Previous Kootenai Canvas: Finucane Farm barn

There were many correct responses to the previous Kootenai Canvas that depicted the barn on the Finucane Farm at Honeysuckle Avenue and Finucane Drive. It was a difficult decision, but our essay winner is Marge Murphy of Hayden Lake. Here is her winning essay:

In regard to the photograph in Saturday’s paper, I believe it is the barn at Fourth and Honeysuckle in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

When I opened the paper Saturday morning and saw the beautiful picture of what my family calls “our barn,” it brought back memories of what the barn meant to my family and the area. When we moved to Hayden Lake in 1974, the barn was in the middle of a wonderful farm with cows, horses, white fences in a beautiful setting. The Finucanes, an old-time family, kept it like a picture out of Norman Rockwell’s paintings. There were very few lights between Appleway and Hayden Avenue, and we always knew that we were almost home when we saw the big white barn and its outdoor lights.

The Little Bear was the only “fast food” in the area. Government Way was the main road to Sandpoint and Canada. In the years following, the lights became more and more profuse, and now if you were to look at it from an airplane, you would see very little dark areas. Today the “farm” is the only remains of an era gone by. Each time I pass the barn, I always make myself a promise that I will write the present owners and thank them for preserving this little part of the past. I guess this can be my way of doing that.

The “farm” is now surrounded by housing developments, shopping centers and a beautiful park, a gift of the Finucane family. But somehow, when seeing the barn, it makes you stop and reflect how fast time passes and how much progress changes things. Now when our children come home, they see the “farm” as it was in their childhood and always find it such a delight to have something that has remained constant.