SNYDER:
A BARN FULL OF MEMORIES

It may not be one of Principia’s prized old Maybecks, but the old Snyder Barn near Eliestoun holds a lot of student history – from dances in its hayloft to house initiations. 

Though campus records don’t indicate its exact age, Snyder Barn was part of Prin’s original purchase of land on the bluffs in 1935.  

Envision a small farm, with dairy cattle and a vegetable garden full of asparagus and strawberry beds. The rustic barn, part of Henry S. Turner’s 730-acre estate, wasn’t always used for farming, however. By the late 1940s, the barn’s purpose shifted from agricultural to recreational, hosting house parties and other student activities.  

To the blaring sound of a scratchy country record, a caller would order, “Circle left, circle right, come down the middle, promenade!” recalls Debra McCook, class of 1980. She remembers “having a house square dance, and taking a bumpy ride pulled from the back of a tractor, where I was accompanied by a date.” 

That date turned out to be her future husband (and the father of this reporter). “There were about 60 people that showed up, it was just a small house party,” she says of that occasion. 

While those dances at Snyder would draw upwards of  50 students, the culture of Principia has changed drastically. Today, it is remarkable to see more than 20 students show up at a Principia dance. 

Most everyone had a date for the Snyder dances. Bill  Marston, for example, recalls one Sylvester House party he went to: “After getting out of a recent relationship, I was reluctant to go to the house party. I changed my mind after I was set up to go with another girl.” 

But today, any Principia students just go to these type of events with a group of friends. 

The barn was also hom to other house events. 

In 1974, a group of Ferguson House freshmen were welcomed by being herded into a truck and taken to the barn, where they were interrogated with questions like, “can you cry underwater?” The upper-classmen threw newspapers at them for incorrect answers.  They did get apple cider and donuts for completing the daunting quiz. 

Today the rustic red barn is in slow decay. What was once a student events venue is now reduced to a dusty storage garage. The loft, once the dance floor, is now  stores  things like door frames from some of the original Maybe buildings.  

“The objects in the barn are objects that the school wants to get rid of, but can’t because of someone’s emotional attachment., says Matt Thompson, a facilities worker.  

The barn remains a quiet remind of a forgotten past. 

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