LIGHTROOM PAINTING OF EARLY 1800s HOUSE

Mixed in among farm outbuildings is this early Appalachian 1800s house form -- it was probably once the main building on this farm. Now it sits picturesquely near the road behind a wire fence -- its limestone rock chimney decaying as is the rest of the house. Now painted black over a metal exterior such vernacular house forms are rarely seen as I travel about Central Kentucky.  

APPALACHIAN FOLK ART BIRD ROOST

Front side of Appalachian bird roost

I met Miss Sharon about a month ago when I stopped at her place to ask permission to take some photos of her unique bird roost that I had noticed from the road. 

She was an older woman that had lost her husband recently. She told me that he loved to watch the birds which gave him the idea to build a nesting box for them. He told her he was going to make it out of coffee cans that he usually saved for nuts and bolts storage.

Back side of Appalachian bird roost

He placed his finished roost high in the air using a peeled tree as a post. He partitioned the cans using scrap wood. 

Notice the types of coffee cans that he used for his masterpiece. He had old tin cans toward the top while on the bottom row he used newer plastic coffee cans. 

I consider this bird roost as a definite piece of Appalachian folk art. Not contrived folk art but the real thing.   

APPALACHIAN CLOTHESPIN ROCKER

What fun children in Kentucky schools had putting together a miniature rocking chair made out of clothespins. Some schools in Appalachian Kentucky taught the craft that replicated what children saw everyday on front porches all across the countryside where they lived. Most folks, that I have talked with about the chairs, said they made them in elementary school around the mid 1900s. They seem to all feel it was great making them especially as it gave them a break from their studies.

AN OLD APPALACHIAN WASH PORCH

Sunny days with a bit of a breeze were ideal for getting the family's clothes washed, dried and put away in appropriate spots during the early 1900s. 


An outdoor water pump on a covered back porch provided an outdoor room for the washing ritual by the women of some households. Lots of wash materials were gathered together on wash day. Such as a wash stand, a wringer with zinc metal tubs filled with water to rinse the clothes  and the proverbial scrub board and scrub brush to use on extremely soiled clothes or linens. An outdoor clothes line was close by for sun drying. 


It took up a big chunk of time during her day -- the washing, hanging, and folding -- but that was not all she did that day. Some of the other chores she might do were feed the chickens and hogs, weed the kitchen garden, darn socks, bake some bread, prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner, pluck some chickens, can corn relish, dry beans and corn cobs for their seeds, and watch after her children too. Plus more! Whew!


The photo above was actually the place where a woman did wash her clothes in the summers of the early twentieth century. The home now stands empty and will be torn down within the coming year  according to the present family owners. 

APPALACHIAN COUNTRY TRELLIS

Here is an Appalachian trellis that I saw in a yard this summer -- I figured it would be easy to make. Wood posts and long, twiggy, straight branches are all you need -- these have been debarked but one could leave the bark on. If you have access to  woods you could find branches and possibly the posts for this trellis. If you have a difficult time finding posts in the woods, try sawmills or lumber companies. A trellis with a nice simple country look for yards either in small towns or in the country. Or anywhere really.

APPALACHIAN HOME PLACE ROCKCASTLE COUNTY

Common Appalachian family home (now vacant) in central Kentucky built early 1900s. 

ONE ROOM SCHOOL HOUSE TRADITION

ONE ROOM SCHOOL HOUSE
October, 1940. Breathitt County, Kentucky.

Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration Photos

Mary Post Wolcott, Photographer

Tis the time for all young folks to parade back to school. There are different types of school choices today -- private, public or home schooling. 


Notice that none of these choices are the one room school house which used to dot our country's landscape during the latter part of the 19th century and into the earlier part of the 20th century. Primarily rural in nature -- they were located in the country and small towns. 

I have always appreciated the tradition of the one room school house. I thought it would be interesting to find some old photos of students attending one of these types of schools. Luckily the Library of Congress provided a couple from their archives.


