Millions have seen Rock City, Have You?

I try to photograph this barn every time I make the drive from Knoxville to Nashville - at least when my wife is driving. This time, I got some good evening sunlight. It's one of the most often seen rock city barns since it is along Interstate 40 in Roane County.

This is now one of over 90 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Map.

Old Roane County Courthouse - Kingston, TN

Built in 1854, its one of 6 courthouses in TN built before the civil war that still stands today. Used as a Courthouse until 1974 when the new one was built. It was used as a civil war hospital and graffiti written by civil war soldiers can still be seen on the inside. The state of Tennessee placed an Obelisk in the front yard commemorating this as the location of the state capital (for one day in 1807). Today, the building is used as a museum.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roane_County_Courthouse_(Tennessee)

Carnegie Library - Harriman, TN

"For the good of all."
This library was built in 1909. It still has it's 100th Anniversary banner hung above the main entrance. Today, the building also serves as the town's visitor's center. This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Roane Street Commercial Historic District.

Farnham Building - Harriman, TN

Originally known as the Smith Building when it was built in 1891. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Roane Street Commercial Historic District. It is located along Roane St. (US27) at the intersection of Queen St. The building was a hardware store for many years but today is a nice antique store.

Baggett Pharmacy Neon Sign - Kingston, TN

Located along Race St. in the heart of town (US 70)

See Beautiful Rock City

See Beautiful Rock City
Near Chattanooga, Tenn.

Here is a tough to get to Rock City Barn that is not recommended, but there's no other real way to go see it. This barn is located off of Interstate 40 at exit 356. Specifically, for the people in Roane County travelling northbound on TN326 / TN58, this barn is located just off of the eastbound on-ramp to I-40. When I first learned of this barn several years ago, I took that on-ramp only to find that you can just barely see the barn through the trees.

On this particular day near the end of fall after the leaves have fallen off, it's a little bit easier to see, but not really. I parked on the shoulder of the on-ramp to try to get a closer look on foot. As it turns out, there was a well-established path through the overgrowth to get a closer look. (I had no idea there were so many of us wanting to photograph this barn!) At the time, the entire property looked desolate with no signs of anyone living there and a for sale sign in front of the house. If I thought someone actively lived here, I wouldn't have tried it and would have sat in the car pouting like my previous occasion where I tried to see it through the trees.

This barn has a bonus challenge for anyone reading this who might be extra daring. The other side is also painted with the message "See Rock City Today." I wasn't particularly keen on weed-whacking to get to the other side, but maybe you'd like to try it. To me, the weird thing is I'm not sure how many people have ever seen the other side. The line of trees makes it virtually impossible today. With the angle of the barn, it would have been awfully difficult to see from the westbound traffic on I-40 or the on-ramp with your head turned around.

See it on a google map here: goo.gl/maps/dYx17

This is now one of 83 different Rock City Barns I have photographed and uploaded to Flickr in my Rock City Barns set. People often ask me how I've found so many of them. I have drawn from many resources such as books and web sites and sometimes luck, but there's not really one "go to" place to find them all. Well, now on my website, I have tried to create a one stop source for the locations of all of the barns I've been to. On my Map of Rock City Barns page, I have plotted each barn on a Google Map.

Princess Theater - Harriman, TN

The Princess Theater opened in Harriman in 1926 and was notable for being a large 900-seat theater for a small town. The theater was destroyed by a fire in 1939 but reopened later that year. The theater thrived for several decades but in 1987 the company that owned it wanted to close it. Theater manager Cecil Johnson leased the building and continued to operate it until he retired in 1999.

Starting in 2001, several local organizations began to raise money to restore the theater. The goal was to get the Princess back to its Art Deco grandeur. It's not a cinema anymore but is now a performing arts venue. This photo was taken in 2011 before the renovations were complete, and now there is a beautiful marquee out front. For the full story:
princesstheater.blogspot.com/

The theater is located right in the heart of Harriman's business district along Roane St. (US27). It is included on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Roane Street Commercial Historic District.

Things that are now gone: Old Ruby Falls / Jefferson Island Salt Barn

This barn along highway TN 58 in Roane County has two advertisements, one for Ruby Falls and the other for Jefferson Island Salt. This might be the best preserved Jefferson Island Salt, as they were only painted in the 50's and not many remain.

See it's old location on a map

Kingston Steam Plant

My wife and I have a tradition, any time we make the drive between Knoxville and Nashville, whoever is in the passenger seat gets out the camera and takes a picture of the Kingston Steam Plant (aka the Kingston Fossil Plant) while crossing the Interstate 40 bridge over Watts Bar Lake. Somehow, both of us missed the story when the plant made national news with the coal fly ash slurry spill which was one of the worst environmental disasters in state history.

Veterans Day roundup

I suppose I should have posted this yesterday on the actual date of the day of remembrance, but today is the federal holiday and many people have the day off, so I am posting it today. We are going to look at some of the ways that Veterans are memorialized around the state.

First here is a statue on the grounds of the Stewart County Courthouse in Dover.


Here is a Hickman County marker in Centerville:



Here is the Greene County Veterans Memorial in Greeneville:



Finally, this is the memorial in Rockwood, which is located at a prominent intersection of US27 and US70.

Temperance Hall - Harriman, TN

This Romanesque building was built in 1890 to be the office of the East Tennessee Land Company.

