Tag Archive: rural

Gray Indiana Mail Pouch Barn

Gray Indiana Mail Pouch Barn

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The Mail Pouch Tobacco Barn, was a product of an advertising campaign conducted by the West Virginia Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco Company (Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company), from 1891 to 1992. While barn owners were paid a small fee for the advertisements, the most valuable aspect of the arrangement was the fresh coat of paint their barns received every few years, that helped preserve the wood most barns of the time were constructed from. Most Mail Pouch barns were painted either red or black, with white and yellow writing. At the height of the advertising campaign in the 1960s, more than 20,000 barns, spread across 22 states displayed the Mail Pouch Tobacco ad.

The majority of what remains of these painted barns can be located in Indiana and Ohio.

Country Road – Shakertown – Pleasant Hill – Northern Kentucky

Country Road - Shakertown - Pleasant Hill - Northern Kentucky

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Country Road – Shakertown – Northern Kentucky

Pleasant Hill, Kentucky also known as Shakertown, was a Shaker (the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing) religious community from 1805 to 1910. With many well-preserved buildings, the village was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

The Kentucky Shaker village was founded by three New England Shaker missionaries, John Meacham, Benjamin Seth Youngs, and Issachar Bates. They founded the community around the teachings of Mother Ann Lee who believed in celibacy. Kentucky’s Shaker community ultimately died out, in part because of their beliefs in celibacy, problems encountered during and after the Civil War, and a declining interest in their way of life by potential converts . But their legacy of hard work, and fine craftsmanship lives on at Pleasant Hill.

Nada Tunnel – Red River Gorge – Kentucky

Nada Tunnel - Red River Gorge - Kentucky

Nada Tunnel in Red River Gorge, Kentucky. The tunnel was originally built by the Dana Lumber Company between 1910 and 1911 to transport timber via rail. The Big Woods, Red River & Lombard Railroad hauled logs from the abundant forests of the Red River valley to a sawmill in the town of Clay. The tunnel is 900 feet long, and is located on route 77, in Powell County. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.