As I am sure you know, the one room school usually held quite a few grades all taught in one room with one teacher. The usual school room scenario seemed to be first through eighth grade.

MOUNTAIN CHILDREN PLAYING
 MARBLES AFTER SCHOOL

October, 1940. Breathitt County, Kentucky.

Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration Photos

Mary Post Wolcott, Photographer

These schools had a traditional social culture where everyone knew each other and you didn't compete by wearing fashionable clothes. Children learned from the students as well as the teacher, and most students assisted those who needed help.

Also, you usually walked quite a distance to school, sometimes brought your homemade lunch in a tin lunch bucket  and got time off to help with work chores at home -- these activities would keep children healthy and strong.


It was a tight school community onto itself. It was self regulated in a sense.

Today young folks are attending large consolidated schools where they do not know all the teachers or other students. The idea of "school community" has become a loosely knit phrase.


My question is -- are we going in the right direction with our school culture today?

APPALACHIAN FISHING HOLE SIGN

Old sign from summer days

Vintage  sign found in central Kentucky.

APPLACHIAN STORAGE SHED

 

This old box construction shed has run out of space for storing its stuff.  Perhaps some good ole spring cleaning will bring it back into a manageable  form.

20th CENTURY FOLK GRAVE MARKER

CHESTER ALLEN -- GRAVE MARKER

Some time ago, meandering out in the Appalachian plateau area, I came upon a small family graveyard. It was the first of many that I was to eventually discover over the next couple years. 

That day, I saw a grave marker made out of cement with a hand scrawled epitaph. I took a photo (shown above) as I had never  seen one made out of cement. It was definitely handmade -- not  commercial  -- and was the only  cement one in the back-country graveyard. There were other interesting grave markers but I didn't have my senses about me to take more photos. I really didn't have a strong idea then of what I was seeing. 

That graveyard exerience ignited a comversation. It was with Ann Johnson, a Kentucky State Historical Society expert on Kentucky graveyards. She gave me a great book recommendation titled, Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy, by Terry G. Jordan. I bought it second-hand on Amazon and soon devoured his book --  and have since discovered others that offer material on folk graveyards and grave markers.

With Jordan's book I learned a few things about cement markers:

• They fall into the folk category.
• Commercial cement was adopted by rural southern folk to use for handmade markers in the early 1900s.
•  Folks made molds in which to pour the cement -- waited until it was almost hard -- then they used a pointed instrument to scratch the epitaph into the cement
• Commercially made markers eventually caused the decline of folk cement markers.

The markers seem to last. I figure that Chester Allen's  is about 93 years old. His epitaph is short and simple:

Chester Allen

Born

June 31 ????

Died Oct 11, 1918

Perhaps if you  find a cement marker someday, while walking in a graveyard, you might be left with the thoughts of a low-income family that cared enough to construct a marker for their loved one as stone cutter's markers were expensive during the early twentieth century. Their alternative choice would have been a plain rock marker.

APPALACHIAN ADVERTISING BARN

KINGSTON ADVERTISING BARN - SIDE 1

Going... going ...  almost gone. That is the condition of a barn in the rural  Kingston community of  Madison County, Kentucky. With this decline one realizes the loss of a historic vernacular advertising barn.


Most folks are familiar with the Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco ads that are painted on barns, mostly found across the eastern part of the country. However, old barn ads cover a wide spectrum of products. In the case of the Kingston barn (above photo) we see an ad for Standard Motor Oil. 


Barn advertising was very popular during the period of 1900 to 1940. Companies paid barn painters to adorn ads on barns while the barn owners were paid a small stipend each  year. The advertising company was responsible to keep the ad freshly painted.  

KINSTONG ADVERTISING BARN - SIDE 2

This particular barn in Kingston has two sides painted. Each side has presentation to the flow of traffic in a particular direction. In the photo above one can see that the second painted side has most of its paint worn off and only the word GAS can be made out. 


It is difficult to date when this ad was painted on the Kingston barn. One local I talked with said he could remember the ad being on the barn since he was a boy about 45 years ago. Of course he also mentioned that it could have been there longer than 45 years. 


