Saturday, June 30, 2007

Old Rock City barn near Readyville, TN

Used to be a Rock City barn

Although you can't tell by looking at it, this used to be a Rock City barn, according to the David Jenkins book. It appears on page 156C.

This road is now called Murfreesboro Road, but it is also Old U.S. 70. This used to be the main road between Murfreesboro and Woodbury, TN. It is located in Cannon County about a mile east of Readyville.

When this was still the main highway, this barn was a great location for an advertisement barn. The road goes uphill and the top of this barn is seen not too far in the distance directly in front of street before it curves to the left of the barn. The large roof of the barn is directly facing the street before the curve, making a message there easy to read for passing motorists.

The Current U.S. 70 runs parallel to this street about a mile away. Like most of the newer highways, The John Bragg Hwy is a straiter four-lane divided highway. This four-lane widening project for the 18 miles from Woodbury to Murfreesboro took place in the early 1990's.

This stretch of Old highway has been a road for many years. In 1806, it was developed as the Stone's River road, then in 1811 it was the Old Stage Road. In the 1850's it was developed as the Murfreesboro-Woodbury Turnpike. Finally, it became U.S. 70S in 1923-24. In Readyville, there is an old Grist mill, built in 1829 which is still standing and on the National Register of historic places.

See the barn on a map HERE.
Lat & Lon: 35.818374oN \ -86.157516oW

Friday, June 08, 2007

Update: Stay on TN58 and See...

I had the opportunity to revisit a barn I have discussed before and this time it was different. The new photo is shown first and the older picture is next.

Stay on TN58 and SEE ROCK CITY

Stay on TN58 and SEE...

The difference is the presence of the words ROCK CITY and the bottom of the triangle on the TN58 sign. This must be some kind of door or removable door covering that was open the first time I drove through.