This beautiful old barn is nestled in the Ooolenoy Valley of Pickens County, South Carolina. The first white settler of the area was a man named Cornelius Keith, from Virginia. Soon after his arrival, he forged a treaty with Chief Woolenoy of the Cherokee Nation, whose people lived nearby. Other settlers arrived soon after, and they named the area "Oolenoy Valley" in honor of the chief, who allowed them to live there, peacefully. Why they dropped the first letter of his name, I do not know.
I was delighted that OLD BARN № 006 in my "Old Barn Project" was situated immediately beside the road, allowing me to stop the car, roll down the window, and make a photo. This negated the necessity of using a zoom-lens, or having to contact the landowner for permission to access the property.
• PHOTO BY ME, ORIGINAL SHOT •
I do not know the purpose of this barn with certainty, but as large as it is, I would guess that it served multi purposes, such as providing shelter for horses/mules or livestock as well as storage for farming implements and perhaps hay in a loft. Despite the state of disrepair, this barn is still beautiful to me. The weathered wood facade is lovely, as is the rusty metal roofing. Looking through the front-center opening where doors once hung, it appears that one can see-through to the field behind the barn, leading me to conclude that part of the wall on the other side is missing, as well. Due to the condition of the barn, I suspect that it might not be in-use currently, but is being kept for sentimental or historical purposes.
Looking again at the front-center opening, there appears to be a another set of doors above. Those doors probably exist (my guess) to allow a fully-loaded hay wagon to drive into the barn, making unloading into the loft easier than using a smaller "hay door" as some other barns have. It is curious to me, however, that the door on the right has three hinges while the door on the left only has two.
• PHOTO BY ME, ALTERNATE PROCESSING •
As I've done on other barn photos, I applied a pastel processing to the photo for fun, but discovered that it adds some interesting contrast to the siding. It is easy to see how the wood under the eave of the roof is darker than the wood below, which is more exposed to the elements.
Looking at the "Street View" in Google Maps shows that a tree to the right of the barn has grown appreciably since my visit, and a yellow "POSTED: No Trespassing" sign has been added to the front of the barn, so folks must have been stopping and wandering around, despite the presence of an occupied house directly across the street.
