The Barn Dance in America and Other Old Barn Gatherings

America worked and played in their barns until the industrial age lured farmers to the city. Those big old structures could hold a bunch of people, so it was the natural place for dances, parties, weddings, auctions, revivals, debates, and even education.

The folks of yesteryear worked and played hard. We treasure those values and see them embodied in the old barns that sprinkle the American landscape.

Early History of the Barn Dance in America

We aren't sure where the first barn dance was held, but since we know our first cows came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1611, we are guessing it was around then. Nearly every family in America had a cow until about the mid-1800s and those animals needed to be housed from the wind and rain. They also often had chickens and other animals; so, you see, the need for barns was great.

The prevailing wisdom of that era was "many hands make light the work," and it was big work to build a barn. Usually the whole community would pitch in and do a barn raising in a couple of days. It was a big event and everyone had a role. The women cooked piles of food, the children gathered and watched and ran to fetch water for the builders, and the men raised the barn. When it was completed, they celebrated with a dance. The owner of the barn had a chance to bond with their neighbors during the event. This is how communities in America were built; one barn at a time.

Not everyone in town could be there to raise the barn (shop-owners had to tend to their shops, for example), but everyone was welcome to the dance that followed and young and old alike anxiously awaited gatherings. There was no radio or television and these brightly lit and often merrily decorated barn dances were the best entertainment to be found!

The Barn Dance in America - A Night to Look Forward to:

It was where young people met and sometimes fell in love; it was where hard-working folks could swing their partners to lively music and just have wholesome fun. It was also where some raucous fights took place – a common result when you add pretty girls, young love and spiked punch.

Radio's Heyday and The Barn Dance in America

It all changed in the early 1900s with the addition of radio in America. Now music was more a part of everyday life – and it was out in the barn too. In fact, one of the most popular radio shows of that era was the National Barn Dance (broadcasted out of Chicago from 1924 to 1968). Now the local fiddler could turn up the radio out in the barn and be able to dance too!

The barn dance was so popular in America that Walt Disney made it the title and subject of his fourth Mickey Mouse "short" in 1929. It depicted Mickey as vying for the Minnie's attention at the barn dance and losing out because he didn't dance well and still drove a horse and wagon and the competition was in an automobile!

The industrial age over-shadowed America's old barns for a number of years, and many of those grand old structures fell into disuse and sat weathering until they sometimes fell. But others survived and have been revitalized through pictures, stories, and even some right fine barn dances.