The Barns of Rose Hill

News Archive 2005 - 2009

Barns of Rose Hill awarded the Honorable Mention designation of the 2010 Arts Build Communities Rising Star Award.

December 2009 - The Barns of Rose Hill is very pleased to announce that they have been awarded the Honorable Mention designation of the 2010 Arts Build Communities Rising Star Award. The Rising Star Award is presented to an organization that contributes to and engages its community significantly, like the winner of the Shining Star award, but that is now not as well established.

Rising Star Honorable Mentions

Bay School Cultural Art Center, Mathews
Parsons-Bruce Art Association, South Boston
Southwest Virginia Community College, Richlands
The Barns of Rose Hill, Berryville
Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, Falls Church

Eighty-two Virginia arts organizations were nominated for awards. Judges for the awards included Mrs. Willie Dell, Commissioner, Virginia Commission for the Arts; Mr. Peter Fields, President, Virginians for the Arts; Mr. Mark Flynn, Legislative Director, Virginia Municipal League, Richmond; Ms. Marjorie N. Grier, Director-Corporate Philanthropy, Dominion Resources, Inc., Richmond; Dr. Roderic A. Taylor, Member of the Board, Virginians for the Arts, Chesapeake; and Mr. J. Vaughan Webb, Commissioner, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Ferrum. Ms. Beth Temple, Alexandria, served as a judge and chaired the judges panel. She serves as Chair of the Virginians for the Arts Awards Committee.

"There are many arts organizations all across Virginia that are doing outstanding work in enriching the lives of their home communities. These organizations are anchors for downtown and neighborhood revitalization. Performances, festivals, and art exhibitions bring people together for shared experiences, which build cohesion within communities and create a sense of civic pride. Arts organizations employ people and make purchases from local businesses, adding to economic vitality. The new Arts Build Communities Awards bring a spotlight to the role of arts organizations in building strong communities," says Peggy Baggett, Executive Director, Virginia Commission for the Arts.

Awards will be presented at the ArtWorks for Virginia Conference 2010 Luncheon on January 27, 2010, in Richmond, Virginia.

Virginians for the Arts works to build awareness of the importance of the efforts of Virginia's state arts agency, the Virginia Commission for the Arts. In 2009, the agency provided grants for operating support for more than 200 arts organizations throughout the state and more than 1,000 other types of grants that benefit teachers, students, local government, artists and the communities they serve. The Virginia Commission for the Arts is the only entity in the state concerned about developing the arts industry as a whole and about making the arts available in all parts of the Commonwealth. In 2008, the Commission helped to make possible 39,943 arts events attended by more than 7.7 million people, including 1.9 million school children.

Barns of Rose Hill receives grants from two local philanthropic groups.

December 2009 - In the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors, The Barns of Rose Hill has received grants from two local philanthropic groups. The Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival has donated $1,000 of its festival proceeds to The Barns of Rose Hill’s capital campaign. The SVFF, a local non-profit dedicated to maintaining our agricultural heritage and its arts, holds an annual festival to promote local fiber products and the people who raise sheep, goats, llamas and rabbits. The SVFF gives back to the community by supporting local groups whose missions are similar to their own. In addition to The Barns’ effort to restore old dairy barns to community service, the SVFF has supported the 4-H, FFA and Industrial Arts at the Paw Paw School.

The Barns has also received a $5,000 grant from The Andrew U. Ferrari Foundation. Barbara and Andy Ferrari continue their strong support of The Barns’ mission of creating a community center to promote the arts and agri-tourism in Clarke County.

Barns of Rose Hill Wins Wilkins Family Foundation Grant $100,000 Pledged to Barns Restoration Campaign

March 2009 - The Barns organization learned today that the Wilkins Family Foundation will award a $100,000 grant for the capital campaign to restore two barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park for public service as a community, arts and education center.

“We’re thrilled that the Wilkins family shares our vision for the Barns Center as a vital space to celebrate life and learning, and through the arts to enhance the experience of living,” said Diana Kincannon, president of the Barns of Rose Hill. “We’re very grateful and excited by this vote of confidence. The Barns Center will be an influence of much good for many people, and the Wilkins family, in remembering Mr. Wilkins Sr. through this gift, will contribute to that good.”

The larger of the two barns will be the primary public space in the Barns Center and will be designated the James R. Wilkins Sr. Center for Arts and Education.

The Barns of Rose Hill organization was formed in September 2004 to raise funds for the restoration project. The Wilkins Family Foundation grant brings the campaign to $1.4 million toward the $1.6 million goal. The project is moving into construction phase; engineering design is underway, and the organization expects to break ground by September while continuing the fundraising campaign. The 7,438 square foot facility will offer a venue for the performing and visual arts, lecture presentations and community meetings, dinners, dances and workshops. The facility will also house the Berryville-Clarke County Visitors Center, which will participate in the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s statewide program.

