Normal people spend New Year’s Eve in some metropolitan area counting down to the upcoming calendar year. I am clearly not normal and spent it in central Tennessee and western Kentucky.

The biggest surprise of my venture into photography is an affinity towards the rural condition and this was the first real opportunity I had in a couple of years to truly explore a rural area.

There were a few barns I spotted near the Tennessee / Kentucky border – don’t ask where I was…I don’t know.

I find capturing the rural condition during the dead of winter is a story of pure desolation. The following structures and rural landscapes were shot in Adairsville, Slaughters (yes, you read that correctly), and Elton, Kentucky. I know many find traveling through these areas quite boring, but to me, there’s something magical about seeing these isolated objects dotted on the plains.

What amazed me about Kentucky was how intact the rural vernacular was – barns were everywhere, and in very good shape. I think these structures will stick around much longer than the quickly disappearing tobacco barns in North Carolina. The most common paint scheme was a faded burnt red color that I hadn’t seen anywhere else in my travel and dominated the Kentucky landscape. The following was a series of structures on a property in Adairsville.

This old Chevy truck is on display in “downtown” Adairsville.

Several barns, like these two in Adairsville and Russellville had a quilt pattern above the barn door – reminds me of Pennsylvania, actually. I’m not sure the history of these patterns or if they have any purpose besides decoration.

An abandoned trailer en route to Slaughters:

It was amazing all the things you could discover in less than one day’s worth of time. If I ever go back with enough time I want to focus more on the trailers and people who lived in them (scary proposition, I know). Finally, I’ll leave you with a sunset scene in Hopkinsville, Kentucky through barn remnants that seem literally on their last leg.

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