Catherine’s Learning Barn, the first permanent structure at Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary, is complete. The sanctuary has celebrated this milestone by hosting several open houses. Now that those are over, the sanctuary is focusing on bulking up its programming.

“It is open for programming,” Jenny Hubbard, president of Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation, said. She then started to share details about upcoming programs the barn will host, starting with Backyard Bird Feeding on October 18.

“It’s an exciting time for the sanctuary. There are so many opportunities and so much potential to expand our programming beyond what we’ve already been able to offer, which is a vibrant and robust calendar, without four walls and a roof. Now to have that dedicated space, and to be able to offer more low and no cost community workshops, to now be thinking about and working towards welcoming field trips, and educational programs or groups, is an exciting milestone for the work that we do,” Hubbard shared.

The Specs

While the barn will be the sanctuary’s main base for programs and workshops, it will also be available for private events. Hubbard hosted a few open houses geared towards event planners and vendors to get them excited about the new space.

The barn features two bathrooms and a kitchen designed by an executive chef. Hubbard said the two bathrooms have a distinct feel. Though they are single stalls, she said one has a more masculine feel and the wallpaper makes her feel like she is “in the treetops.” The second bathroom is “a little bit more feminine,” Hubbard explained. She said that the wallpaper in that bathroom is “almost, almost exactly” the same wallpaper she put in her home when she finally redid Catherine’s bedroom.

“I didn’t redo her bedroom until 2024. It remained as it did the day that she went to school on December 12, and so at the ten-year mark, it was time to revisit it … It’s a guest room now in my home where I just wanted people to feel love and warmth. So when [the interior designer] showed the wallpaper and it was almost exactly the same wallpaper, I was speechless. That was it, we’re done! Thank you very much,” she said with a laugh.

She added that a moment like that, one that could go unnoticed, is a “wink from Heaven,” or a “nudge from Catherine.”

As for the kitchen, it will be available for catering. The kitchen was designed to support the entire property, including the main building and veterinary intake facility that sanctuary staff hopes will be built in the future. Hubbard said that it will be able to provide lunch for schoolchildren on field trips.

The barn is 3,400 square feet, with a capacity of 100 people seated at tables, and 125 people for presentation style seating. The barn is handicap accessible with a few handicapped parking spaces in the new permeable parking lot, meaning rain goes through the surface. Right outside the beautiful French doors is a patio for sanctuary visitors to enjoy.

One aspect of the barn is yet to come, and that is the donor wall and mural. Hubbard said she wanted to honor the people who made Catherine’s Learning Barn possible in a very whimsical, unique way. A local artist will be creating a mural of a woodland scene with all kinds of animals tucked into it. At first, the donor wall was going to be in the back hallway leading the way to the bathrooms, but Hubbard wanted something more.

The new location for the mural will wrap up the staircase and envelop the back corner of the barn entirely. Now, in the stark white hallway a few photos of Catherine through the ages hang on the walls.

Hubbard mentioned, “We wanted people who were in the space to be able to see it and not feel like it’s kinda put in a back hall by the bathrooms, ‘cause no! We want to celebrate the people who have come alongside us. So then we have this beautiful space, and it’s so important, to me, that we acknowledge that it is because of Catherine that we have this space. And so, the pictures that I chose were ones that I feel show her spirit and embody her love of animals and the environment, and just her elegance and whimsy, even at the age of six.”

Hubbard said she wants people to “envision the potential” of this space because she sees it as more than just a house for the sanctuary’s educational programming.

“We have, already, some interests in programs that … this space will offer a retreat space for people that work with the most vulnerable in our community,” Hubbard said, “What is super touching to me is that part of that interest has been not only celebratory … but also people that are interested in doing celebrations of life and memorials … what an appropriate use of this space.”

The Impact

The most significant, physical impact this structure has on the sanctuary is that the programming is no longer weather-dependent. The sanctuary no longer has to use borrowed spaces to provide programming to the community.

Hubbard explained the second impact best: “I think that what’s important, and especially the work that we do here at the sanctuary is to make sure that humans are equipped with the tools and the knowledge to care for the creatures and the animals that we share our backyards and our homes with. I believe that when you are equipped with those tools and information, then people absolutely make the right choices, and make the world that they live in softer, kinder, gentler, safer.”

Hubbard highlighted the sanctuary’s growth and compared it to Catherine. She said that Catherine would be 19 this year and preparing to go back to college, like so many other young adults are preparing for right now. Just as Catherine would be establishing a “footing,” the sanctuary now has its own footing, offering a permanent place to call home and to grow and thrive with the town.

Hubbard said that the entire team is “beyond grateful” and “excited.” She added that what will happen within the “beautiful structure” is what excites her so much. She cannot even begin to comprehend the possibilities of what is possible for the sanctuary.

She shared, “What this barn and how it makes me feel is completely and totally humbled because in this world, we all experience tragedies, we all experience loss, deep, painful loss. And to be able to see in such a tangible and remarkable way the goodness that comes out of the deep and dark and tangible loss and grief is humbling. There are days where I am beyond comprehension of why I would be afforded such an incredible gift of being able to honor Catherine’s legacy in a remarkable, beautiful way.”

Readers will be able to see Catherine’s Learning Barn during the various events Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary is hosting during the fall, and now winter, seasons. For more information, visit cvhfoundation.org.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.