The Nathan Hellings Apple Barn was one of several barns in the area that operated during the apple industry from the late 1800s until the Depression Era. Unfortunately, most of the other
barns have been torn down. The Hellings barn is located along the Ohio River just below Mountaineer Park.
It was constructed in 1897 and was one of the first brick apple barns. Most of the others were made of cut stone. Barns such as these were meant to store barrels of apples in cool temperatures after harvest.
Apples could then be sold all winter long. When brick and oil industries started to take hold in the early 1900s, the apple industry in the county began to vanish.
Waterford Park was built in 1950 on the land known as Baker's Bottom. The photo to the right shows the racetrack with the Hellings barn highlighted with a red arrow. This picture was taken in the early
1960s and also features a little island on the upper left hand corner which is no longer there.
The following photos were taken during the fall of 2011.
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