Chasing a Dream

Chasing a Dream. Our Next Project. , Over the next two years, the picture you see of a barn being raised in the 1890s could become the real fulfillment of a dream that started when Heritage Village was created in 2004. We needed a barn!, Pat and Martin Jahn, enthusiastic supporters of Heritage Village since its beginning, placed money in reserve to secure and move a barn to the site. After more than a year of searching, with Martin and a member of the Historical Society clamoring through many barns in Emmet and Cheboygan counties, the plan was abandoned because of structural issues and cost., Never one to give up, Martin provided the Historical Society the picture that he knew was a barn built in the Carp Lake area by his great- grandfather, George Fornwald. George's fame as a barn builder was well chronicled around the turn of the century. The persistent barn duo located the actual barn depicted still standing on Schmalzried Road. Following a ceremony to reunite the Jahns with the barn and its current owners, it was decided that moving the barn was not possible., [Captions:] , "Henry Fornwald and his father are building a barn 40 X 60 for the Smaltzreid brothers, four miles west of Levering. The Fornwalds have fairly won an enviable reputation as barn builders, and the secret to their success is that their work is done satisfactorily and rapidly." - Cheboygan Democrat, June 11, 1890, "George Fornwald has gone to Mackinaw to work. Cheboygan Democrat, October 1, 1891, We are now pursuing an architecturally accurate replica. We have met with a prospective builder who deals in log and board structures. He feels the project is feasible. Watch the hillside on the west side of the garden! Dreams do come true!