By Kevin Williams
Okay, it's a Mail Pouch Tobacco barn and, to me, pouch tobacco stuff isn't too appealing. But there's something about seeing it on a barn that conjures up nostalgia and simplicity. My parents spotted this old barn in Monroe County, Ohio on the state's eastern edge.
The other side looks even worse for wear.....
This side of the barn seems to be faring worse.
This is an excerpt from Wikipedia about these barns:
A Mail Pouch barn, is a barn with one or more sides painted with an advertisement for the West Virginia Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco Company. The program ran from 1891 to 1992, and at its height in the early 1960s, about 20,000 Mail Pouch barns were spread across 22 states.
an increasing number have fallen into dilapidation or have been demolished. The barns, usually hand-painted in black or red with yellow or white capital lettering, read as: "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco--Treat Yourself to the Best." Sometimes, they are surrounded on the left and right by a thin vertical blue border.
My parents were on a genealogical sojourn to rural eastern Ohio and they also saw some Amish scenes. There is a growing Amish presence in southeastern Ohio's Appalachian region. Historically, the Amish were only in certain parts of Ohio, Holmes County and Geauga County, being the largest areas, but now places like Gallia, Meigs, Monroe, Athens, and other counties are finding Amish residents among them. Beautiful area and I love the crisp autumn sky in the photos!
By the way, here are some pictures of an actual Amish barn-raising, since we are on the topic of barns.
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