmer behind me passed away most of his family came from all over and I learned so much from them They all grew up on the farm. I got names of every one that ever lived there and the changes each made. I left the history with the new buyers and the town hall. Like they say. If the walls could only talk.
Old Gent I love all the information from these old places...we still go around when time permits, we post on face book only "Abandoned Memories of New Jersey". I will update any information on our page. If somebody has some new places to visit, please post.
JD4020...I envy your life on that farm & that large rustic setting..the landscape is so
beautiful there :-)
Lauren Michelle, I have always been curious about that property!!! When I was younger I knew the people who rented it out, they had horses. I don't believe the house was livable then. We used to trail ride all over that property.
Now I really would love to see if I could dig up the privy. I joke around with Oldman and tell him we could do it under the cover of darkness.
I've been meaning to hike around there but since it is (was?) hunting season, I didn't think it would be a good idea.
Smack The round barn near Janes Chapel in Townsbury NJ was built by my grandfather Henry Pfaff, originally from Wisconsin where he also built a round barn. Henry and Henrietta had 11 children who survived to adulthood, including my father Ernest K Pfaff and Herman Pfaff... grandfather of Sandra Martin Fritz!! As kids, my brother Bill and sister Patti and I used to visit Uncle Herman's country general store! He was my favorite of all the uncles. And Aunt Sylvia was my favorite aunt. She died quite young, so Ms. Fritz may not have known her. The other children of Henry Pfaff were Robert, Carl (Buck), Art, Willis, Ed, Jack, Frtitz, Hubert, and Pauline. I am now 71 years old; a retired nurse
Sandra J. Pfaff I researched the history of my house in Washington Twp. When farmer behind me died his whole family was here and I interviewed all of them They grew up on the farm. I knew who built it and the name of everyone that ever lived there, and who did any changes to it over time. I left it with the tax assessor and the new owners. It was fun.
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