Barns of Rose Hill Enters Construction Phase - Names Engineers, Project Manager

March 2009 - With $200,000 yet needed toward the $1.6 million goal to complete the capital campaign, The Barns of Rose Hill is moving into construction phase. “We ask for the continued support of our wonderful Barn Raisers as we get the construction phase started,” said Diana Kincannon, president of the Barns.

“The last $200,000 is just as important as the first $200,000, and we need everyone to stay with us. But we want to create jobs as soon as possible and to contribute to the area’s economy, and we’re hoping for highly competitive bids from contractors in the present down market. It’s a good time to get going.”

Engineering firms have been selected. Painter-Lewis Engineering will be responsible for structural and site engineering, and FHC Engineering is designing mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Both firms are based in Winchester.

Stan Kerns, a Berryville resident, has been selected as Project Manager to shepherd the project through to completion. With a strong background in the building sector and the organizational skills required for the job, Kerns will manage and coordinate matters relating to the bid process and contractor selection, VDOT and Town of Berryville requirements, regulatory and financial processes and the actual construction of the facility. He will be supported by the Barns Building Committee, chaired by Berryville resident George Dellinger and including Wayne Armbrust and Susi Bailey.

Carter+Burton Architecture has completed the schematic design, and the Architectural Review Board has granted preliminary approval for the 7,438 square foot, multi-use facility, which will also house a Berryville-Clarke County Visitor Center. Subsequent to approval by VDOT and the Department of History Resources of the plan, ground-breaking is expected no later than September of this year.

Barns Organization Names Rick Sponseller to Board of Directors

March 2009 - The Barns of Rose Hill is pleased to announce that Rick Sponseller has joined the Board of Directors to help in the project to restore the two aging dairy barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park for community service.

“We’re excited that Rick will be working with us to open the Barn doors,” said Diana Kincannon, president of the Barns. “His wonderful service to Berryville as Mayor will continue now through the Barns campaign; he’ll play a direct role in restoring the barns for a life a public service, creating a new center for community, arts and education for the people of Berryville and Clarke County.”

Sponseller, who served as Berryville Mayor from 1988 to 2008, has long shared the vision for the barns. “The Barns of Rose Hill Center will not only serve to edify and enrich the lives of the citizens of our community through its programming—its presence will surely be a catalyst for economic development in the core of our historic downtown,” he commented.

Sponseller joins Susi Bailey, Barbara Byrd, Sally Caldwell, Wendy Clatterbuck, Elaine Dennison, Robin Eddy, Janet Eltinge, R.T. Good, Veda Headley, Diana Kincannon, Jean King, Ann Lesman, Gwen Malone, Sandy Masquith, Bob Randolph and Gail Smith, all presently serving on the Barns Board of Directors.

Needing to raise $200,000 more, the Barns capital campaign has secured $1.3 million towards the estimated $1.6 million required. The Architectural Review Board has granted preliminary approval for the 7,438 square foot, multi-use facility, which will also house a Berryville-Clarke County Visitor Center. While continuing the fundraising work, the campaign is moving into construction phase in order to create jobs and contribute to the area’s economy, while hoping for highly competitive bids from contractors in the present down market. Design engineering is underway, and the Barns board of directors expects to break ground no later than September.

Rotary Club of Clarke County completes $25,000 Barns Pledge

March 2009 - On March 11, Clarke County Rotary Club president Ken Rivett presented Diana Kincannon with a check for $5,013 and so fulfilled its 2005 pledge of $25,000 to The Barns of Rose Hill project to create a community, arts and education center in the two aging barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park.

In recognition of this very significant gift to the restoration effort, Kincannon presented the Rotary Club with a BarnBrick inscribed “Rotary Club of Clarke County - $25,000 – 2005-2009”. The brick will be placed with other inscribed bricks to form a “walk of recognition” - a permanent acknowledgement of Rotary’s role in opening the Barns to a new life of public service. The Rotary Club’s commitment to the Barns effort will also be recognized inside the facility’s “Great Hall”; the Club claimed the theater stage area with its pledge.

Rivett noted that the $25,000 pledge in 2005 represented the first major contribution of the Club to a local project. The Club has raised funds for several years for the Clarke County High School Band, and each year the Club provides food baskets for families at the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The Clarke Club also raises funds for Rotary International projects and has begun to support a school in Tanzania, providing funds for school supplies through a Rotary Club in Arusha.

The Barns restoration capital campaign has secured $1.3 million towards the estimated $1.6 million needed. The Architectural Review Board has granted preliminary approval for the 7,438 square foot, multi-use facility, which will also house a Berryville-Clarke County Visitor Center. While continuing the fundraising work, the campaign is moving into construction phase in order to create jobs and contribute to the area’s economy, while hoping for highly competitive bids from contractors in the present down market. Design engineering is underway, and the Barns board of directors expects to break ground no later than September.

The Winchester Star - 03/05/2009
ARB reviews Barns project
By Laura Oleniacz

Berryville — How will new construction meld with the existing architecture of two 20th century dairy barns proposed

for renovation as a community, arts, and visitors center? That was the question Wednesday for Berryville’s Architectural Review Board, a five-member group appointed to uphold the requirements of the town’s Historic District. The nonprofit organization The Barns of Rose Hill Inc. is proposing to connect the two dairy barns — one large, one small — with a flat-roofed structure, and renovate the buildings into a Berryville-Clarke County Visitors Center and multi-use space for artistic workshops and performances.

Diana Kincannon, president of The Barns of Rose Hill Inc., describes some of the planned renovations for two 20th century dairy barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park Wednesday. (Photo by Scott Mason)

“You have to have real vision because they’re in pretty bad shape now,” Diana Kincannon, president of The Barns of Rose Hill Inc. and chairman of the project’s board of directors, told the ARB about the current state of the barns. The nonprofit organization will add two 10-foot-wide extensions to the west side of the large barn and along the north sides of both barns. “We will do all we can to marry the new and the old construction,” Kincannon said.

Stanley M. Kerns, a volunteer on the project’s construction committee, said a mixture of the barn’s old German siding mixed with new lap siding will cover the completed building and be painted a uniform gray. While the German siding that now covers the barns is covered in mold and decay, it will be power-washed and stained gray.

The ARB recommended that a vertical cornerboard be used to differentiate the additions. “It denotes a seam,” said board member John E. Hudson. The board also discussed the color of the sidewalk leading from the nearby parking lot of the Berryville-Clarke County Joint Government Center to the barns, but voted to make the sidewalk details a decision for the Town Council. The length of the sidewalk would be dotted with 32-inch-high light posts topped with ornate black-and-white light boxes, with additional lights placed along the ground. As proposed, the sidewalk would be stained to match the brick-like color of the other sidewalks in Rose Hill Park, but the ARB discussed keeping it the same as a regular sidewalk for better handicap accessibility and appearance.

“It’s hard to clean snow and ice off of,” said board Vice Chairman Ken Livingston. Hudson spoke in favor of the sidewalk plan. “It’s trying to differentiate official areas from a social-cultural area,” he said, speaking of the difference in appearance of the park’s sidewalks from those at the Joint Government Center. “What is important to us today, that the footprint of the building — whether this is acceptable to you,” Kerns said, explaining the type of guidance barns officials were seeking from the ARB. “If we have to shift and back up, it’s going to get very expensive.”

The board granted conceptual approval for aspects of the project’s design, including the siding and the foundation, but did not issue a final Certificate of Appropriateness. The Barns of Rose Hill Inc. officials will go before the Town Council March 10 to relay the ARB’s recommendations. The council owns the barns and the property they stand on, said Assistant Town Manager and Planner Christy Dunkle. Kincannon said the hope is to break ground for the renovation as early as July, although the nonprofit group is still $300,000 short of its $1.6 million campaign goal. Attending the ARB meeting in the Berryville-Clarke County Joint Government Center were Hudson, Livingston, Nancy Bishop, and Susan R. Jones. Chairman James E. Barb was absent.

The Barns of Rose Hill wins $237,000 VDOT Transportation Enhancement Program Grant

July 2008 - The Virginia Department of Transportation has awarded a $237,000 Transportation Enhancement Program grant to The Barns of Rose Hill toward construction costs for the creation of a Berryville-Clarke County Visitor Center to be housed in the new Barns of Rose Hill facility in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park . The award, for a Phase II proposal, follows a $100,000 Phase I award made to the Visitor Center project last year.

The Berryville-Clarke County Visitor Center will be certified by the Virginia Tourism Corporation and will be open 40 hours a week to serve travelers with information about area restaurants, inns, businesses and attractions. The TEP grant brings the funds raised for the Barns project to over $1.25 million toward the overall $1.5 million goal.

The Barns of Rose Hill to Hold Community Meeting Project Update April 14, Enders Fire Co. Social Hall

March 2008 - The Barns of Rose Hill will hold an open meeting to report on the status of the campaign to restore two barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park for service as a community and arts center.

