The Historic Farmstead of the Year is Arlington Acres, set in rural Tiffin.
Arlington Acres is set on the grounds of a working family farm in northwest Ohio just outside of Tiffin, Ohio. The foundations of the barn were f irst laid by civil war veteran Arlington Dunn in the late 1860s where it stood for several years and was used as housing for the building crew and farm hands as they built Arlington’s beautiful home on the property.
In 2019 John and Sarah Bolte began renovating the historic bank barn in order to re-purpose its beauty as a wedding venue. The lower level of the barn had been used for cattle and the beams supporting the barn were just barely holding the barn up. The original wooden posts were replaced with steel supports and the original beams were cut to wrap the posts to keep the original look. The upper level of the barn was preserved and is almost entirely original. The few additions that were added include fire suppression, 2 staircases leading out of the barn and one staircase going up to the loft.
The exterior of the barn was re-sided with metal board and batten siding in 2020 and the original vents were replaced with windows to allow for more natural light into the barn. The greatest challenge posed with this renovation project related to fire code and the unexpected financial burden of adding fire suppression to the historic structure.