EWING | A crew with the “Barnwood Builders” show was in Ewing Friday to film a segment that will air in the fall.
The Barnwood Builders crew, made up of six people, led by West Virginia native Mark Bowe, travels around the country to restore antique cabins and barns. The show has aired on the Do It Yourself network for one season and is currently filming the second season.
“The company is based out of Lewisburg, W. Va. They take down cabins and barns that are nearing the end of their lives in their original homes and rebuild them for clients,” story producer Katie Rolnick said. “Two of the cast members are from Kentucky, but Johnny still lives here. So, we’re working on a project in his home state.”
While in Ewing, the crew removed stain glass windows from an old chapel on Euclid Road and will use them on a new church that will be built in the area, according to Rolnick.
“The windows will go into a new log structure they’re going to build not too far from here,” she said. “They’re using old reclaimed logs out of pioneer era cabins to build a new, small chapel.”
Bowe, the series host, said he and one crew member, Johnny Jett, have been together since the 1990s, when they began to restore cabins together. The episode filmed in Ewing was filmed for Jett.
“This is his home,” Bowe said. “I was driving through Flemingsburg in 1998 and I saw a cabin on the side of the road. I stopped to ask who owned the cabin. A lady at the store said Johnny Jett. So, I went to Johnny’s house and knocked on the door. I asked him if that was his cabin for sale. He said “yeah, I’m getting out of the cabin business.” I said, “I’m Mark Bowe and I’m getting in the cabin business.” He just laughed. That’s how it went down and Johnny and I have been together ever since. I’ve been working with Johnny and Sherman now since 1998.”
According to Bowe, when the group is not working on a project together, they will find individual projects to work on. Jett found the chapel project in Fleming County and the group followed along.
“The scope of this particular episode is we all love Johnny Jett,” Bowe said. “We all love working with him and being around him. And, occasionally, when the guys aren’t working with me, they find their own jobs. Johnny has been restoring cabins in this area for 25 years. So, we’re helping him build a log chapel.”
Bowe said in order to build the new chapel, the group decided to use the windows from the old church on Euclid Road in order to keep some of the history alive.
“We’re reclaiming the windows from this old church to place in that (new) chapel,” he said. “The building is about to crumble and vandals and time has really done a number on it. We’re going to save the last few pieces of history and art and hopefully let them live on again for another 150 years.”
Jett said he was happy to be back in his home area restoring parts of a historic church.
“I’m sorry to be taking some of the history away, but it’s not going too far and it will survive for another 100 years,” Jett said.
