The Moulton Barn
It’s everywhere. If you peruse any photo gallery, there will almost certainly be an image of the Moulton barn.
Who were the Moultons? Today’s Friday Photo and my Milky Way photo from three weeks ago featuring T.A. Moulton’s century-old barn piqued my curiosity.
Two barns remain on Mormon Row in the Grand Tetons. Thomas Alva (T.A.) Moulton and his brother John homesteaded adjacent parcels on Mormon Row in 1908.
They dry-farmed grain until irrigation ditches were built in the late 1920s. It was a hard life. A prolonged drought or a hailstorm could mean the difference between barely surviving and bankruptcy.
I wonder if they ever had the time to appreciate the magnificence of sunrise on the Grand Tetons.
All images from Media - Mormon Row Historic District
T.A. Branding Cattle Spouse Helen Moulton in Front of the Barn
Grain Harvest
T.A. took over 30 years to build his gable-with-shed style barn. It is all that remains of the homestead T.A and his sons built between about 1912 and 1945.
Photographers from around the world flock to T. A. Moulton’s barn to capture this iconic, historic structure. The sunrise view with the barn in the foreground and the Teton Range as the backdrop is one of the most photographed locales in the valley.
The Shot
Given a choice, I prefer to photograph little known places. Does the world really need another photograph of the Moulton barn?
But icons are icons for a reason. It’s breathtaking to absorb the resplendence of the Grand Tetons warmly basking in the first light of the morning sun.
September 27 was one of those mornings to simply rejoice being there. The photograph was merely a feeble attempt to communicate my experience.
Fog lay across the valley beautifully softening and simplifying the background, except for the mountain peaks. At just the right moment, a Magpie alighted on the peak of the roof. It was time to capture the image.
After relishing the warm light of the sun kissing the mountaintops and my good fortune with the Magpie, it was back to the hotel to pack up and begin the long journey home.
I’m taking the Friday after Thanksgiving off, so the next Friday Photo is December 6.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus