Archive for the ‘Barns, Barnyards & County Living’ Category

Over the 4th of July weekend we camped with some friends in Saint Paul, Indiana. Saint Paul is a typical small Indiana town about half way between Cincinnati and Indianapolis. As usual, I decided to go “hunting” for some shots. Being the heathen that I am, while the others went into Greenfield for church, I decided to run around the county and look for some shots. I found 2 covered bridges, both built from the same family owned bridge building company. The A. M. Kennedy Builders. The family built 58 covered bridges with only 13 still standing to date. The hallmark of the Kennedy bridges is their ornamentation, which I’ve captured in a few of the shots. I also ran across a previously unknown to me Mail Pouch barn on Indian Route 1. Unfortunately I couldn’t stop to shoot it though because Route 1 is a small 2-lane with no place to pull over with my camper! It’s close enough to home though that I can run over sometime soon and grab some shots.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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A few weeks back I drove up to Mount Vernon, Ohio to visit the mission trip team from First Christian Church in Fort Thomas. My son, two sisters, three nephews and a niece were on the trip so I thought I’d go up and help put on a picnic for them after a hard days work at a Habitat for Humanity house they were working on.

I decided that I’d take the “long way” and see if I could find some stuff to shoot. Good choice as I found a few Mail Pouch Barns, a covered bridge, an Ohio Bicentennial Barn, and a very cool old church at Bethany College. At one point I drove a half an hour off my route to shoot a Mail Pouch Barn, only to discover it had been “taken” by hurricane Ike. That would be the photo that looks like a pile of lumber!

All in all, it was a great day. Got to visit my hard working and dedicated family members and the rest of the mission team, as well as adding to my Mail Pouch collection.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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I try to take my “Photo Trips” on Saturdays as to not miss church, but this trip was a last minute decision after church on May 16th. It had been a while since I went shooting and was itching to get out, so I decided to head north towards Preble County Ohio to find a couple of covered bridges. The Brubaker covered bridge and the Roberts covered bridge.

As usual, I found much more to shoot along the way to my final “target”. For one, I ran across the partially abandoned Crystal Tissue Company’s factory just south of Middletown, Ohio. I seriously considered jumping the fence and shooting the inside, but Betsy has scared me into re-thinking trespassing with her threats of not coming to get me out of jail. I had to settle for shooting the water tower from outside the fence. Maybe I’ll go back one day!

I also ran across a couple of very cool abandoned farm house. One of which at the time it was abandoned was occupied by a retired U.S. Air Force officer. It was rather eerie walking into one of the upper bedrooms and seeing his uniform hanging on the closet door. I also found a box with his discharge papers and his military records in it. Sad to think of it, but all my uniforms and paperwork are in my attic. I’m hopeful that no one finds it when shooting photographs of an abandoned house in Fort Thomas in the future!

I also ran across a previously “undiscovered” Mail Pouch barn, although it’s more of a garage, and new, but all the same a Mail Pouch sign. And the last shot of the day was a rather sarcastic political statement of a local pizza parlor’s owner.

Here’s the entire gallery from my Preble County trip. Enjoy!

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Camping season has begun! Betsy and I went to Big Bone State Park this past weekend and took a short trip to Rabbit Hash on Saturday. If you know anything about Rabbit Hash you know it really isn’t much more than an old general store on the Ohio River, yet it attracts thousands of visitors every year. On any given Saturday during the summer months you may see a couple hundred people in the sleepy little town.

Since I have already taken the “typical” Rabbit Hash shot (the exterior of the general store) I wanted to shoot some of the details of the town that are uniquely Rabbit Hash. Take a look at this gallery and hopefully it will inspire you to take your own trip to Rabbit Hash. But if you do, be prepared to “slow down”. Because in Rabbit Hash, you can’t help but slow down and relax!

Here’s the whole gallery. Enjoy!

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Super Bowl Sunday I ventured off to Green County, Ohio to capture 5 covered bridges. Thinking Green County is only about 50 minutes away, I figured I could get up the drive around the county, grab some nice snowy covered bridges and get back in time for kickoff. Wrong! For the first time,  my favorite website for locating bridges and barns sent me off in the wrong direction. 40 miles to be exact. I followed my trusty iPod GPS only to find myself in the middle of no where. I’ve been in the middle of no where before, and actually found what I was looking for, but not this time. No bridge. And not even a creek or river to put a bridge over!

I eventually found the bridge I was searching out, but the 80 mile round trip to the empty field didn’t help my schedule. All said and done, I ended up shooting the 5 bridges I went to shoot. My timing was way off though. I was out for seven and a half hours from my front door to Green County and back. I missed the first quarter of the game, but I figure there will be another Super Bowl next year, and who knows how long these bridges will be around.

Click here to see the Green County covered bridges and more. Enjoy!

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Last weekend we decided to run up to Dayton, Ohio to visit with my son and his wife and our grandson. It’s a quick one hour drive to Dayton so we try to get up and see them whenever we can. Along the drive I mentioned to Betsy there “may” be a covered bridge on the way and maybe I’d stop for a “quick” shot of the bridge. But really… I knew of a bridge and yet another Mail Pouch barn we may happen to “stumble” across!

All said and done our one hour drive to Dayton took about two and a half hours. Not only did I shoot the bridge and barn, but I also found a previously unknown Mail Pouch barn. I have such a understanding wife. Not only did she accept the fact I was dragging her along on another of my crazy “barn storming” trips, but she didn’t even complain when we got to Dayton and my son and I went off to find a Mail Pouch sign he had seen and wanted to show me! She’s great!

Here’s the entire gallery from our trip. Enjoy!

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If you receive emails whenever I post a new story on my blog I’m sure you’ve decided I have a sickness when it comes to Mail Pouch barns. I don’t even remember how it started. I’m told people with addictions don’t even know it till they wake up one day and say to themselves “I have a problem”, then it’s to late. My wife has learned to live with it. Waking up on any given Saturday morning to a note saying “I’ve gone “barnstorming” for the day, call me if you want to do something”. The way I see it I could be out at strip bars, so she should be thankful I have this sickness!

Here’s the latest gallery in my collection. A barn in Fallsburg, Kentucky. Enjoy!

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The man I met while shooting the Elmwood Motel in Ulysses, Kentucky told me about this abandoned house on Route 23 outside of Louisa. Apparently it has quite a history as there are multiple websites referring to it’s past resident, Dr. Francis Elam Burgess. Born 1914. Physician, surgeon, poet and songwriter. I’m glad I ran across it when I did, in it’s “abandoned” state as it has recently been purchased and soon to be rennovated by Martin County entrepreneur Jim Booth.

I plan on keeping updated on the progress of the rennovation and would like to return someday to shoot the second life of this beautiful estate.

Take a look at the entire gallery here. Enjoy!

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