WHY ARE AMERICAN BARNS RED

Red American Barn

There may not be anything more iconic to farm life than an American barn .

Yesterday, commenter MARIA asked why are so many American barns red?  That got me to thinking, yes, why ARE they red?  Great question.  So I did a little online research and found that there is a fairly simple explanation for it.  

When farms first started springing up across this country in the 1700's, they were rarely painted.  Even homes were not painted and the wood was just left natural.  Seeing as how paint was rare at the time, not to mention expensive, it would be considered decadent and even obscene to "waste" money on painting.   However, wood left to it's own devices would, eventually, require replacement.  Finding a means of painting them with something that would coat and protect became the goal.  Ever resourceful farmers began mixing their own concoction, using skim milk and lime.  Then they added linseed oil, which is a red/orange color, as a sealant for the wood.  Lastly, they added "ferrous oxide", or "rust" to the mixture.  Seems there was always plenty of rust laying around on a farm in the form of old tools, implements, etc.  Ferrous oxide was good at keeping away the mold and fungus that would often grow on the buildings.  It's most likely that this "home brew" paint recipe was brought over by settlers from overseas.  So apparently, instead of shooting for red color on purpose, it's just what became the norm, coming out of necessity and the fact that this combination is what actually worked rather than aesthetics and decor.

As mass produced paints became more commonplace in the late 1800's, red was still the cheapest pigment to add to paint so once again, red was popular for a reason other than just looks.  It was also believed that this color was easiest to use when painting over or touching up barns that were already red from the previous homemade paint.

From there, red barns, in varying shades of red of course, became more of a tradition and a link to our past rather than serving any real practical purpose.  Original "barn red" was probably closer to a reddish orange or reddish rust as opposed to the fire engine red you often see in more recent use.  Still, it's neat to see that even today, people are using red on their farms and buildings and perhaps don't even realize how much of a link it has to our past.

Hope you enjoyed this random bit of trivia, especially our foreign visitors who may not have known about this little part of American history.

Another Red American Barn