When driving out Copenhagen road at Table Bluff in Loleta it’s hard to miss the round barn known historically as the Knight barn. Perched above the flood plain in a swath of green pasture, the size of the barn is impressive enough, but the unique sight of such a structure is what strikes the viewer most. The Knight barn is the only round barn in Humboldt county, and in fact, to find its closest cousin you would have to travel all the way down to the sprawling city of Santa Rosa.
The barn was built between 1894 and 1896 by the Knight brothers. It was constructed of pure virgin old growth redwood. Much of the original wood remains pristine and beautiful, especially on the inside. The middle of the barn is a circular hayloft, sixty feet in diameter. This area was used to store hay that fed the cows through the winter and beyond. The haystack often reached a height of fifty feet, all the way up to the crosstree located in the barn’s tower. The hayloft is surrounded by a wagon run, also circular, which was used not only to bring the hay in but to distribute the hay to the cows.
Mel Thomsen, a Loleta native who grew up on the ranch where the barn sits, had this to say about the stacking process: “You would pull a hook down to the hay, and pull with a tractor the other way (and of course in the old days, they would use horses or whatever) and through the pulley you would pull the hay all the way up to the hay mount, and then you could stack it as high as you want.” And when it came to feeding the cows, “A wagon with hay was wheeled all the way around {on the wagon run}, so you could unload in several places.”
Milking was done in the area around the wagon run, which included seventy-five stanchions where the hay was placed for the individual cows to feed from. The efficiency of the barn’s design allowed for as few as two men to distribute the hay and do all of the milking for the seventy -five cows. In the 1960s the ranch scaled down its production and only ten cows were milked at a time, and at this time an area of the milking run floor was cemented to allow for milking machines. A room was added to this area to accommodate the cans that stored the milk.
The barn was used not only for commercial uses over the years, but for entertainment and leisure as well. For years around the turn of the century the barn was the sight of numerous dances that were held in the center of the barn. Barn dances were important social events in those days, and the Knight barn with its massive circular interior must have made for some particularly festive evenings. Over the years the barn dances became less important and frequent, and these days, there appears to be no old timers that remember the dances held at the Knight barn. |
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The barn continued to provide good times for Mel Thomsen and his friends, however, in the days of Mel’s youth. A basketball hoop still remains inside the barn, a welcome respite from the milking and feeding. A copper wire that still hangs from the outside of the barn provided access for the boys to climb onto the roof and slide down, a truly daring feat considering the barn’s height and steep incline. A water trough outside of the barn was the site of many hours spent gathering tadpoles.
The barn’s early history is hazy at best, and the names of the original owners are difficult to confirm. The barn itself was built by the Knight brothers, and the Ferndale Enterprise newspaper suggests that they may have been the original owners of the ranch as well. On April 5, 1895, the Enterprise reports: “M. Reidy, Esq., of Table Bluff informs us that Jeff Knight’s creamery has started up and running daily with a good supply of milk.” Shortly thereafter, on April 17, 1895, the Enterprise states: “Frank Knight of Table Bluff is butter maker at Harpst and Springs new creamery in Arcata.” These dates match the time period that the barn was built, but there is no mention of the barn itself.
In a 1988 essay, Russell Burke says of the original owners that they were considered ‘mavericks’, but gives no indication of who the owners actually were. Could Jeff and Frank Knight be the mysterious mavericks known as the Knight brothers? The verdict is not in, but the fact remains that the original builders left behind an important historical landmark for the local dairy industry, and Humboldt County as a whole.
The Herrick-McMillan family owned the barn for many years, and on February 19, 1946 Gladys Herrick McMillan, Edmond C. McMillan, F. Leslie Herrick and Palmyra McMillan sold the ranch on which the barn sits to James and Ellen M. Thomsen.
Jimmy Thomsen sold the ranch in December of 1964. Despite what this date suggests, the barn was not sold because of the famous flood that occurred that year. The barn always remained above the reach of any flood. The current owners of the ranch are the Russ family of Loleta.
At one time there was another round barn just down the hill, situated on a separate ranch, but it burned down in the 1960s.
The Knight barn is now in a state of decline, with vines and branches growing up its southwest comer. It remains grand, however, and a compelling sight to behold.
Special thanks to Mel Thomsen, Linda Russ, and Russell Burke. |