The term barn raising describes
the construction of barns since
the 18th and 19th centuries in rural North America (U.S. and
Canada). In the past, a barn was often the first, largest, and
most costly structure built by a family who settled in a new
area. Barns were essential structures for storage of hay and
keeping of horses and cattle, which in those days were an inseparable
part of farming. The tradition of "barn raising" continues, more
or less unchanged, in some Amish and Old
Order Mennonite communities, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania,
and some rural parts of Canada.
