Johnson Barn

Very nice B&W and a fine composition.  Interesting old barn architecturally.  I'm curious about the reasoning for the large cupola.  Fine work!

First of all....I love the picture, William!  I've shot it several times, but never from this perspective.  I hope you won't mind me shedding just a little light on Drew's question:  the building used to be a school house in Ten Mile, Tn, but at some point it was converted to a barn.  My parent's once owned a farm in Ten Mile, and now live less than 15 miles further north on Hwy.58, 7 miles south of Kingston, Tn.  I've driven past this barn hundreds of times since the early sixties...my earliest memories of the barn are of my family driving past it in our Ramber station wagon.  I only remember my father saying that it was at one time a school...but if he gave specifics, I don't recall.  I'll see if I can find out any details and pass them on to you guys.  Sad to say, I didn't even know that it was called the Johnson barn!  

Drew, thanks for your comments.  I'm not sure about the cupola either, but keep reading...

So, John, I followed you again!  Your info about the barn is interesting, and quite different from what I got from one of the locals on the day of the shoot. He told me the barn was built sometime around mid-19th century by the Johnson family, so I just used that tag as a memory-enhancing file name.  Actually, your information now makes a lot more sense.  It does look like more like a schoolhouse than a barn, with the windows in the side.  My local source told me they were for loading hay to various parts of the barn for even distribution.  Who knows?  The cupola also makes sense for a schoolhouse, thinking of it as a bell tower.  Although, if it was built as a barn, the cupola could have been part of a ventilation system of some kind.

Ten-Mile is an interesting area.  I'd like to get back there and do some more exploring - as soon as the price of gas comes back down, or I win the lottery, whichever happens first...

capture of this building and beautifully presented in monochrome.