The steady decline in Maine farms has led to an increase in traditional barns being converted into what some are calling "barndominiums" – residences, B&Bs and other shelters with all the modern conveniences for people, rather than the necessities for farm animals.
Barndominiums often preserve or simulate the original barns’ historic post-and-beam exteriors, but contain features such as great rooms with large fireplaces, central air conditioning and heating, and other good-life amenities. Some barndominiums keep (or replicate) a barn’s large sliding doors, but when those doors are slid open, you’ll see large windows or glass-paneled doors. Here’s one under construction:
Leighton Archives (March 14, 2022)
Many Maine farmers relied on animal warmth or sometimes a small wood stove to heat barns in winter. Today, you’re as likely to see a propane truck backing up to a barndominium to supply heating fuel as you were in days of yore to see a manure truck backing up to a barn on mucking-out day:
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on March 18 and 20, 2026.)