Bottom, the rooms at Ker-Feal are crammed with valuable items. It is also where he built his second collection - a remarkable assemblage of antiques and early American art carefully culled from the cupboards and living rooms of Pennsylvania's rural families. But in the 50 years since Barnes' sudden death, Ker-Feal has been a museum without visitors, barely remembered even by local historians. In recent decades, this storehouse of art and history has been badly neglected, and though still beautiful, it is steadily decaying. Mold has taken root in the house and is visible on timbers and floors throughout.
Beetles gnaw away at museum-quality antiques, leaving small piles of sawdust.
The audit concluded that most were probably lost to internal theft. All of this jeopardizes a collection of Pennsylvania Dutch and other early American decorative art that experts say would be considered among the finest in the region if only it were cared for and studied. The Barnes Foundation, custodian of the Merion gallery and the farmstead, would like to do both. The foundation plans to renovate the farmhouse and the collection inside, and eventually it to limited public visits. It also hopes to include Ker-Feal in a planned assessment of its holdings.