Thanks for all for your replies...the advice was exactly what I was hoping for (PMs as well).
The two surviving tobacco barns are fairly old, the large one is at least 75 years old.
A few years ago I had them both re-roofed and "wrapped" in metal...the siding was attached to the old barn siding. I talked to a lot of folks about the process and came to the conclusion that wrapping worked best for me and the structural integrity of the barns. All the old wood remains should someone later want to do a wood restoration.
The second phase was to put in a workshop in the smaller, longer barn, next to the tobacco stripping room, now with white windows above.. I had been using the old stripping room for all farm maintenance work. The issue with the old barns is they were meant for hanging tobacco, so much of what you saw in the first post are not structural members but beams meant to hold stupid amounts of hanging tobacco.
So. My preference would be one of two things: Improve the old tobacco barn, build new attached to it (there is an outfit called Geobarns that is amazing), or improve the new stable with an office/apartment.
Again, the advice and suggestions have been spot on. Thanks and if you have more, I'm in!