WINNAKEE BARN TOUR
Explore the past, enjoy the present, celebrate our glorious Hudson Valley farmland and open spaces
For two decades, this unique Winnakee event has celebrated the rich agricultural history and architecture of the Hudson Valley and today’s working farms. The “Barn Tour” is a truly signature event of the region and a beloved fall activity, drawing history buffs, families, architecture aficionados, cyclists, motorcyclists, and those who appreciate the Hudson Valley’s rural character. Each year, the tour highlights a different area of northern Dutchess County, with rare inside views of some of the region’s most spectacular historic barns and offering fun working farms demonstrations and tastings. The tour ends with a barn stomping reception with music, dancing, farm fresh foods, specialty brewed beers and an old fashioned community pie contest. Photo credits: Carol Pedersen, Capturing Moments.
After 20 years of planning the Winnakee Barn Tour, I still feel the same enthusiasm and pride in bringing our community together to share this experience. These barns and farmlands represent a time in history when families spent long days outdoors cultivating the soil for food and caring for their animal tenants, and when neighbors came together to build barns for one another to store grain and shelter livestock.
Winnakee’s annual Barn Tour celebrates the importance of these agricultural lands and historic barns, as well as the rich stories these structures hold, stories that contribute to the history and legacy of our communities.
Our founder, Sally Mazzarella, has overseen the Barn Tour for all 20 years, making each tour a celebration of our region’s rural character. Sally has championed preservation throughout her career, not only through her work at Winnakee but also through her leadership of the Rhinebeck Town Planning Board and her decades of dedication to the countless nonprofits and community projects she has helped bring to life.
Pictured left at the first Barn Tour in 2006 and on a walk though for this year’s 2026 tour with Sara Capozzoli who has staffed the Barn Tour for the last decade.
Over the years, local barn restorer John Coppell (pictured right) has shared his expertise to help interpret each barn. Some barns date back more than two centuries, raised by early Dutch and English settlers. John and our knowledgeable docents, stationed at every barn, help attendees discover the stories, craftsmanship, and rural heritage each one represents.
Tours have highlighted different aspects of our agricultural communities and the devoted care of landowners to protect that heritage. Some barns, such as the Starbarrack Barn in Red Hook have been featured on barn tours before, and after, its restoration (pictured left). Some tours included the Hudson Valley artists and artisans who help interpret the land or work from it. Other barns included in tours have found innovative ways of adaptive reuse. Two aspects of every tour, are the farm animals of working farms and the bounty of farm fresh foods and local wines and beers enjoyed at the Barn Tour After Party.
