Every plank has a story

Your Artis Wall planks came from an old tobacco barn in Lexington, KY dating back to the Civil War. Lexington is the second largest city in Kentucky and is located in the heart of the states ‘Bluegrass’ region. Tobacco barns are engraved in the rich history of Kentucky. In the height of the tobacco industry, these barns popped up in states where the climate was perfect for curing tobacco. Each barn was built with a sophisticated ventilation system that was vital to the drying process. The barns were typically longer than they were wide and the side walls had long narrow vents to allow for ventilation. Today, if you drove through Kentucky you would not see as many tobacco barns as they had during the boom of the tobacco industry. But you would see the last of the barns that remain with beautiful, colorful quilt patterns painted on them. These were placed as part of the ‘Quilt Trail’, which was set in place to preserve historic barns and give tourists a beautiful trail to follow.

Your Artis Wall planks came from a barn located in Danville, Ohio. The barn dates back to the 1830’s. Danville is located in Central Ohio, in Knox County. The Village of Danville is currently home to around 1,000 people. It is affectionately known as “The Gateway to Amish Country” due to its close proximity to Ohio’s Amish Country. The barn was used to house farm equipment and livestock for the farm owners. This particular style of barn is known as a bank barn, they are most popular in the North Eastern United States due to the hilly landscape. A bank barn is a style of barn that is easily accessible from ground level, on two separate levels. These barns are typically built into the side of hills or banks. Both the upper and lower levels could be accessed from ground level making it easy to unload hay on the top level and house livestock on the bottom level.

Your Artis Wall planks were reclaimed from snow fencing in Montana. These large fences keep the roads and railways clear of snow by creating large snow banks on the windward side of the road. By slowing down wind speed these fences allow the heavy snow to fall right behind them, creating a buildup, or bank, of snow. They catch most of the snow before it reaches the roads, keeping the roads safe during the winter. The transportation research board estimates that over $2 billion per year is spent on mechanical snow and ice removal and that using mechanical methods to remove snow and ice is 100 times more expensive than using snow fencing. So not only did your snow fencing save lives, but it also saves the US money, and helps our environment by not using trucks and other methods which have high carbon emissions.

Your Artis Wall planks came from a dairy barn dating back to the late 1800’s in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Grove City is located about 60 miles North of Pittsburgh, and it is the third largest city in Mercer County, with a population of around eight thousand people. Dairy farms are a prominent fixture in Pennsylvania’s agricultural history. The state is ranked fifth in total milk production annually. There are around seven thousand active dairy farms in Pennsylvania to date. The dairy barn that your Artis Wall planks came from may look different than dairy barns you see today. This dairy barn was used to house a small number of cows, and provide a parlor to milk the cows by hand. Today, Pennsylvania dairy farms have an average herd size of 78 cows and are slowly transitioning to robotic milking machines.

This barn was located on the historic Amish Trail through New York, known by tourists as the Conewango Valley. It was used for grain storage and also was home to a number of horses throughout the years. The barn stood as it is in these photos for just over 60 years.

Your Artis Wall planks were reclaimed from snow fencing in Wyoming and most likely have saved the lives of numerous people traveling on I80, I90, I25, and other major roads in the state. These large fences keep the roads clear of snow by creating large snow banks on the windward side of the road. By slowing down wind speed these fences allow the heavy snow to fall right behind them, creating a buildup, or bank, of snow. They catch most of the snow before it reaches the roads, keeping the roads safe during the winter. The transportation research board estimates that over $2 billion per year is spent on mechanical snow and ice removal and that using mechanical methods to remove snow and ice is 100 times more expensive than using snow fencing. So not only did your snow fencing save lives, but it also saves the US money, and helps our environment by not using trucks and other methods which have high carbon emissions. The snow fencing used to make your Artis Wall is an average of 15 years old. Now you are adding another stage to these plank’s story by letting us recycle it for you to create a beautiful accent piece on your wall!

Your Artis Wall planks came from an old tobacco barn in Edmonton, Kentucky. Until the late 1920s, Kentucky produced more tobacco than any other state. Today the state ranks second in tobacco production to North Carolina. Native Americans used to smoke tobacco for medicinal purposes, often as a pain reliever during labor. Edmonton, Kentucky, was first surveyed during the Revolutionary War and quickly became farmland that focused on the production of corn, wheat, oats and tobacco. The tobacco industry accounted for half the agricultural income of Kentucky farmers by 1860. In Kentucky, much of the agricultural productivity came from farms employing slave labor. By 1900, one-third of Kentucky farmers were landless tenants, and the national farm protests began. After the Great Depression, the farm population decreased by 76%, and many tobacco farmers left their farms to find work in the city, or they switched crops after the health hazards about tobacco discouraged consumers to buy the plant. The tobacco barn your Artis Wall planks were reclaimed from was most likely owned by a small family who struggled with poverty during this economic crisis and left their farm behind to pursue more industrial jobs.

Your Artis Wall planks came from an old Horse Barn in Flemingsburg, Kentucky off highway 11, dating back to 1884. Flemingsburg is a small town located in northeastern Kentucky. The small town has become home to many Amish and Mennonite families because of the fertile land for growing crops. Flemingsburg gets its name from Colonel Fleming who settled near Fleming creek and established Fleming Station. In 1971 he led a team of men into battle with some Indians who had stolen two children and several horses. This battle was known as battle run. Fleming and his team were outnumbered by the Indians and were forced to retreat. Colonel Fleming was badly injured during the battle and died 3 years later.