THE SNICKERSVILLE TURNPIKE SCENIC ROUTE 7-22-23

 A month ago we went for another drive along the Snickersville Turnpike.  The previous one we had to cut short because of a warning light that appeared on the car's dashboard.  This day was once again sunny, not too hot and perfect weather.

An historical marker reads:

"Originally an Iroquois hunting trail, it became by 1786 the first recorded operating turnpike in America, praised by Thomas Jefferson.  In 1810 the Virginia Assembly chartered the Snickers Gap Turnpike Company, authorizing three toll gates between Aldie and Snickers Gap: horse 3 cents, 20 cattle 12-1/2 cents, four-wheel carriage 12-1/2 cents. 

A toll booth operated on the Blue Ridge Mountain until 1915.  The Turnpike today is a Virginia Byway overlooking the same landscape George Washington traveled between 1748 and 1788, where he often stopping at West's Ordinary near Aldie and Edward Snicker's inn and ferry on the Shenandoah River." (An Ordinary is an inn, tavern, etc. where ordinary meals were served).

A lot of old farms...

and houses, all of which I thoroughly enjoy taking photos of.  Some were in the process of getting a little tender loving care.

I have noticed for some time now that the fences we see in the countryside are painted black instead of white.  

It took me a while to get used to, but I rather like them now.

You can pass miles and miles of these fences.

There are also new homes being built and we saw sales signs...

but then there were the old, abandoned homes...

and what stories they could tell.

We saw many old barns still in use...

and more houses.

This is another scene shared before but I saw the mural again and took another photo.

It is where we saw this beauty, a photo I captured by sheer luck and posted on my blog a few weeks ago.  It was the only deer we saw that day and I thought was worth a repeat.

And here is the red barn that I shared as a painting two days ago. 

I found some interesting information about why these barns were painted red.  It goes back to the late 18th century, with New England farmers applying a protective varnish to barn surfaces. The varnish usually contained a mixture of linseed oil, lime or iron oxide, which under the sun would then turn to the red ochre hue that we have become so familiar with. 

Eventually, as red paint became available, many people stuck to the color tradition. Red paint is also one of the cheapest colors available to purchase (this is because the large amount of iron and oxygen compounds in the paint are plentiful in the Earth).

Apparently red barns can be in seen in other parts of the world.  In Sweden for instance, the red color has appeared in barns and other buildings since the Middle Ages.  Iron oxide was used from the mining tracts of Falun (Sweden).  Even today the color is called Faluröd. Although iron oxide has been used for thousands of years as a paint pigment, in Sweden it was apparently an attempt by the noblemen of the 16th century to mimic the brick and terracotta of European buildings.  This information was given by someone from Sweden.  

Here is a map of our drive.

I have more photos and I will share them another time.

Thanks for looking everyone and

I hope your day is a great one.