We received a check on July 2, 2012 from the E. J. Grassmann Trust for $10,000 to help with the stabilization of the cow barn!

The Watson-Brown Foundation Junior Board of Milledgeville awarded Andalusia a $10,000 grant to help with the
stabilization of the cow barn!

Craig Amason accepts check on behalf of the Foundation from members of the Watson-Brown Junior Board on July 18, 2012, in front of the cow barn. Also present were Bruce Gentry (back left), editor of the Flannery O'Connor Review and a member of the Andalusia Board of Directors, and Billy Allen(back right), owner of Allen Construction Company, the general contractor for the cow barn project.

On June 4, 2012, Allen Construction Company of Milledgeville began working on rescuing and stabilizing the cow barn at Andalusia. The exterior walls of the structure were deteriorated almost to the point of collapsing. The worst conditions are on the back and left (west) sides of the barn, which is where the work began.

Lifting the back roofline	Back roofline reinforced	West side roofline reinforced
Back gates repaired	West wall rebuilt	Front wall repaired

The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Georgia Council for the Arts have awarded the Foundation a $10,000 Tourism Product Development matching grant to help rescue and stabilize the main cow barn at Andalusia.  Located approximately one hundred yards north of the main house, the cow barn is the largest structure on the property, dating from the early to mid-twentieth century.  The stabilization of the cow barn will be the fifth restoration project that the Foundation has undertaken in six years.  Visitors to Andalusia can see the cow barn with its large hayloft, reminiscent of the structure that plays such a crucial role in O'Connor's short story "Good Country People."  Oprah Winfrey's magazine of interior design, O At Home, published an article in 2008 featuring five American authors and the places that inspired them.  O'Connor and Andalusia were included in the article with a full-page photo of the cow barn's hayloft and an excerpt from the short story. The cow barn was an essential part of the farm complex in the 1950s and is still an important part of the interpretation of the site today.  This grant must be matched dollar-for-dollar.  Please consider making an extra donation this year to help save the cow barn at Andalusia.

The front wall and large gate of the milking parlor had to be replaced, along with the parlor ceiling.