Barn Memories - Rick and Ann Tilson Thomason

Barn Memories is an oral history project completed by the Appalachian Barn Alliance (appalachianbar...) and sponsored by the Hart Family Fund for Small Towns of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The project involved interviews with long-time residents of Madison County, NC, all reminiscing about their most cherished barn memories. This interview is one of ten collected during this endeavor.
Ann Tilson Thomason represents the fourth generation of the Tilson family to live on their Laurel Branch community farm. Ann enjoys wonderful memories of her childhood years playing in the 1877 barn, and like many mountain natives, reveres her ancestors who owned the farm, including great-grandfathers who fought on opposite sides in the Civil War. Rick Thomason grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and moved to Madison County in 1970 where he and Ann were married. He and his neighbor friends have spent many satisfying hours restoring the Tilson family barn. Interviewed April 2023.