The meeting will be at the Enders Fire Company Social Hall, 9 S. Buckmarsh Street in Berryville, 7:30-8:30 PM on
Monday, April 14. The presentation will cover the fundraising campaign, the prospect of “going green” in construction
techniques and a projected timetable for groundbreaking. Refreshments will be served

Clarke County Supervisors appropriate $150,000 to Barns campaign!

December 2007 - On December 18, the Clarke County Supervisors voted a grant of $100,000 to the Barns campaign,
with an additional $50,000 available on a matching basis. The funds will be transferred to the Barns when total funds
raised reaches $1.35 million, or $150,000 short of the $1.5 million total goal.

New Grants Awarded to Barns of Rose Hill Total $4,300 Freedom Forum,
Target and District Rotary Club Support Grass-Roots Project

September 2007 - The Barns of Rose Hill has received grants from three organizations in support of the project to restore two barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park for service as a community and arts center. The Freedom Forum, an Arlington, VA-based, nonpartisan international foundation advocating free press and speech rights, has awarded a $2,500 grant to the Barns capital campaign fund. The Target Foundation’s $1,000 grant will help to cover costs associated with the master storyteller Lynn Ruehlmann’s program “Steadfast and Spirited: Stories of the American Revolution”, performed for Clarke County students September 17 and 18. And the Barns is pleased to announce a second matching grant award from the District Rotary organization for needed audio-visual and office equipment to enable the Barns to carry out its programming for the community, bringing to some $4,000 awarded the Barns by the District Rotary matching grant program.

The Barns of Rose Hill has raised $900,000 towards its $1.5 million campaign goal. Barn-raising donations are most
welcome and gratefully accepted, and may be in the form of cash gifts, stock equities, estate or planned giving, or
gifts-in-kind. Contact The Barns for more information at 955-7093 in Berryville.

August 2007 - The Barns has won an $850 District Rotary Matching Grant for the purchase of audio-visual equipment and office equipment. This is in addition to a $2700 District Rotary Matching Grant awarded to the Barns project last year for essential operating equipment as well. The Clarke County Rotary Club has pledged $25,000 to support this grass-roots community effort to create a community and arts center for Berryville, Clarke County and the Valley.

$100,000 VDOT GRANT FOR VISITOR CENTER IN THE BARNS

July 1, 2007 - The Barns of Rose Hill project has been awarded a $100,000 Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP) grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation. The proposal to VDOT through the Town of Berryville, owners of the barns in Rose Hill Park, includes the creation of a Berryville-Clarke County Visitor Center to be housed in a designated “lobby” area of the lower level of the Barns facility. The Visitor Center, to be certified through the Virginia Tourism Corporation, will provide information about area tourist services such as restaurants, historic sites and lodging, maps, brochures and restroom facilities for visitors to Berryville and Clarke County. The TEP grant brings the Capital Campaign to nearly $940,000.

2007 AUCTION GALA NETS NEARLY $30,000 FOR THE BARNS CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

The June 16 “Night at the Mill” for The Barns of Rose Hill Silent and Live Auction Dinner Gala was the scene for a great
deal of fun and a lot of lively bidding on the more than 150 auction items on offer. More than 100 guests turned out to enjoy an evening of perfect weather and fine food and drink in support of the Barns effort. The happy result: Nearly $30,000 added to the campaign fund! Many thanks to those who donated auction items, to the many volunteers who helped in so many ways, to Snow Fielding and Roger Chavez for opening their Mill to the Barns, and to the guests who came out for the event. Together, we’re raising the Barns to the Shenandoah skies!

THE BARNS OF ROSE HILL RECEIVES GRANT FROM THE PHILIP L. GRAHAM FUND

In December of 2006, The Barns of Rose Hill was awarded a $25,000 grant by the Philip L. Graham Fund. The Fund,
based in Washington, DC, is affiliated with The Washington Post and supports community development projects in the
arts and humanities. The grant award brings to nearly $700,000 the amount raised thus far in the $1.5 million capital
campaign to restore two early-20th-century barns in Rose Hill Park for service as a community and arts center for Berryville, Clarke County and the northern Virginia area.

THE BARNS OF ROSE HILL RECEIVES GRANTS FROM CLARKE COUNTY AND DISTRICT ROTARY CLUBS

The Barns of Rose Hill has received two grants from Rotary International. The Clarke County Rotary Club recently donated $3,200 for the Barns capital campaign to restore the two aged barns in Berryville’s Rose Hill Park for service as a community and arts center. The Clarke Club has pledged $25,000 for the community-based project, and the recent grant brought to $8,200 its support for the Barns effort. The Clarke Rotary also worked with the Barns to apply for a matching District Rotary grant, which was awarded in the amount of $2,700, to be applied toward the purchase of needed sound and office equipment.

