Old Tobacco Barn

Life in Christian County, Kentucky...

This old tobacco barn between Pembroke and Fairview, Kentucky, is falling into disrepair. The roof still appears to be in decent condition, but the board siding is coming loose and falling away. The openings allow the weather to reach the structural members, so the days of this old barn are numbered unless it receives repair soon. If repair isn't practical or possible, then I hope that someone will tear the barn down and re-use the lumber.

Preservation Kentucky wrote the following about tobacco barns across the Commonwealth of Kentucky when it placed them on the 2004 "Most Endangered" list:

Kentucky tobacco barns are perhaps the most widely recognized agricultural buildings in the state. They have been important to the national tobacco economy since the settlement period. Once burley tobacco was introduced to the central Bluegrass region in the 1860's, the now-familiar barn type was developed for air curing - an H-frame gabled structure with vertical side vents. The burley barn became synonymous with Kentucky tobacco and was dubbed the "Kentucky Tobacco Barn" sometime in the 1870's.

Today, tobacco barns are disappearing from our landscape statewide, caught in the cross-fire of development or abandoned. Some are disassembled, relocated and re-used in other capacities of agriculture. With changes in family farms that will accompany the tobacco buyout, coupled with the potential for reductions in tobacco production, these Kentucky landmarks will have to be adaptively reused in order to survive and continue to contribute to the Commonwealth.

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