Baldwin’s Book Barn, a West Chester landmark, is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the structure that holds it. Bill Rettew covered the site’s storied reputation for the Daily Local News.

After two centuries, the namesake barn still brims with life. Within its original walls are five floors containing roughly 300,000 books. They are neatly stacked on shelves, nooks, and crannies from floor to ceiling.

Exploring the barn is therefore always an adventure. Customers do not always know what they will find in the next hidden room, turning the search for a specific title into something of a treasure hunt.

Joe Scott has been working at the bookstore for more than two decades. He loves reading mysteries but is too busy to read while at work.

“We have customers from all over the world — the farthest came from Perth, Australia,” he said. “And we have a variety of books on so many different subjects, virtually every subject you could think of.”

Baldwin’s Book Barn, which opened to the public in 1948, has been recognized in various ways over the years. It has, for instance, been included in the Architectural Digest list of the world’s 10 best independent bookstores.

Read more about Baldwin’s Book Barn in the Daily Local News.