PREBLE COUNTY — On Thursday, April 28, the Friends of Ohio Barns Conference kicked off its weekend-long tour with a Preble County Covered Bridge tour.
Harold Niehaus, President of the Preble County Historical Society has been working with the Friends of Ohio Barns Committee and many others for three years to make the conference and tour a reality, and it finally happened after the pandemic. Steve Simmons, Doug Kramer and Kyle Cross agreed to be the docents and lead the tours.
The tour consisted of five of the eight covered bridges in Preble County and ended at the Jubilee Barn in Camden.
Mary Bullen, owner of the newly restored timber barn, received an award from the Friends of Ohio Barns Trustee Dan Troth for the 2022 Barn of the Year in recognition of her outstanding commitment to conserving an agricultural structure in Ohio.
“It truly was a magical day,” Preble County Historical Society Executive Director Lisa White said. “People from all over Ohio, Indiana, and from North Carolina visited our county. The unbelievable amount of support we received to help make this happen just shows how a small community can rally together to share something they love so much. A special thanks to the Preble County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Preble County Council on Aging, our thre current and former county engineers, our bus drivers, volunteers, and Little Red Wagon Catering for their parts in this event.”
