For nearly a century, the Big Barn, located next the Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop, has stood as a quiet but powerful witness to the enduring values of the John C. Campbell Folk School – community, craftsmanship, sustainability, and education.

This iconic structure, listed as the “Hay Barn” in the John C. Campbell Folk School Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, is far more than a barn. It’s a symbol of our early agricultural roots, a space where students learned by doing, and where fresh milk once flowed from our dairy to our kitchen and into the community through the Mountain Valley Creamery (later Mountain Valley Cooperative) in Brasstown. Along with being an integral part of the Folk School’s agricultural history and dairy cooperative, Big Barn holds architectural and local significance. While common in some other parts of the country, bank barns were an unusual sight in North Carolina, and Big Barn impacted future barn architecture in Brasstown with its gambrel roof, stone foundation, carved agricultural tiles (see if you can spot them the next time you’re visiting campus!), and exposed timber framing.

Today, Big Barn needs your help. We urgently need to rebuild Big Barn’s iconic roof due to recent storms, including Hurricane Helene, which blew off shingles and exposed significant wood rot in the framing.
As we celebrate our 100th anniversary, we are committed to preserving this agriculture landmark and its significance to our community for generations to come. With your support, we can:

• Restore and stabilize the roof of the historic Big Barn
• Interpret its agricultural legacy through educational programming
• Continue the Folk School’s legacy of community- and land-based learning

Will you join us in preserving this vital piece of our story? We already have $25,910 committed to this project, leaving $75,000 to complete Big Barn’s restoration.  

Your generous donation – whether $50, $100, or more – will help ensure that the Big Barn continues to inspire, educate, and serve.
We invite you to be a part of this important work. Together, we can honor the past while investing in a vibrant future.

With deep gratitude,