The District letter of notification came from J. Ronald Ferrill, Chair of the District Foundation Grants Committee to
Steve Brown, President of the Clarke County Rotary Club. Mr. Ferrill commented that "The committee is impressed
with the object and scope of the project to be of benefit to the citizens of your community. This is in keeping with the
intent of the Rotary Foundation District Simplified Grants program."

Pictured from left to right in the Rotary photograph are:
Dr. Tom Leahy, Jim Bogaty, Charles Schutte, Diana Kincannon, Dale Moulden, Chip Steinmetz, Yousaf Sheikh, and Jim Wink.

BB&T Contributes to Barns Project

The BB&T Charitable Foundation has pledged $3,000 to the Barns of Rose Hill community project to restore the
early-20^th-century barns in Rose Hill Park for service as a community and arts center. Jason Williams, Vice President
and Area Executive with BB&T at the bank’s Berryville branch, made the request to the Foundation on behalf of The
Barns of Rose Hill.

Pictured are Diana Kincannon, President of the Barns of Rose Hill, and
Jason Williams, Vice President and AreaExecutive of BB&T.

Program Grants Awarded: Both the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the Marion Park Lewis Foundation of the
Shenandoah Arts Council recognized The Barns of Rose Hill in the spring of 2006 through program grants. VCA’s
grants provided funding for a poetry workshop and a computer, and the Marion Park Lewis Foundation grants will
support the playwriting workshop in July and the Kate Campbell Stevenson theater performance at the Johnson
Williams Middle School in September.

Cochran Lumber and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Byrd, III, donate reclaimed barn wood for Barns construction. Cochran’s wood reclamation team has disassembled an aged barn belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Byrd, who donated the old building to the Barns project. According to Jim Burton of Carter+Burton, project architect, much of the oak and pine boarding and
beams can be integrated into the Barns facility. A gift to The Barns of Rose Hill that brings some of the county’s apple
production heritage to the project.

Mr. Dennis Ridings of Irongate has volunteered to provide time and materials toward the new steel infrastructure
for the barns restoration, a generous and wonderful contribution that will help to bring this important public facility
to the community.

The Winchester Star - 12/13/2005
BERRYVILLE — The federal government has given a $250,000 boost to help fund conversion of two 1920s dairy barns into an arts and culture community center.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (left), R-10th, talks with Diana Kincannon, president of Barns of Rose Hill, about the barns project. Wolf announced $250,000 in federal funding. (Photo by Rick Foster)

U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, visited Berryville Monday afternoon to
announce the funding, which doubled the amount raised so far for the project by The Barns of Rose Hill Inc., a nonprofit organization. The federal funds, appropriated last month, brought the total raised to almost $500,000, one-third of the money needed for the renovation.

“This project will help fill a need in the community,” Wolf told 30 town and Clarke County officials and members of the nonprofit’s board of directors gathered in the Berryville Town Council Chambers. “It will serve all ages, from teenagers to seniors, and provide the community with adequate space to hold meetings and other cultural events.”

The money was included in the fiscal year 2006 Transportation-Treasury-
Housing Appropriations conference report President Bush signed into law last month. The nonprofit group needs $1.5 million to restore the two dairy barns and convert them into a community center. The group has received almost $250,000 in pledged donations for the project, said Diana Kincannon, president of The Barns of Rose Hill Inc.

“This is a very important development for this project and this community,” Kincannon told the group Monday.Carter + Burton Architecture PLC has designed the renovation of the two barns, which will include a glass lobby connecting
the buildings. The nonprofit organization hopes the center will preserve the county’s agrarian heritage while providing a vibrant gathering space for the whole community. The barns will be designed to accommodate a variety of venues,
including a presentation hall, film center, a showcase for regional artists’ work, a coffeehouse for teenagers, a social hall
for seniors, workshop space, and an area for theatre and storytelling.

“This will be a flexible, multi-use facility,” Kincannon said.

The Smithy family donated the dairy barns to Berryville in 1964 to create an educational and recreational center in town. Downtown Berryville Inc. started raising money for the renovation project five years ago, but the Barns of Rose Hill Inc. broke off last year to concentrate on fund-raising. The nonprofit’s board members hope to open the center by fall 2007 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement, America’s first permanent settlement. “[It will] provide a space where we will be able to preserve our history, remember our history, present our history to the newcomers in this town,” Kincannon said, “and carry us forward and provide a place to celebrate our lives and our small-town culture here in Clarke County.”