It was an accidental find. The red barn’s roof with an emblem of a horse on the front face of the barn showed up in the view as we walked through Sheppard’s Bush Conservation Area in late April of 2014. By mapping out the area today, the red barn with three other residential properties is located on Cousins Drive East, surrounded by the conservation area, commercial area, and recreational area. Knowing that barns in Aurora are diminishing slowly, I can’t confirm that the barn is still there.
It is definitely easier to see what is hiding behind the trees when they are not leafed yet; that being the reason I was able to see the red barn before reaching the Klaus Wehrenberg Trail that day. The barn was well hidden by a wall of trees that separated the private residential property from the conservation area. On Industrial Parkway South, Cousins Drive street splits into East and West. Only Cousins Drive East can be entered from Industrial Parkway. The train track splits the street with no track crossing at that point.
Slowly, barns and horse stables in Aurora are disappearing but I think some barns still have a long way to go as some are being used for different purposes. Here in Aurora I have seen three barns going down: Addison-Hall Horse Stable, Horton Place barn (preserved), and luckily I got some photos of Dick Day Horse Stable and Barn before it was demolished.
Photo Taken: April 27, 2014
