The Harnsberger Octagonal Barn in Augusta County was built ca. 1867 under the direction of local carpenter William Evers. This interesting looking structure is set on the west bank of a field overlooking the Middle River west of the small community of Mount Meridian. The Harnsberger Octagonal Barn is an unusual example of its type in Virginia and reflects the infiltration of popular architectural theories into the agricultural community of Augusta County following the Civil War. Although it was likely inspired by octagonal building styles popularized by the writer and theorist Orson Squire Fowler, the Harnsberger Octagonal Barn did not copy Fowler’s pattern-book designs directly. The builder instead combined these new ideas with more traditional local barn-building concepts, integrating the novel shape with the older bank barn form. The Harnsberger Octagonal Barn is still in regular use.