Shawnee Hill Antique Barn and Smithery.

The tourism committee of the Union county Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the establishment of the Union County Barn Trail with the technical assistance of SIUC's RDO Agri-Tourism Research Team. This tour of the Union County Barn Trail, called Barnstorming Union County, highlights working barns and barns of unique historic value, both contributing to the cultural heritage of southern Illinois. The barns on this tour are owned by local barn enthusiasts, who are committed to the preservation of the heritage of Union County. The first barn tour took place in October of 1999 and consisted of a one day tour with seven stops to various barns and farms throughout the county. Click on one of the barns pictured on this page to see all the barns on the tour. RDO worked with the participants to create a Barnstorming Union County brochure. (Note: you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 to view the brochure. To download, please click on image below). The brochure describes each barns and shows a trail map of the tour. The brochure was distributed throughout the state and allowed Barnstorming Union County to gain excellent exposure.

Goddard's barn, now a clothing store, has been a landmark in Anna since 1921.

Forty people filled the first tour bus and enjoyed a narrated tour around the county. Jim Goddard, owner of Goddards Clothing Store in Anna, was the tour guide and used his extensive knowledge of the county to entertain the visitors. The event was a huge success and was given high praise by all that attended.

After the success of the first tour, the group planned another event for the weekend of May 26th. The activities were expanded over two days to include a kick off event at the newly opened Anna Union Art Guild. With assistance from the Carbondale Arts Council, an area competition of barn paintings was organized with the judging taking place on Friday evening. There were guest speakers and a band to entertain the 75 people in attendance. It was a great start to the weekend which followed on Saturday with a bus tour around the barns. A newly added feature was a wagon ride out to the barns on Jack and Jackie Eddleman's farm in Dongola, Illinois. The visitors took the wagon ride while Bob Swenson, a local architect, spoke about the construction of the historic barns.

One of three barns on the Eddleman-Kimber farms located in Dongola.

Once again the tour was a great success and planning has already begun for the next tour, which takes place the weekend of October 13th. The group is also focused on attracting private tour buses to take the trail. With Jim Goddard as the narrator, the buses follow the same trail and pay the Barnstorming committee a fee based on the number of visitors on each bus. There are already a number of tours booked and the group plans on developing additional marketing materials to distribute to tour companies around the state.