the Holmes Round Barn

a Canadian Heritage Dairy Barn in Barnston-Ouest, Quebec

In 1897 William Henry Holmes bought a farm in the vicinity of Way’s Mills in the Quebec Eastern Townships with a rectangular barn and a sugarhouse. Just 9 years later, disaster struck when the Holmes barn and farmhouse burned to the ground. Ignoring tradition, William decided to build a round barn – the latest trend in dairy farming from the neighbouring American States of Vermont and Massachusetts.