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Lancaster County Pennsylvania has a rich family-oriented heritage. When the early settlers arrived here, the area was covered with trees that had been standing for centuries, known as virgin forests.
Today the huge barns they built are still sprinkled throughout the country side. Occasionally in the booming economy and prosperity of our time these magnificent buildings have to give way to new factories and developments. That is where we, G&M Rustic Furniture come in- to salvage the beautiful centuries-old lumber and convert it into high quality furniture to bring the past into the homes of today!
We are a family business and have been building quality rustic furniture for more than 35 years. With all this experience we are able the make custom pieces of many varieties. Generally, all we need to go by is a photo with a few sizes.
Since this furniture is hand crafted from barn wood, no two pieces are exactly alike. As the lumber we use has aged, it has changed in color and darkened quite a bit. The darker outer side is called the patina. Generally, we only lightly hand sand the surface to save the old look, and even some original saw marks. But if someone prefers a lighter color, we can use the inside of the antique barn timbers where the wood has been more sheltered from the elements.
Take a look at what you are getting when you buy from G&M Rustic Furniture. All solid wood, hand crafted, made in USA, a piece of history and much more! Just like the virgin timber has been preserved for many generations in the form of barns, you can play a part in preserving it for many more generations in the form of furniture.
Please consider bringing the past into your home of today!
G&M Rustic: Crafting the Past into Beautiful Barnwood Furniture
Recycling comes in many forms in the 21st century including the unique and practical art of using reclaimed vintage wood from historic Amish barns to create new antique furniture items. The family behind G&M Rustic Furniture are experts at this.
George Leid and his family, including his wife, Marian, and three of his eleven children, all of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania make a variety of barnwood tables, chairs and hutches from vintage lumber sourced from Amish barns built in the last two centuries. Two of his sons, Isaac and Timothy and one of his daughters, Irene all help in the business. “Six of my eleven children are married and some of the others also work in wood-related businesses, such as making paneling and doing turnings, like making table legs,” George explained.
“For the Amish, our barns represent a rich family heritage but with changing populations, growth in certain areas, and new developments, some of those old barns have had to come down. We are using wood from those majestic old barns to build new items, like beautiful barnwood tables and furniture. At the same time, we are keeping lumber out of the landfills that would have been discarded in past decades.”
The original Amish and Mennonites arrived in the Lancaster area in the early 1700s. The names Mennonite and Amish were taken from some of their original leaders, including a young Catholic priest who was originally from sixteenth century Holland, Menno Simons and another historic leader, Jacob Amman from the 1600s.
“When these settlers came to Pennsylvania, primarily from Switzerland-German regions of Europe, they really went at it when they built these huge two-story barns,” George continued. “They used big timbers, building the upper story or loft for the hay and animal feed which they then dropped down to the animals which occupied the lower story. They used stone foundations and built these barns to last for a couple of centuries.”
George can trace his own family back to the ninth generation, coming from those same Swiss Mennonite roots. “It’s now part of our heritage to re-use that wood for new purposes making our rustic furniture and sharing it with others through our barnwood tables, hutches, and other furniture.
“It’s also part of the green movement that has become popular in recent years. In re-using the old barn wood, we are saving trees that are in our forests right now and we’re truly happy to be part of that effort as well.
“The wood we use falls into two different types, the soft wood such as white and yellow pine and hemlock and the hard wood, which in this area, is primarily oak. The soft wood is easier to work with and less expensive. As a softer wood, it may have a few more marks in it, but they only add to its beauty as that distressed look makes it more interesting, not less valuable, like it would be, if it was new wood. The oak is also beautiful but a little more expensive.
“What’s really interesting is that you can tell the age of a barn by the type of wood used to build it. When our ancestors first arrived in this part of the country, there were huge forests of pine, white and yellow and they used that first. All of it had to be cut by hand and then of course, hauled by horse and wagon. Once much of the pine had been used, they switched to hemlock and fir. Barns built before the turn of the twentieth century were almost all made of pine. After that, many switched to hemlock and fir as they would travel just so far, to haul in more pine since all of it had to be brought in by horse and wagon.”
George from G&M Rustic Furniture also reflected with a smile on how tastes change over the years. “At one time, a generation or two ago, the used wood was something that people associated with old, obsolete or used-up things. It could even be seen as something used by someone who was too poor to buy new. Now, using this antique or vintage lumber to make new furniture is seen as a beautiful thing, something that appeals to the younger generations,” he concluded. “And we are happy to share that with others as we produce many different furniture items from the antique barnwood.”
Article written by Laura L. Valenti