Old barns like these were prime targets for the Barn Painters.

It started in 1925...an entrepreneur had the idea that there was wasted advertising space on the roofs and walls of barns...they were often along the road...America was beginning it's love affair with the automobile and the farmers needed help. This was the perfect storm...his idea would help everyone. For years afterward...the barn painters were often seen in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and other Midwest states...their work even spread West and South as well. New England also has it's share of the legacy....the first work began in Syracuse.

Their work has probably been seen by everyone in the states who is reading this. In exchange for using the barn, the farmers were offered magazine subscriptions, sometimes money and sometimes they would get their entire barn re painted. As we travel across this country on a Summer Vacation...keep an eye out for "Mail Pouch Tobacco" or "See Rock City"....you will be viewing a true slice of Americana.

I can see it now...the roof of the barn in this image is prime real estate for what used to be a thriving business...now a lost art.