TRADING POST WITH WOOD FOLK ART DEER ON PORCH ROOF AND OLD PEPSI TIN SIGN ON THE SIDE OF THE BUILDINGTravel the paved lanes of Red Lick Road in Estill County, Kentucky and you will experience absolutely beautiful woodland and farm countryside. Here many families have ancestors that go back several generations. Generations that have been, for the most part, tobacco growers on fertile bottomland along Red Lick Creek. Surrounding the bottom lands are the forested mountains of Appalachia. Here I found some interesting structures from the past. One being the Jinks Tradin' Post.
CONVERSATION BENCHES AWAIT VOICES ON THE FRONT PORCH WHILE THE CONCRETE BLOCKS ARE SEEN RUNNING THEIR DESIGN COURSE ON THE FACADEJinks sits alone as a commercial store at the corner of Red Lick Road and Jenkins Branch Road. Across the road is the Beech Grove Church and running along the road frontage are perhaps a cluster of ten older and not-so-old homes. Barns and outbuilding intermingle between the homes. For the most part it is an open area along the bottoms that not only hold these few homes but the long gouge of earth that is called Red Lick Creek.
LOOK CLOSELY AT THE ROOF OF THE PORCH -- THERE IS A LARGE WOODEN FOLK ART DEER PLAYING THE PART OF A RUNNING DEERThe trading post appears to be no longer in operation. I do not know who the owner was or is, when it was closed, or for that matter how long the trading post was in operation. I can tell you that the building was built in the early 1900s as the concrete block construction used was the type used during that time frame. The concrete block has a face design and this is the tell tale sign of its age. Concrete block with a face pattern was made of cement in a special machine that molded it into hollow blocks. Machines were brought to the building site and the blocks were made on the spot. Places like Sears and Roebuck sold the machines to the home or store builders. After the 1930s this method went out of fashion.
JINKS OUTHOUSEThe trading post appears to be in good repair. Its outhouse symbolizes no indoor plumbing to me. Tobacco farming on a large scale is no longer done in the area. Unfortunely, small country stores that served the locals have closed and some are even falling in on themselves. At one time they were a traditional part of the rural community.
This is so cool to see my grandparent's store! Thanks for this post. This stored was owned and operated since the fifties by my grandparents in the fifties, sixties, seventies, and even some years in the eighties...until my granmother became ill. This is a lovely tribute.
ReplyDeletedeb -- So nice to have someone connected with the store comment. Now we know a bit more history about it which is always nice to know. Love the deer they put on the roof. -- barbara
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