"See Rock City"

With a "See Rock City", the barns all hoped to attract the attention of the passerby on the US highway system of 1930s. The first barns were painted in 1935. Yes, of course, some were near Lookout Mountain, in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, near the attraction that they mentioned. But others were further away in Illinois, Michigan, and Arkansas. It was the brainstorm of Garnet Carter, the owner, along with his wife, of Rock City. The idea was to picque the interest of Americans from around the county and make them want to visit.

At the height of the advertising, over 900 barns were painted. Clark Byers was the first painter. For 33 years, he painted and repainted, establishing him, the barns, and Rock City as a part of American lore. His successors have carried on the task, though these days, the numbers of maintained painted signs have decreased dramatically. Still you can find scattered throughout the states. You can also catch some of the older signs which are fading into obscurity.

The whole phenomenom has been the subject of books like Rock City Barns: A Passing Era by David Jenkins. Rock City also has a good overview of the barn history on their website. But since this is internet, I would suggest visiting Brent Moore's See Rock City blog and start back at July 2006 with the post "How I became interested in these Barns". His posts also contain an image of the featured barn. He is no longer posting to the blog, but there are dozens of barns and other photos. From what I've read and seen, it's well-written and informative. Also each barn post comes with a photo he's taken, so it really is an interesting snapshot of Americana.