MANSON — Scott Langenwalter loves talking about barns, and he especially enjoys spending time in his own barn.

“I love the architecture of the barn,” he said. “I like to see how they put all that together.”

In 1997, he and his wife, Dawn, bought an acreage west of Manson with a house and barn so they could have a place to raise horses and, eventually, other animals.

“That’s why I bought the place, to keep horses,” Langenwalter said.

At the time, he said their children’s horses were kept at an uncle’s place 15 miles away. He wanted something closer so they could work with their animals.

Built in 1921, the Langenwalter barn has had many owners during its 100-plus year history.

“There’s always been cattle out there,” he said. “In fact, the field to the east of the barn was a huge cow lot.”

However, Langenwalter said the previous owner used the barn primarily for hogs. Prior to that, purebred show horses were raised there. And Langenwalter knows of at least two other local families who have called the place home. He said the place was also rented out many times over the years.

When the Langenwalters bought the acreage, the barn needed a lot of work before it could be used.

“We had to crawl into the barn, the manure was so deep in there,” he said. “So the kids and I and Dawn shoveled the whole thing out.”

But the remaining debris and excrement had created a problem.

“Unfortunately, it had rotted the sills,” Langenwalter said. “So in 2010, I jacked the barn up and put new sills under it.”

He explained that the sills are bolted to the cement and form the base for the barn.

“It was probably pretty crude the way I did it,” he said, “but it worked.”

The roof also needed attention.

“The roof was really bad; it had huge holes in it,” Langenwalter said. “I had tin put on the roof.”

Next, Langenwalter built all new barn doors and had new windows put in.

When their kids were old enough for 4-H, Langenwalter built horse stalls inside the barn.

“They had everything you could imagine in there,” he said. “They had horses and goats and pigs and cows, chickens, ducks, turkeys. They had everything in there. Ever since I’ve owned it, there’s been animals in it.”

Langenwalter built the horse stalls so they could be taken apart and changed around, depending on what animals were being housed there.

This year, the barn is home to their grandson’s sheep — Alice, Moana, and Judy — as well as a few chickens and a couple of cats.

“I built those sheep pens this year so they could keep them separated,” he said. “It’s a little bit easier for grandma to get in there and work with them.

“My wife loves animals so she’s always going to have something in there.”

A previous owner added a lean-to on the barn’s west side. One year, the lean-to fell down, so Langenwalter — with help from his kids — rebuilt it in 2000. It has since been used to store hay and equipment.

“We timber-framed it and made it like the barn, so it looked like it was always there,” Langenwalter said. “If something happens to (the barn), I try to fix it. Otherwise you won’t have it.”

Langenwalter said the key to a barn’s longevity lies not only in regular upkeep, but in the animals housed there.

“If you keep animals in a barn, that’s what keeps a barn living,” he said.

Hundreds of hay bales have been stored in the hayloft, but Langenwalter said those days are coming to an end. Currently, the haymow is about half full, and will gradually be emptied out.

“I”m getting too old to be putting it up there,” he said.

Though the family continues to live in town, the nearby acreage with house, barn and pasture provides an escape to the country life.

Growing up, Langenwalter recalls enjoying time spent in his uncles’ barns. His own family’s barn had to be torn down when it became too dilapidated.

So getting the chance to buy a place with his own barn was a dream come true.

“I just love everything about a barn,” Langenwalter said. “I enjoy going out there and working on it.”

He said their barn had always been white, along with every other barn on their road. One year, he decided to paint it red. But a few neighbors thought it should stay white. “I said, ‘I don’t care; I’m painting it red.'”

Before long a neighbor followed suit with red tin.

But the paint didn’t last too long on the Langenwalter barn’s aging wood, and now he has plans for a more permanent solution.

“I hope to get (the barn) tinned, then I won’t have to worry about it,” Langenwalter said. “It will be a lot less drafty in there too.”

He said the color’s already been picked out — red tin with white trim.