The first time I pulled up to the large barn looking building covered in cobblestone immediately gave me a sense of wonder. Baldwin’s book barn or as some call it “The Barn”, is six acres long in total and holds over 200,00 books. I knew I was entering a bookstore, but I almost thought we pulled up to the wrong place because of how neat it looked. My three friends and I walked inside Baldwin’s Book Barn and my jaw dropped. We were most definitely in a barn, but it was a book barn! The walls lined with books and trinkets and each room of the five-story building had its own cozy feel to it. I soon realized this was not just any old bookstore, this place had character and history, and you could feel it with the touch of each book and it really pulled you in further and further with each room we entered. Books and reading have always been a passion of mine but this place was taking that meaning to a whole new level.
This used book and collectible business was established in 1934 by William and Lila Baldwin in Wilmington, DE. They moved to The Barn in West Chester in 1946. It absolutely has an antique vintage feel to it and it is an amazing place to escape the chaos of the outside world, even if it is for a half hour. Enter at your own risk because I can find myself getting lost inside for hours upon hours, and that can happen on just the first floor. There is so much to explore and each time I visit I am intrigued by something new.
I got a chance to speak to the lovely Carol Pfaff Rauch, who is one of two managers there, Carol Rauch was there for 6 years now along side Fred Donnaway who was a manger there for 16 years. She explained to me that Thomas Baldwin, William Baldwin’s son is now the owner of the barn, although he lives in Florida. Although Carol Rauch is not the owner but she does so much for the place and is there seven days a week from ten am to six pm. She comes into The Barn every day in the morning and turns the lights on in each room (which is a lot when the place has five floors with multiple rooms on each), makes sure the trash is taken out, and does the bills. “I do everything you would do at a regular home”, she states. Not only does she do the “house keeping”, of The Barn, she is also a friendly warm smile that can help you out with all things books. She brings this warmth to The Barn that makes it so unique. She is the kind of person you could sit and talk with for hours about anything. Her passion for books, history, and The Barn itself really shines through. Speaking about her job Rauch said, “I’m always learning, always seeing a new book. It’s better than the library because you sell the book and handle it and say, ‘Oh my God, I gotta read that’”.
She is leaning against a big wooden desk and tells me to sit down. I put my purse down next to me on the ground and she says, “It’s bad luck to put a pocket book on the floor”. I silently laughed but quickly obeyed and put my purse on the neat vintage desk I was sitting at. When I began asking her what her favorite book is she replies with little thought, “The Great Gatsby, everyone here at the book barn’s favorite book is The Great Gatsby”. This is probably due to the fact that a first edition copy of the book was found in the book barn that was worth over $50,000. It was before edits were made and everything which made it a collectable. Rauch also explained to me that there was a section of Quaker books that was no open to the public, these books are rare and it took them a little while to price. Along with the Quaker books there is a whole secret room blocked away from the public that holds foreign language books including Greek, German, and French books.
Although I knew the reasons why I personally love The Barn so much, I was curious to see what Carol Rauch thought was the reason it was loved by many her customers. She explained to me that The Barn “kicks in the 7 senses”. I knew exactly what she meant when she said it before even explaining it to me. I could smell the fire wood smell as she was speaking and later when I explored the place a little more I felt the need to touch every book I passed. Not to mention the intriguing sights you got to see on each floor. As Carol Rauch and I were speaking the phone rang and she said “Oh this will be something for you”, and she picked it up and spoke happily to the person on the end. She came back and explained that people working on a new Nicole Kidman movie called “The Untouchables” that will premiere in 2018, borrowed hundreds of books for the film from the book barn! This just tells you how many books they truly do hold, and the size of The Barn.
Not only is the store a place to come in and get a book on any subject you can ever think of, it is also a place to gather for family and friends. Rauch explained to me that hours before I arrived at The Barn, she helped a man propose to his girlfriend. She explained that she hid the ring in a romance novel and had to forbid costumers to travel to the third floor for a little while. She even mentioned that his girlfriend came down the stairs crying. She also had pictures of the happy couple and the shiny new engagement ring. Explaining the engagement, she spoke as if it was something that happened often around here, and I had a feeling that The Barn held many magical moments. She also mentioned that The Barn was used for all sorts of things like birthday parties and picnics. She added that there was four different weddings that took place here, one of them being her own daughters. It is definitely a place of love and happiness, and it really makes people feel something.
After a few minutes of me jotting some notes down Carol Rauch looked at me and said, “We have ghosts”. I looked at her with wonder until she explained a little further that a customer said that they saw someone upstairs reading a newspaper and Baldwin’s doesn’t even carry newspapers. Another interesting part of this ghost story is that a paranormal group from Downingtown came to The Barn to check out the place and they discovered one female ghost and two male ghosts. They even figured out that the female ghost’s name is Darlington, which was originally the name of The Barn. Rauch even added that Tom Baldwin thinks one of the ghosts is his father, the original owner of the barn. I asked if she ever saw anything strange in The Barn that might be related to ghosts and she said she hasn’t and that it probably means that it’s not a bad ghost.
As we all know technology gets in the way of a lot of good things, and Baldwin’s Book Barn seems to have the same problem. Carol Rauch explained that technology is making books go away. She talked about kindles and she explained people better still come here when they want the feeling of a book in their hand. Baldwin’s Book Barn is actually up for sale. Rauch explained that Tom Baldwin lives in Florida with his wife, and they don’t like coming back to Pennsylvania because of the weather. They are still looking for someone to buy the 6 acres, which is the size of the whole lot, however, the barn is for sell on its own as well.
After speaking with Carol Rauch I asked her if t was okay if I looked around for a little while, even though I had been there before. She handed me a map and pointed me to the books about writing, because she knew I was a journalism student. Before even making it to the writing section I got lost in the shelves, literally. I realized that I had just finishes the book I was reading last night and I needed something good to read, so I wondered through the fiction section. I almost forgot where I was for a moment in time. I forgot I was here for school, forgot what day of the week it was, let all my worries go away and I just roamed.
Although the place is so big that some might feel overwhelmed about getting lost, I felt a sense of peace. If I was lost any where in the town of West Chester I would most certainly want it to be in Baldwin’s Book Barn. I was in awe of all the different sections of books, books about cats, about sailors, about gender studies, fiction, Civil War, Whales, anything you could possibly think of. I remembered Carol Rauch saying that there are people dying to sell books and many bibliophiles who end up moving away but don’t want to throw away their parents book so they sell them to The Barn. It is amazing to imagine where each book came from. I finally came back to reality as my mind was spinning with amazement and found the steps and headed downstairs, leaving happily with three novels. I promised Rauch that I would bring my parents to visit and I certainly will because it is a place that words don’t even it much justice.
I believe that everyone who lives in or near the West Chester area needs to check out Baldwin’s as soon as they can. A short five-minute drive from campus, it is set to the right of a dirt-looking road and it holds so many wonders you can’t even imagine. As Carol Rauch spoke about learning when she works, I think I was able to learn a lot just from the short time I spoke with her. If you are book lover, Baldwin’s is where to be, and if you’re not, still go and roam around the shelves, I’m sure there will be something that will spark your interest. Just beware of the ghosts along your journey of the 5 story magical barn full of books.