Soon afterward, it took on a more prominent use as the main building at American Temperance University. I suppose in this day and age it's hard to imagine an entire school and city built around the idea of Alcohol Prohibition. According to the historical marker, Harriman was incorporated to be the ideal industrial city, one where one could expect to find thrift, sobriety, superior intelligence and exalted moral character, where workers would be uncorrupted by Demon Rum. The city is named after Union General (this part of the state leaned pro-Union) Walter Harriman, former governor of New Hampshire.

The idea didn't stick and the University ceased 15 years later. (The city remained dry until 1994!) Today, this building serves as City Hall and a local museum. There are stories that this place is haunted, but as you might expect, all the ghosts act in a manner of sobriety and exalted moral character. The building is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name Harriman City Hall.

In the news: Rock City Barns being repainted

There have been several stories lately about how the folks at Rock City have had some of their old barns repainted. They've hired Jim Byars, son of the original painter Clark Byars to visit a few of the barns. His painting partner is Don Parris.

First, here's a gallery of a barn on US27 near Lafayette, GA getting redone:
Repainting Rock City Barn

And then, here's a video Chattanooga News Channel 9 showing this barn being painted.
Rock City Barns, A Southern Icon

More recently, a barn along Interstate 40 in Roane County was repainted just a couple of days ago. Here's what it looked like when I was there:

(It looked freshly painted back then, about 5 & 1/2 years ago.)

Here's a story about this barn's repainting:
Rock City Barn Messaging Going Strong Even After 80 Years/

This article mentions the Henderson Barn along Little River Canyon Parkway near Ft. Payne, AL. Here's a photo of that barn, also from nearly 5 and 1/2 years ago.

Temperance Hall - Harriman, TN

This Romanesque building was built in 1890 to be the office of the East Tennessee Land Company.

Soon afterward, it took on a more prominent use as the main building at American Temperance University. I suppose in this day and age it's hard to imagine an entire school and city built around the idea of Alcohol Prohibition. According to the historical marker, Harriman was incorporated to be the ideal industrial city, one where one could expect to find thrift, sobriety, superior intelligence and exalted moral character, where workers would be uncorrupted by Demon Rum. The city is named after Union General (this part of the state leaned pro-Union) Walter Harriman, former governor of New Hampshire.

The idea didn't stick and the University ceased 15 years later. (The city remained dry until 1994!) Today, this building serves as City Hall and a local museum. There are stories that this place is haunted, but as you might expect, all the ghosts act in a manner of sobriety and exalted moral character. The building is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the name Harriman City Hall.

Emory River Railroad Bridge - Harriman, TN

This Warren Camelback Truss bridge was built by L&N in 1910 over the Emory River in Harriman, TN. Today, the bridge is in use so that CSX can deliver coal cars to the TVA Kingston Steam Plant via trackage rights with NS. The main span is 23 feet long, although there is a lengthy approach on both sides. The bridge also parallels highway US27 across the river.

Mayfield Ice Cream faded wall ad - Harriman, TN

Mayfield's Jerysey Maid Ice Cream. This appears to be painted on top of an older, even more faded wall ad. This is along a side street and visible along northbound traffic along US27, Main St. in Harriman, TN. I wonder if the street was raised at some point - see the arched window along the sidewalk on the left?

Mt. Roosevelt Firetower

This goes back to the days when fire departments operated by putting a tower on top of the tallest mountain, and someone at the top looked to see where the fire was coming from. Mt. Roosevelt is the tallest mountain near Rockwood, TN along the western edge of Roane County.

I'd heard you weren't supposed to go up there, but the lock on the fence was cut open and I thought I could get a great view up there. As I started the climb, I tried to take another step and the step wasn't there - so I came down.

Stay on TN58 and SEE...

This is a Rock City Barn, but the area that was painted to say ROCK CITY has been removed. I suppose that would look strange if you didn't know what the barn was referring to. This is the perfect place to paint an ad on the side of a barn, since the street bends around the barn. TN58 does continue on to Chattanooga, and then up the side of lookout mountain to go to Rock City. I think there is a Christmas light on top of the 5. I like how the TN58 road sign has been painted onto this barn.

Rock city used to also sell a magnet of artwork of this barn.

Millions Have Seen Rock City, Have You?

Millions have people have seen this painted barn, perhaps more than any other Rock City Barn, since it's on a popular interstate, I-40 between Nashville and Knoxville. It's in Roane County just east of Kingston with Buttermilk road as the side street. The other side has a very faded painted ad for Lookout Mountain's sister-attraction Ruby Falls, but it is difficult to see as trees that weren't there decades ago block the view from the interstate.

So you're a UT Vols fan with a big yard...

With college football season about ready to start heating up, I thought it would be a good time to post this.

So you're a fan of the University of Tennessee Volunteers and you have a big yard, this is how you show your pride...

This yard was just outside of Kingston, TN as this yard slopes down to the Clinch River. Visible from the Highway 58 bridge over the river.

It's football time in Tennessee...

After I first posted this photo online, the owner of the property left me this message:
"It was my daughters idea in 2002. It been there off and on ever since."

Vintage Dixie Highway metal sign

This sign is inside the old Roane County Courthouse of Kingston, TN, which is now a museum. If you are not familiar with the Dixie Highway, it was a National Auto Trail (which predated the US numbered highway system) and connected Miami with the north. A portion of the highway passed through Roane County. This sign is probably about 80 years old.