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So I set my sail to Roxbury CT on this absolutely gorgeous fall day in hopes of photographing the iconic Greyledge Farm Barn. Well, much to my surprise, upon arriving, the barn was being refurbished.

There were workers removing and replacing individual boards on the exterior cladding. How many workers did you count? If you counted (7) you were correct! Look carefully and you’ll find them all.

So the other big surprise was that the American Flag, which this barn is known for, is missing from the front end where you see the (3) workers on the ladder. I attached another image, I took several years ago, which depicts the flag as it was. Now this flag was painted on the barn not hanging from it. I enlarged my original photo and I could see the vertical splits on the flag where two boards came together. So it was clearly painted.

What confused me was that there was no sign of the the flags removal left behind on the cladding. How did they do this? Did they sand? Well if they did there was no impression on the wood left behind. Did they use a chemical? Here again, no damage to the wood after removal. So I’m a bit stumped about this. My limited knowledge of this subject leads me to believe it was some type of checmical strip that didn’t damage the underlying wood or finish.

So that brings me to the next question. Is the flag going back on? Well I can’t imagine it wouldn’t. I mean we are Americans and the overwhelming vast majority of us take pride in our country and it’s heritage. The barn and flag are also in the Greyledge Farm logo which I’ve also attached an image of (taken directly from their website). Lastly photographers and site seer’s come from all over to view and photograph this barn on a ledge with “Old Glory” so proudly displayed. So my guess is that it’s either going back up, when they are done refinishing, exactly as it was before, or maybe they’ll change the layout a bit. Either way I’ll be back to photograph it again and I’ll let you all know!

As a side note the family that owns the farm, for around the past twenty year’s put the entire estate up for sale at the end of 2019 for around $16,000,000.00 If you saw this gorgeous estate, the grounds, the farms etc. you’d probably agree that it was a fair asking price. I can’t see anywhere on the web where the property has actually been purchased as of yet. Don’t forget Covid hit during a lot of the time since it was on the market and that had to have hampered the sale.

I’ve always considered this barn and the beautiful 300 acres it’s situated on to be one of Connecticut’s hidden gems. Of the thousands and thousands of images I’ve taken over the years I chose the one I took years ago, with the flag, to adorn one of the walls in my office. I guess that says it all.

Photographed with a Sony A7RII, 42MP, full framed mirrorless camera and a Sony 24-105 F4 lens.

ISO 400, 1/320th, F16, Aperture Priority

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