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On April 15, 1996, Paul and Loretta Coblentz returned to Ohio after 25
years in Florida and purchased the 4.1 acres of land which is now The
Barn Inn. The original 90-acre farm, in or about 1900, was the home of
Honey Run Dairy Company and it was owned by farmer and cheese maker,
Fred Gehrig and wife, Mary (Bigler) Gehrig. The 90-acre Gehrig farm was
originally comprised of 30 acres on the corner where the Barn presently
sits (and includes some of the land presently owned by The Inn at Honey
Run), along with 60 acres on the east side of Township Road 319, going
south, up the ridge. The Gehrig family which included twins, Clarence
and Florence, and another son, Albert, made cheese and other dairy
products which were sold from the basement of their house next door. The
curing vats are still present in the basement of the house.
 Much of the Barn history was learned
from a 101 year-old Amish man, Johnny "Y" Schlabach, who lived nearby.
In a 1997 interview, Johnny said, "Yes, that's the third barn on the
foundation," he said, "The first barn deteriorated before my time, it
was taken down and a second barn was put up, and it was struck by
lightning and burned." He continued, "I saw the bolt of lightning that
hit it and I helped build the present barn.
Johnny lived just over the hills
southeast of the barn. Recalling the early morning hours of August 5,
1919, "Perhaps 3 am or 4 am," he said, "I saw a bolt of lightning strike
and I saw a glow in the sky, and I knew Fred's barn was burning." Johnny
was lying awake in his bed and saw the storm from his window. He said
that the next morning Fred was out grieving over his loss and the Amish
neighbor up the road, Eli Stutzman, came down and told him, "We're going
to build you a barn." That is what the community did. Family, friends,
and neighbors, Amish and otherwise, joined together and rebuilt the
barn.
 Within a few months the barn was
rebuilt, but many weeks of preparations were made before the actual barn
raising took place. Lahm Brothers Construction from the Baltic area
headed up the construction. Friends and neighbors donated much labor. A
sawmill (owned by the McCauslin brothers) was set up on the farm - on
the east side of Township Road 319 in the clearing where today you see a
gate. The mill was set up part way up the valley and it was probably
powered by a steam engine. John McCauslin was the head sawyer and his
brother William assisted him. Two men saws cut trees on the top of the
hill and then the logs were rolled and dragged by teams of horses to the
mill. A source witnessed a potentially dangerous incident, when Fred
Gehrig's son, Clarence, got his leg tangled in the rope on a rolling
log. Thankfully, he managed to free himself.
A humorous incident occurred during the construction of the barn. Louis Lahm (not the contractor, probably a relative), a knowledgeable and respected man was helping with beam preparation. An 8" beam was needed, so this man selected a log 8" in diameter. The sawyer asked him if he was supposed to saw corners onto it.
 Paul and Loretta Coblentz purchased the Victorian house and the barn in April 1996, and the The eight-month renovation began in January 1997. The barn was a plant nursery for four years prior to its renovation as an inn. On September 12, 1997, The Barn Inn opened its doors to a full house.
In cleaning the beams after dry walling, several beams, which were in the original barn, were found. One beam in particular, has burns on it. Only one hand-hewn beam exists. It is in the lowest level of the barn; our guess is that it was moved from another location. The circular saw was invented in 1868, thus you see blade marks, not ax marks on the exposed beams throughout the barn.
 People often ask us how we cleaned the beams, what we used to clean them. We used Murphy's oil soap, paring knives for scraping spots, razor blades for cutting away masking tape that was adhered to or plastered between the drywall and the beams, and toothbrushes for cleaning the edges, from the floor to the ceiling (lobby, dining room, and sitting room) the height is 34 feet. We used lifts, ladders, and scaffolds to reach the beams.
One of the special blessings was that many friends, family, and neighbors donated countless hours bringing this Inn to completion. People helped in every facet, men with construction, ladies in cleaning, painting, helping with window treatment, and quilting a quilt for one of the rooms.
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