Today such painted barns can be considered historic landmarks. Some have been federally listed as National Historic Landmarks. Many are in decline or have been demolished. Efforts to save these artful treasures could bring community pride to rural areas. 


SOURCES:


Advertising Barns by William Simmonds


Rock City Barns by David Jenkins


Mail Pouch  Tobacco Barns,  Wikipedia

APPLACHIAN CUSHAW -- A TRADITIONAL FOOD AND DECORATION

CUSHAWS WITH A  HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN 

Call it a Tennessee Sweet Potato Squash, Cushaw Green Striped pumpkin, or Green Striped Cushaw, they are all the same squash from the Curcurbitaceae family  that have deep roots going all the way back to 7000 to 3000 B.C. They are believed to have originated in Central America and then eventually made their way north to the U. S. by mid-nineteenth century. 


Today they can be found, usually, at local stores or farmers markets in Appalachia. Commercial farms that distribute to chains generally do not grow them so forget trying to find them at a chain grocery store. They are a large and handsome squash that gives them another role besides being used for baking and cooking. Their other role is as sidekicks for the great orange pumpkins -- both used in decorating for harvest and Halloween scenes in yards and on porches in Kentucky.

They are heirlooms of the plant world and grow better in the south than the north. They are huge, 10 to 20 pounds or more, prolific and hardy -- withstanding onslaughts from the vine borer. They can be treated as a summer squash when they are young or a winter squash when they mature in the fall.


In the Appalachian area, Cushaw pie is  traditional with many families as its taste is similar to pumpkin pie.  A Virginia blogger, scrambled hen fruit, has a great food post that featured Cushaw pie along with its recipe on the following post -- http://scrambledhenfruit.blogspot.com/search/label/pie


The seeds for Cushaw's can be found online with seed companies that carry heirloom seeds like Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. 

Perhaps for those living in the northern climates it might be fun  growing some of these squash to put a dash of of southern taste in your food preparations or to give your orange pumpkins some team mates for Halloween.

APPALACHIAN "MAKE DO" DOLLS

1940s CLOTH DOLL 

In Appalachia, as well as other parts of the country, cloth dolls have been part of the culture as long as there has been fabric around to make them. Cloth dolls were both hand-stitched or machine-stitched or both types of stitching were found in one doll. The cloth dolls in this post average about 15 inches in height. 

I found these dolls in the Appalachian area. They probably are indigenous to the area however they could also be migrants from other parts of the country. No documented history came with these dolls. 

The above doll is more than likely from the 1940's. She has both hand stitching and machine stitching on her body as well as her clothes. The fabric appears to be 1940s plaid. The buttons also speak out 1940s. She is in excellent condition given her age.

CLOTH DOLL CLOSE-UP OF HAND-STITCHED FACE

A close-up of the cloth doll shows her hand stitched face. Hair is sewn on yarn. 

HAND-STITCHED CLOTH DOLL'S SHOES

Her cloth shoes made with the same material as the dress are capped by swirling buttons. The maker of the shoes even used a white material to indicate soles. 

HAND-STITCHED RAG DOLL

I would consider the doll in the charming rose floral dress above to be a "rag doll." Some use the term cloth and rag interchangeably. To me a rag doll looks rather primitive in its structure I would consider them a piece of folk art. . I sometimes wonder if these loosely made dolls were made by children.

HAND-STITCHED RAG DOLL

This guy in the blue polka dot pajamas has a happy smile on his face -- another doll that I would classify as folk art. Both the rose dress lady doll and the blue pajama guy have early printed fabric as clothes. They could or could not be original to the doll. 

Folk art can be found in many types of material including fabric. The cloth and rag dolls are part of our "make do" culture. Our doll history can be traced back to when this country began. 

Take a look around -- attics, yard sales, and second hand stores. You might just find one of these pieces of our folk culture. 

DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE OF AN OHIO RIVER TOWN

OLD ROW HOUSES ALONG MARKET STREET
MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY 

Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky, is a small town with a  large area of housing and commercial buildings that need to be seen to be appreciated. It is an old river town, along the Ohio River,  that had its beginning in the late 1700s.

Here is a town in situ (buildings not moved) that has remained viable for the folks that live in the area. There is a movement to upgrade sympathetically -- keeping the structure in line with its original design. 

I recently talked with Sara Swope from the Maysville Chamber of Commerce and Lynn David from the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center to ascertain the architectural history of their town. They were both very informative about the mindset of the folks that live there. They both said that the town had families going back several generations and were not anxious to change the architecture of the town. Many natives of the area owned the buildings and felt they should remain as they are.. With such citizens their buildings have become their architectural legacy to Kentucky. 

2ND STREET -- STREETSCAPE --  MAYSVILLE KENTUCKY

My trip to Maysville was a jaw-dropping experience. As I rode into town I was met by a commercial downtown that seems to have every historic type of style imaginable.. Known locally as Old Town, it reflected its economic pattern  by the types of buildings standing -- they were built from 1784 through the late 1800s. If you are a folklife or historic preservation student or layperson of architecture this is where you should visit, to not only see the structures but the connections that they have to the land and the social setting of the town, This is a real working and living town not a planned museum complex. 

OLD OPERA HOUSE -- 2ND STREET --  MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY

Unfortunately, my time was very limited in the town. I had my camera with me however, some turned out dark as the sun was going down. Given the wrong conditions for taking streetscapes, I still pointed the camera and clicked. I wanted to at least give you a small window of some of Maysville's streetscapes. I plan to revisit this place often as it holds threads to our present life -- such as art history, architectural history, settlement patterns, economies, and a cultural matrix of other realities. 

A couple thoughts stood out in my mind as I glanced at the buildings. First and foremost was that the town essentially resembled a time warp. not economically but through their buildings. If I were designing a mid- 1800s movie location, I would say that this town would be the perfect set.

EARLY 1930s SHERWIN WILLIAMS SIGN, 2ND STREET

Above is an Italianate building that housed the Hendrickson Paint Company beginning in 1908  through 2004. The Sherwin Williams sign was installed on its facade in the early 1930s. Its retail business was paint, wallpaper and home furnishing. This is just one of the many examples of the historic and cultural  elements of the town.

2ND STREET -- STREETSCAPE
MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY

More of  2nd Street. This street section appears to hold earlier buildings than the photo -- second one down from the top -- of this post.  Of course my fast glimpse of the town didn't allow time for close examination.

Ms Swope and Ms David provided quite a bit of detail of the Maysville area. Their generoisity and time was greatly appreciated. 

Now when I visit Maysville again (and again) I will allow plenty of time to take in the town.

APPALACHIAN SITTIN' PORCHES

The "dog days" of summer are strong upon us. The traditional rocking chairs are on our front porches waiting for friends and family to come by to "set a-spell" -- relaxing with us in the cool of the evening. Or perhaps one might like taking some time in the early cool mornings to sit in their rocker and observe the passing scene or just have some "thinking" time.. Here in the south these front porches are called sittin' porches.

Older homes in the south usually have front porches probably evolving from the need to escape the indoor heat of the house plus to view the world around them.Even many of the newer houses are built with some type of front porch. Today with air conditioning most folks are inside during the heat of the day. Yet even with AC the porches are still used in the traditional way of the past only now in the cooler mornings and evenings.

At one time, people walked rather than drove. Folks would commonly use sidewalks or roadways to walk to town for errands or to visit neighbors. The folks passing by the occupied porches would sometimes take the time to chat with the porch sitters for a while. This type of behavior provided a system of socialization for the area.

Appalachian rocking chairs are the familiar choice found on most front porches. However, wicker and metal chairs are also types scattered on porches.

Front sittin' porches are almost akin to an extra living space. Many are decorated with items of interest to the home owner. Porch swings are also popular.

Overall front porches still provide a good place to come "set a-spell" and have a good conversation or to just sit alone rocking -- contemplating the beginning day.