Ministers Island New Brunswick - The historic barn on Ministers Island, once one major storm away from falling apart, will soon be restored to its full glory when a significant two-year-long reconstruction project wraps up this month.
 
The Van Horne Estate barn, a 120-year-old structure, was severely damaged during post-tropical storm Arthur in 2014.

An engineering assessment the following year revealed significant signs of decay and rot that threatened the integrity of the building.
 
A three-phase, $1.4 million preservation project was launched in early 2016, and now the end is finally in sight, said Paul Nopper, executive director of the Van Horne Estate.
 
"Sometimes we have teams working there 12 hour days, we have a couple of facilities where construction crews have been staying, it's been almost literally around the clock work," Nopper told Information Morning Saint John.
 
"From the pictures I've seen from the past when the barn was in its heyday, at the turn of the century, we're seeing almost a spitting image, and a beautiful replica of what was there."
 
The first phase of the project replaced parts of the silos, re-shingled sections of the building, and repaired support columns in the basement.
 
The two iconic silos were also repaired with the help of large cranes.
 
The second phase focused on joint decay, foundation repairs, and fixes to walls and windows.
 
Now, crews are bringing back a cedar roof, replacing the metal one that was previously installed.
 
And they're replacing exterior panels with cedar shingles to restore the barn to its original design.
 
The work is expected to be completed by the end of March.
 
"It's a truly remarkable feat that they're able to make the barn sustainable again," Nopper said.
 
Names and Handprints
 
Through the process, restoration crews came across some "unique pieces of history" when they took apart the old walls, Nopper said.
 
"The masons were finding handprints, just some of those unique factors, we're finding a lot of old names that were of the workers on the island during the turn of the century," he said.
 
"We're unearthing little unique facts and history pieces. I mean some of the artifacts we have on the island that we've been digging out of the barn and out of Ministers House, we're talking 100, 125-years-old."
 
The 1790s-era Ministers House is also getting a makeover in the form of a new roof.
 
Nopper said roofers discovered the oldest building on the island had three levels of roofing laid over the years, from the current cedar shakes, to a layer of asphalt shingles dating back to the 1960s, to a rolled roof under that.
 
"So every time they're peeling one level away we're seeing different levels of history of renovations that have been done," he said.
 
"And we're taking it right back to its bare roots and restoring it from there."

Vision for a World Class Destination
 
The finishing touches will include a final coat of paint, and then both the barn and main house should be ready for the island's start of the season 19 May 2018.
 
In August, the provincial and federal governments announced they would invest $1.47 million in a new vision to develop Ministers Island into a world class tourist destination.
 
That money, in addition to a public fundraising campaign, helped complete the restoration work.
 
The tourism vision involves opening the barn to the public to help tell the story of Sir William Van Horne, the builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who made the island his summer home.
 
The Van Horne Estate hopes the site can be used as a space for heritage programming, artisan workshops, performing arts, and community events.
 
Jewel for Canada
 
"People should be excited in the next few years," Nopper said.
 
"We're going to be doing more renovations, more restorations, I think it's going to be a jewel for all of Canada."
 
The Van Horne barn was built in 1898 at a cost of $20,000, which today would be about $644,000.
 
Van Horne kept his prize-winning Dutch Belted cattle and Clydesdale horses inside the barn, which is 25 metres high, 46 metres long, and 17 metres wide.
 
The New Brunswick government bought Ministers Island in 1977.
 
Sarah Trainor.