Description of Historic Place

The Peterson Barn is a one-storey, hand-hewn, square-timbered structure with a steeply pitched roof. It is situated with its northern gable end facing and close to a quiet road and Canoe Creek in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

Heritage Value

The Peterson Barn has aesthetic and historical values.

The Peterson Barn has aesthetic value as a fine example of early Scandinavian settlement construction. Purpose-built to serve as a barn, the well-crafted and rustic one and a half storey rectangular log building was constructed from hand-hewn logs with dovetail joints, indicating it was intended to be a long-term structure. The building was taken apart by volunteers and moved to R.J. Haney Heritage Village in 2005 and stored under tarps. Over the years some rotting occurred. Damaged logs were replaced, the barn assembled in place, and a new cedar shingle roof added in 2013.

The Peterson barn is valued for its association with the Peterson family, whose farm received the Century Farm Award September 8, 2012, and as an enduring symbol of the role farming has played in the early history of economic and social development of Salmon Arm. Swedish born, Ed Peterson came to Salmon Arm to work for Jim Evans in 1911 to cut firewood. In October 1912 a deal was struck with Ed and his partners for payment in kind to clear land. Each partner received 10 acres of land in lieu of payment. The barn was built on Ed Peterson's property from logs from the area. Peterson's descendants donated the barn to R.J. Haney Heritage Village. Initially the barn sheltered farm equipment and livestock from the elements. In time it was adaptively reused to house equipment and supplies associated with the Peterson orchard business, including boxes, box lidders, ladders, and apple boxes were manufactured in the former hayloft.

The Peterson Barn is a standing reminder of the importance of agriculture to Salmon Arm and the self-reliance of new immigrants, who brought necessary skills to this country. The barn is now used to interpret local history.

Character-Defining Elements

The Character-Defining Elements of this historic place include the:

- Use as an accessory building to support the orchard and other components of the Peterson family business
- Associated landscape features such as a heritage orchard and J. Pearson Shaw Homestead
- Location on the agricultural field at R.J. Haney Heritage Village
- Vernacular architecture typical of Scandinavian construction
- Utilitarian agricultural form, scale, and massing
- Strong horizontal lines
- Construction from locally available timbers
- Rectangular plan
- Simple gable roof
- Hand-hewn logs
- Well executed rustic detailing such as square dovetailed corner joints
- Unadorned wall surfaces
- Locally available cedar taper sawn shingles