Tag Archives: Londonderry Ohio

Sunset At Concord Church

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As usual, I proved again last night that driving in a straight line really isn’t my thing. Concord Church is located just outside Chillicothe, Ohio and is one of my favorite local churches. It’s lovely the way it’s set back from the road with a pretty gate, wrought iron fence and grove of trees. But it was all the more beautiful as the setting sun created a cotton candy sky. Unfortunately, there were cars in my rearview so I went up the road and turned around to head back for a better look.

There’s just something special about a house of worship beneath a beautiful sky. Isn’t it pretty?

The doors are still dressed up for the holiday making the scene even more charming.

Regulars here are likely tired of hearing this but I’ll say it again for everyone in the cheap seats. Always, always, always stop for the picture. Even if you have to turn around and go back. I have never regretted making the stop but have plenty of regrets about the times I kept going.

Life is too short for regrets. Just turn around and go back. It really is that easy.

I Learned Something New

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I learned something interesting this week. Well, it’s interesting to me.

One of the individuals responsible for painting all those Mail Pouch advertisements on barns across the Midwest and Appalachia was a fellow named Harley Warrick.

His name is well known among barn enthusiasts and for good reason.

During a career that spanned about 55 years, Mr. Warrick painted or retouched over 20,000 barns in thirteen states. He was actually the last of the Mail Pouch painters when he retired.

What I didn’t know is that Mr. Warrick was from Londonderry, Ohio, a burg just a few minutes from my home. He grew up on a dairy farm before serving in World War II. In 1946, he decided that painting barns sounded better than milking cows.

These iconic barns had already been around since 1891 when he started out for $32 a week. I read that he could do a new one in six hours and touch up several in a day, starting always with the “e” in chew. He always completed the HEW first because those were his initials.

The 1965 Highway Beautification Act prohibited billboard advertising within 640 feet of an interstate highway, basically ending the Mail Pouch barn program along the nation’s major highways. Luckily, they are designated National Historic Landmarks so these great barns should be around for a while.

As for Warrick, he was able to continue painting barns along lesser roads for Swisher International Group, the company that owned Mail Pouch. He was the last of the Mail Pouch painters and the program was suspended when he retired.

After retiring, Mr. Warrick painted Mail Pouch bird feeders and mail boxes from his Belmont, Ohio workshop. He died in 2000 at the age of 76.

The image above is from a farm along a country road at New Salem, Ohio. I made it in 2020 while out on a nice socially distanced drive. After all these years of admiring these landmark barns, I had no idea that the artist was from my very own area!

Isn’t it wonderful that we can still learn something new every day?