Viroqua Round Barn

This is the round barn in the suburbs of the thriving metropolis of Viroqua. The round barns of Vernon County, purportedly the highest number of round barns in any county in the U.S., were designed and built by a freed slave named Algie Shivers. He designed them for ergonomic purposes; the cows all faced towards the center, so that feed could be dropped into just one spot to feed them, the milkers would go around the outside of the circle to milk the cows. To my knowledge this is the only brick barn of Vernon County’s round barns. I can only photograph during the new moon in order for the sky to be dark enough to see the Milky Way, the April that I took this shot there was only a two hour window during those 7 days or so that the sky was not clouded over.