Rock City (not quite) Barns on highway US231

US Highway 231 in Tennessee avoids the biggest cities, but is still an important and scenic highway. It goes through Lebanon, Murfreesboro, Shelbyville and Fayetteville. The stretch from Murfreesboro to Shelbyville has been widened, so any barns that were ever there are gone.

Since this highway would not take you to Chattanooga, an ad for Rock City would then advise you to turn onto the highway that will take you there. Also, you will see that not all Rock City barns are actually barns. Although the next two photos are not actually barns, they were part of the Rock City barn painting advertising campain painted by Clark Byers, and part of my photo collection, as well as included in the David Jenkins Rock City Barn book.

You can get a closeup of any picture by clicking on it.

Barn 1 - Wilson County



TAKE U.S. 41 TO ROCK CITY

This may at one time have been a barn, but doesn't quite look like it. It at one time appears to have been an Antique store. It is also difficult to read as the original white paint has now become rust. When I drove to this place, I could not tell if this place is still open for business, but like a few other "antique" stores I have seen, had junk strewn about the grass between the building and the street. This is in Wilson county, south of Lebanon, just north of the Rutherford county border. You can see it on a map on MSN Live Local here. The Live Local Bird's Eye view allows you to get closer to this area than typical on an aerial photo.

Barn 2 - Rutherford County



And, you thought the last one was difficult to read!

SEE
ROCK
CITY
TAKE U.S.
41

The paint has definately been peeling on this one. There could have been a different message painted here at one time, or perhaps the white had been painted over with black thanks to the Highway Beautification Act of 1965. (if this was the case, the black paint used for the HBA was not as good as the original paint.) The unpainted side was white in color. Now, I don't know enough about barn structures to know what this is. I suppose it could be a silo, and the building that juts from the right of it could be stables. This is in Rutherford County just north of Murfreesboro. It is at a spot where the old highway (old Lebanon Pk.) intersects with a newer part. You can see it on a map here.

Barns I could not find.

These next two barns I could not find, but they were given full color pages in the Jenkins Rock City book, and then copied on the official Rock City website. I probably would not have permission to use their photos, so I will link to where you can see it on their website.

This One was listed as being in Wilson County but I did not see it. Perhaps the line of trees on the right seperated it from the highway.

This next one was listed in Lincoln County, and more than likely is north of Fayetteville. On this barn, like many other painted metal roofs, the black paint rusted to a whiter color and the white paint rusted to a more recognizable rusty red color.

Bonus Barn - Lincoln County

Although I could not find the previous barn in Lincoln County, I did see this one just north of Fayetteville:



It Costs Less at
Sterchi's
TO
FURNISH
YOUR
HOME

Rock City isn't the only barn advertiser, just the most famous. (although I suppose Mail Pouch Tobacco would take the crown in certain parts of the country.) I did a google search for Sterchi's to find out they are a small chain of furniture stores that I had up until now never heard of. (In case you were wondering how I know for certian it said Sterhi's, I saw the same thing painted on another barn in Lincoln County, but that picture didn't look as good.)