Some new barn work

black mamba

Tobacco was once the king of crops in this area. When that market virtually disappeared, the Christmas tree industry took its place. What you see here is a tobacco drying barn. There are very few of these purpose-built structures remaining. Some were converted to other uses, but the bulk of them were torn down. While this one is dilapidated, it remains one of those few who survived. I really wanted to give you a full broadside view of it but circumstances prohibited that. This barn is about 100 feet long.

Some stuff I come across baffles me a bit.....this is one of those cases.

They've had a lot of rain up here over the summer. Trying to get the best shot of this place, I stepped in a grass-covered bog and sank up to my knees.

mrsshecky

These are really great shots with stories. Do you happen to know the dates of the buildings by chance?

black mamba

@mrsshecky said:
These are really great shots with stories. Do you happen to know the dates of the buildings by chance?

Hey, Kathleen. Welcome to our forum. I live in Florida but I spend a good deal of time up in the southern Appalachian mountains, where all of these shots were taken. I've long focused on shooting old barns and other farm buildings before they are all gone. Age and weather take a constant toll on them. Wood scavengers also take a big toll. There will come a day when they are all gone and I'm trying to document as many as I can before that happens. To date, I've shot over 600 individual structures.....entailing thousands of images.

It's rare that I can get build dates on this stuff. I do have shots of a couple of them that have documented build dates in the very late 1700's. The bulk of the rest of them fall somewhere in the 1800's to 1900s.

Stumblebum

Very nice Tom! Love #3!

black mamba

@Stumblebum said:
Very nice Tom! Love #3!

Thanks, Taz. It was a real trek to get to this one, but well worth it.

Cornflake

These are cool, Tom. I'll bet the tobacco barn was on the hot side in summer.

black mamba

@Cornflake said:
These are cool, Tom. I'll bet the tobacco barn was on the hot side in summer.

I'm sure you're right, Don. With a metal roof and sides, it had to be a real scorcher.....probably what they needed to quickly dry the tobacco.

mrsshecky

@black mamba said:

@mrsshecky said:
These are really great shots with stories. Do you happen to know the dates of the buildings by chance?

Hey, Kathleen. Welcome to our forum. I live in Florida but I spend a good deal of time up in the southern Appalachian mountains, where all of these shots were taken. I've long focused on shooting old barns and other farm buildings before they are all gone. Age and weather take a constant toll on them. Wood scavengers also take a big toll. There will come a day when they are all gone and I'm trying to document as many as I can before that happens. To date, I've shot over 600 individual structures.....entailing thousands of images.

It's rare that I can get build dates on this stuff. I do have shots of a couple of them that have documented build dates in the very late 1700's. The bulk of the rest of them fall somewhere in the 1800's to 1900s.

I think you are doing fabulous work in that documentation. Those old guys were the mainstay of work and housing. Up north in California we have a few also that I hope are still standing after the fires. Great shots.

Cornflake

I'd wondered where you were taking these. It's a worthwhile project.

black mamba

@mrsshecky said:

@black mamba said:

@mrsshecky said:
These are really great shots with stories. Do you happen to know the dates of the buildings by chance?

Hey, Kathleen. Welcome to our forum. I live in Florida but I spend a good deal of time up in the southern Appalachian mountains, where all of these shots were taken. I've long focused on shooting old barns and other farm buildings before they are all gone. Age and weather take a constant toll on them. Wood scavengers also take a big toll. There will come a day when they are all gone and I'm trying to document as many as I can before that happens. To date, I've shot over 600 individual structures.....entailing thousands of images.

It's rare that I can get build dates on this stuff. I do have shots of a couple of them that have documented build dates in the very late 1700's. The bulk of the rest of them fall somewhere in the 1800's to 1900s.

I think you are doing fabulous work in that documentation. Those old guys were the mainstay of work and housing. Up north in California we have a few also that I hope are still standing after the fires. Great shots.

Thanks for the visit, Kathleen. My wife says that I look like a crazed animal when I'm on the hunt for this stuff. Probably so.

black mamba

@Cornflake said:
I'd wondered where you were taking these. It's a worthwhile project.

Thanks, Don. All of the images and other documentation that I've garnered over the years of chasing through the Appalachians will be given to the Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

El Gato

Tom...

Great images and historical content/perspective.

The tobacco building especially. My father (as a young kid) picked and hung tobacco in CT (yup, tobacco was actually grown "up north"). There are still some of these drying barns remaining, on the farm he worked as a kid, out near Bradley International Airport, in Windsor, CT.

Keep saying, Tom, you have a book brewing here with all of the data, stories and images!

Thanks, as always for sharing these!

black mamba

@El Gato said:
Tom...

Great images and historical content/perspective.

The tobacco building especially. My father (as a young kid) picked and hung tobacco in CT (yup, tobacco was actually grown "up north"). There are still some of these drying barns remaining, on the farm he worked as a kid, out near Bradley International Airport, in Windsor, CT.

Keep saying, Tom, you have a book brewing here with all of the data, stories and images!

Thanks, as always for sharing these!

Thanks, Al. That book still rolls around in my head. I've just got to clear the docket a little.