A Lost Barn and a Lost Friend

 Can you see the tops of the letters "c," "h," and "a?"

Canon EOS A2, 28-105 f3.5-4.5 EF lens, Fujichrome 100 film

(Click to enlarge}

 

1995 was a busy and enjoyable year for Dave Jenkins Photography, with most of the time not booked for studio sessions taken up with travel and photography for a book about Rock City barns.

In October, 1994, a few days after I agreed to do the project, Rock City sent me a box containing hundreds of old office file cards from the 1960s; Rock City's only record of most barn locations. They had literally been gathering dust in a closet in the advertising department for 30 years. On each card was the name of the property owner at that time, the highway, and the distance from the nearest town. Most had a small photo attached, apparently taken about 1960. Rock City had had no contact with most of these barns since the barn painting operation was greatly curtailed in the late '60s, so the only way to find out if they were still standing was to go and see.

The old-style office file cards used by the Rock City sign painters.

Most barn photography trips were one to three days in duration, but since there were barn locations in 15 states, some trips were longer. In fact, the trail of barns led my old Chevy Blazer nearly 35,000 miles to more than 500 sites over 18 months.

In July of that year, John Huckaba, who was a retired dentist, a member of my Sunday School class, and my best friend at the time, asked if he could go with me on one of my photo-trips. Accordingly, I planned a one-day itinerary to locate and photograph a number of barns on and around East Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau. 

John had survived bladder cancer in the late '80s and was fit and active, but he said I wore him out with my relentless pursuit of barn sites, continuing until there was no longer enough light for photography. He also said that I appeared to have a sixth sense about barn locations. 

At one site we found a welding and machine shop where we had hoped to find a barn. The photo of the barn on my file card showed a house in the background with an oddly shaped upstairs window, and indeed, the farmhouse next to the machine shop had exactly that style of window. John marveled when I showed him the old photo. 

I walked around a bit and found where some of the tin from the old barn roof had been repurposed as siding for the shop. It had been painted over, but if you look carefully, you can see parts of three letters. I think they are the "C," "H," and "A" from "Near Chattanooga, TN," a phrase which appears on many Rock City barns. 

It was a very enjoyable day with John, but by the time we got home he was tired and experiencing some discomfort. A few days later we learned the cancer had returned. 

John died six months later. I still miss him. 

Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2021

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone

 Tags: Rock City, Rock City barns. East Tennessee, Cumberland Plateau, Canon EOS A2 film camera, film, Fujichrome film, cancer, Chattanooga, Chevy Blazer, Rock City sign painters, Rock City Barns book