Rock City Barns on Highway US 64

Highway US 64 is the classic US Highway that, among other things, connects Memphis to Chattanooga. Because of this, it was a good place to have barns painted to advertise Rock City.

Like many of the older highways, it was originally winding and one lane in each direction, while taking you into each town square along its path. However, the current trend for the more traveled roads is to straiten and widen, bypassing the city center, and thus whenever possible, a two-lane divided highway is paved, often at the expense of these barns.

Some of the remaining barns do get repainted, but many of the older barns have only decades old paint, and in some cases replacement wood. The three barns below all show symptoms of what time forgot.

For each of these, you can click on the picture to see a larger version, plus a link to its location on MSN Local Live. (we will be moving from west to east.)

Barn #1 - Wayne County




You would probably have to be looking for this barn to spot it. (and I was looking for it!) At one time, this barn proudly proclaimed SEE 7 STATES FROM ROCK CITY but now it can barely be made out. The road runs to the left of this, but a newer shed partially blocks the view. A lot of the original wood has been replaced. What I find odd is how the black and white paint from the RO section is more distinct than the other remaining segments.

This is located just East of the Hardin County line but west of Waynesboro. Here it is on MSN Local Live.

Barn 2 - Lawrence County



SEE 7 STATES FROM ROCK CITY Near Chattanooga Tenn

In Anita Armstrong Capps book See Rock City Barns: A Tennessee Tradition, she labels this as Lewis Bruton's Rock City Barn. This one is currently intact but looks like it could topple any day. US 64 widening has spared this barn, but has made it tougher to see, as an older stretch of the highway merges with the newer portion. The visible writing does not even face the newer section of highway, just the older part, once again making it tough to see. Otherwise, this one is in easy-to-read shape.

This barn is one block west of where TN 240 intersects with US 64 and is easier to spot on Genson Rd. It is East of the Natchez Trace Parkway but west of Lawrenceburg. You can see it on the map here.

Barn 3 - Giles County



At one time, this read SEE BEAUTIFUL ROCK CITY WORLDS 8TH WONDER but as you can see, half of the wood has been replaced. you can barely make out the first W on the left side and the ONDER on the right. Plus, the black paint has faded more than the white.

Unless the landowner plants more trees, this one is still easy to see. it is in Giles County, just a mile east of the Lawrence County border. You can see it on a map here.

Barns that are now gone for good.

There were two other picturesque barns that didn't survive through the ages along this stretch of highway. I would post other people's pictures of them, but am not sure if I could get permission, so I will just link to their pictures instead.

SEE SEVEN STATES

FROM

ROCK CITY

ATOP

LOOKOUT MT.

The first was also in Giles County, just west of Interstate I-65 and was known as the Robert E. McAfee barn in the Capps book. It was at a nice bend in the road, which made it a victim of highway widening and straitening a few years ago. It deserved a full page color photograph in David Jenkins book on Rock City Barns and that photo can bee seen on the Rock City website here.

STAY ON U.S. 64 and see BEAUTIFUL ROCK CITY

This one at first survived the highway rebuilding and is described as the Everette Stevenson barn in the Capps book. U.S. 64 was painted as an actual highway shield. This was quite a wide barn but also just a couple of feet from the edge of the old highway, so only the left half of this barn was painted as the right half was a solid red. This was very close to the Giles and Lincoln county line.

The original highway made essentially a mile long S curve starting at the small town of Frankewing, the newer stretch of highway went strait through. At a spot where the original highway goes under a bridge of the newer part and then goes along the south side of the newer part, this barn was still visible from the new highway, albeit looking down upon it. This barn had been fragile for many years, and having such a busy highway so close to it didn't help. When I drove by this area in March, I could tell where the barn had been. All that was left was the base. You can see a photo of what it used to look like, taken by Bill Frehman Here on the OhioBarns.com website.

Coming Soon on this blog: What you will find on US 231 in Tennessee.