Why are barns traditionally red?

Have you ever wondered why barns were traditionally painted red?

Living in the great state of Tennessee, I see lots of beautiful farmland with those iconic red barns. But why red? Why not green or blue? Well, when I started looking into it, I was amazed by the answer!

At first, I thought red might have been the easiest stain to get back in the 1800s, but it turns out there’s a practical purpose behind it too. The tradition of red barns was brought to the US by European immigrant farmers. After building the barn, farmers needed to protect the wood from the elements so it would last for years to come. They used linseed oil for weather protection and battled mold and fungal growth by mixing in animal blood or ferrous oxide.

This unique blend resulted in the red-orange color that’s so familiar today! How cool is that?