In 1988, Bill Chapin, president of See Rock City, Inc. and great-nephew of founder Garnet Carter, told me of his long-time dream to create a book about Rock City's barns and asked me to find out what it would cost. He decided not to proceed at that time, but my interest had been kindled. I obtained a list of the barns they were still repainting, and whenever my travels brought me near one I made a photograph of it if possible.
In 1992, our son Don had returned from the war in Iraq and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He and his wife Kim had rented a small house at Pembroke, on U.S. Highway 41, one of the old major north-south routes that were at one time festooned with "See Rock City" signs on barns from northern Indiana to the Florida line. (There were never any Rock City signs in Florida, for some reason, but plenty of Burma-Shave signs.)
This barn was about a mile south of Don's house. By getting low, I used the compositional technique of leading lines to draw the viewer's eye to the barn. The evening light was great, and I was pleased to have another nice shot to add to my collection.
We also had a great weekend with Don and Kim and their dog Pete.
By 1994 I had collected about 25 barn photos. I made prints from my slides and asked for a meeting with Chapin. That was when he said the magic words: "Let's do it!"
And that's how the book Rock City Barns: A Passing Era began.
(Photo: Olympus OM2n film camera, Olympus Zuiko 24mm f2.8 lens, Fujichrome 100 film.)
Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia
are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.50 shipping. My PayPal
address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943
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Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
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