a stupid question for kentucky boys

[dirtyred]

why are the barns painted black? like the quilt work by the way

[VAcub]

I grew up in KY working my uncles farm and its funny I have never had anybody ask that question, Tobacco Barns are painted Black to create heat to help in drying the Baccor but also has the "doors" all around so the fresh air blows thru also helping in the drying process, hope this helps, Josh

[VAcub]

Baccor = Tobacco for the non-Kentuckians lol

[beaconlight]

Same reason Connecticut used to have so many slat barns. Ther's chewin Baccor an smokin Baccor.

[Joe Malinowski]

The Connecticut River Valley grown tobbaco which was grown all around this area was some of the best cigar wrapper in the world. Many of the old barns were lost to flames when heat was added to speed up the curing. There are less and less barns around here they are great buildings many of them well over 100 ft long.

[Mr E]

like the quilt work by the way

Yeah, that quilt work got some of us in trouble.

[VAcub]

I'll see if I can dig some pics of some barns, I used to have a thing for taking B+W pics of barns and covered bridges...

[TommyM]

You'll also find that many of the bourbon barns or store houses are painted black for the same reason. They both love the heat and the black paint on the barns helps it. Of course, the bourbon barns don't have the ventilation like the tobacco barns do because they want it to get really hot at the top and not as hot at the bottom so they can rotate the barrels over the years so the bourbon ages smoothly and consistently.

[Bill V in Md]

I grew up on a tobacco farm down in Tennessee. We raised dark fired tobacco and let it cure in the barns from a smoldering fire. I don't know how many times someone would stop by the house, and tell us our barn was on fire.

[Brandon Webb]

I personally don't like the quilts, don't really understand them. They are colorful but it's my understanding it was just a tourist idea they created here for scenic drives to promote tourism. I understand they are quilt patterns but I don't really understand the link between quilts and barns. Then you have people who make the John Deere and IH and University of Kentucky quilts and hang them on their barns and that furthermore gombs it for me. To each is own, I just like stuff to make sense or have some history behind it.

Tobacco barns here in southern KY are disappearing at a very fast rate. Tobacco went out here about 10 years ago and unpainted barns left in dis-repair are falling in everywhere. Everyone is buying them for the reclaimed lumber.