Discover Bath Barns: Boltz and DeMund barns

by Laura Bednar

Bath Township’s Heritage Corridors of Bath Committee manages one of 27 designated scenic byways in Ohio. The Heritage Corridors of Bath byway, established in 2001, covers 39 miles of road within the township and is designed to tell the story of Ohio’s Western Reserve from the Bath Township perspective: Preserve the rural heritage and maintain the bucolic landscapes for all to enjoy.

When traveling the byway, more than 30 barns are visible, many more than 100 years old and several listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The history and heritage of these barns, like many in Ohio, are fading from memory.

Bath Township trustees decided to address this problem and in 2023 created a committee, Discover Bath Barns, as a means to preserve and enhance the heritage represented by these barns. This group, part of the larger Heritage Corridors of Bath Committee, has partnered with the Bath Country Journal to publish a series of articles about some of the barns along the byway.

The DeMund family barn on N. Revere Road stands in the same spot of the former Boltz family barn, which was built sometime before 1850.

The Boltzes, a well-known family in Bath Township, owned much of the property on N. Revere Road, including the home that now belongs to John and Nancy DeMund. On that property sat a three-story barn with a basement and attic that was originally used to store grain. The family later added bays on either side of the barn to park their cars. The barn was made of wood and had a rubble foundation, which is made of pieces of stone without any mortar.

Behind the barn, according to John and Nancy, the Boltz family used to rent fishing boats for people to take out onto the lake behind the home.

When the DeMunds purchased the property in the mid 1980s, they said the barn was beyond repair and too shallow. There was also a shed roof added to the back, which covered piles of unused junk. They opted to tear the barn down, saving the hand-hewn oak beams from the ceiling and using stones from the rubble foundation to build a retaining wall around the parking lot on their property.

John said there was also a mansion-roof barn on the property to the right of the barn they took down, but it was gone before they moved in to the home. Based on photos John and Nancy have from the Boltz family, the mansion roof barn was built before the lakes formed behind the house and across the street.

The DeMunds built their new wood barn in the mid-1990s. John worked in the construction industry and hired his crews to construct it.

“I hired an architect to design it because I wanted it to look like a barn,” he said. The barn has been used as a garage and for storage, but features a modern addition most wouldn’t realize just driving past it – the sliding doors on the front are automatic and connected to a button, much like a garage door opener.

Behind the barn, the DeMunds added a guest room, where the oak beams from the original barn are featured on the ceiling.

“We had to get machinery to lift the oak beams,” said John, noting their weight.

He said the guest room started as a workroom, but has evolved with the addition of a bathroom, kitchenette and cable lines to become a small apartment. The DeMunds have hosted missionaries there who visit through their church. When not housing missionaries, the DeMunds use the room for family and church events. ∞

Main photo: The DeMund barn was built in the 1990s and has automatic button-operated sliding doors. Photo by Laura Bednar.