Jackson County barn successfully pitches its way onto historic registry
The south side of the Hutchinson-Parsons-Fulk Mail Pouch Barn in Jackson County. The barn was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo Provided)
CHARLESTON — A Mail Pouch barn in Jackson County is among eight sites in West Virginia that have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, the state Department of Tourism announced Monday. The Hutchinson-Parsons-Fulk Mail Pouch Barn is on W.Va. 21, also known as Parkersburg Road, in Sandyville and is an example of the Mail Pouch tobacco advertisements painted on barns by the Bloch Brothers Tobacco Co. from the late 1800s to 1993, according to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form prepared last fall. Being on the register helps preserve history, Maxine Landfried, vice president of the Jackson County Historical Society, said. Landfried was excited to hear of the nomination. “That’s great,” Landfried said. The wood frame, gambrel roof barn was built around 1940 on Parkersburg Road in Sandyville, mostly an agricultural and residential community. It features two “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco” advertisements first painted on the barn in 1949 that have been regularly repainted over the years. It remains in excellent condition and both of its Mail Pouch signs are well-maintained, the nomination said. “Photographic evidence indicates that in 1987 the phrase ‘Treat Yourself to the Best’ was written on the barn in two lines, and was reconfigured to a single line following a repainting in the 1990s,” according to the nomination. “It is possible the one-line and two-line designs were used interchangeably on the barn during its period of significance (1949-1969), but this has not been confirmed.” Residential development has occurred in the neighborhood since the barn’s construction, but the area still conveys its rural, farm-centric setting, the form said. “The Mail Pouch signs are in excellent condition, repainted by the owners on a periodic basis,” the nomination form said. “With the possible exception of the ‘Treat Yourself’ line, the colors, size, orientation, and font of both signs remain the same as they were historically.” Owner Jack Hutchinson on May 7, 1949, signed the lease for two sides of the barn painted with 10 foot-by-30 Mail Pouch advertisements. The first time it was repainted was on June 23, 1951, and further repaintings occurred over the next few decades. In 1961, the property was sold to Cecil Parsons. Chris and Russell Fulk purchased the property from the Parsons family in 1996 and remain the owners to this day. The barn was one of three Mail Pouch barns named to the register on Monday. The other two were the Wilson Mail Pouch Barn in Mason County and the See Mail Pouch Barn in Randolph County. The eight sites were approved for submission to the National Park Service by the West Virginia Archives and History Commission in November. The others approved were the Citizens National Bank of Belington in Barbour County, the George McComas House in Cabell County, the Capon Bridge in Hampshire County, the Old Hill Cemetery in Lewis County and the Henrietta Dismukes Hospital Nurses’ Home in McDowell County. “We are so excited to share that these eight new West Virginia sites have been added as new points of interest on the National Register of Historic Places,” said Ennis Smith, Department of Tourism Deputy Secretary. “Each one of these places helps tell the story of our beautiful state, and it’s a privilege to continue sharing that with the rest of the world.” Other places on the Historic Register in Jackson County include the Staats Mill Covered Bridge at the Cedar Lakes Conference Center, the Otterbein Church in Evans, the Faber Double-Crib Barn near Kenna, the Lemley-Wood-Sayre house in Ravenswood, the Ravenswood “Old Town” Historic District, the Buffington Island Battlefield near Ravenswood, but mostly in Ohio, the Armstrong House in Ripley, the Ripley Historic District, the Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge in the Sandyville area and the Rankin Octagonal Barn near Silverton. Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.comLocal News
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