Kentucky Barn

While driving through Kentucky recently, @enginewitty happened past an old barn and stopped to make a photograph for me, as he knows I like old barns! I decided to edit the photo to remove the utility pole and power-lines, tweak the brightness and contrast, and do some creative editing. Here is the result:


It is rather common in the southern US to find a "quilt square" pattern painted on barns. Sometimes, they are purely a decorative embellishment, but sometimes they hold some historical significance for the area in which they're located. @enginewitty was fond of this design because of its resemblance to @thealliance logo.

Quilt patterns on barns date back to colonial America. After the colonists became established and had spare income, they painted small patterns on the ends of the barns as a way to celebrate their heritage. [source]

In recent years, "quilt trails" have become a local phenomenon:

A quilt trail is a series of painted wood or metal, hung or free standing, quilt squares installed at various locations along a route, emphasizing significant architecture and/or aesthetic landscapes. Currently North America has quilt trails in 43 of the United States as well as in three Canadian provinces. The first official quilt trail was begun in 2001 in Adams County, Ohio. [source]

Of course, the owner of each structure is well within rights to paint whatever they want on it. However, to be part of an official  "quilt trail," some requirements must be met. I am acquainted with a woman in this area who is an active part of the local "quilt trail" project. She told me years ago that in order to be considered part of the local "quilt trail," a committee must approve each proposed design before it is implemented to ensure that it has homogeneity with designs used on other structures. Also, the design must be executed in a particular size and "registered" as part of the official trail. The local trail does not appear on barns, but on other historic structures in the county, such as the very unique architecture of our local museum, and other similar buildings.

After I began editing the photograph of @enginewitty's barn, here is one of my intermediate steps:


And here was the original, made on a gloomy, rainy day:


Since this is really @enginewitty's photo, he is 100% beneficiary of the rewards of this post! Thanks for thinking of me and stopping in the rain to take this photo! 🤗