This large shingle barn was designed by Isaac Elwood Scott in 1884, and remodeled by Hermann von Holst in 1906. During the Glessner's ownership, this structure would have served as a garage for the family's carriages and buggies. Their coachman would have lived above the barn in his own living quarters. The addition you can notice on your right was installed as a stable for the family's horses. The Glessners would have brought most of their horses with them from Chicago, using the railway to ship them across the country.
The cow barn that housed the family's cattle burned in 1946, resulting in the stables being converted a new cow barn, which it remained as until the late 1980s.
When The Rocks ended its tenure as a cattle operation, and the Forest Society converted to Christmas Tree farming, and the Carriage Barn was used primarily as cold storage, until the Tool Building fire in 2019. Not wanting to rebuild the Tool Building, the Society chose the Carriage Barn as their new program and community center because of its exterior beauty, its size, and its central location on the property.
The Carriage Barn is open to to the public Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm. Please come in and visit our gift shop and the interpretive displays in the lobby to learn more about Forest Society North at The Rocks. The public bathroom vestibule in the Carriage Barn is open daily 6am-8pm.
