I think this tradition got started when a lot of paints were homemade and the red (or reddish) paint was the result of available earth pigments. I believe white was made from lime in some fashion, but the details are hazy. In my area, many ancient barns are unpainted.
Because it is not a proper farm if the barn is not red with white trim. We just finfished getting ours painted red with white trim - to match our white house with a red front door. It’s the way og intended for us to live.
and if you use different colors - I may send my golem after you.
Just wanted to agree with Cecil’s reply, which I read ages ago.
Long before I did, I’d heard the recipe for Red Paint at one of the historical sites in Salem, Mass. Only they didn’t say “skim milk” – i think they said soured milk. After you painted the house or barn, it smelled pretty awful for a while.
There are three primary natural coumpounds of lead, red, white and black. So these were the cheapest and easiest lead-based paints to make with consistant colors. That’s why early cars were black. The rust idea is silly. rust is not barn red, I think we’ll all agree.
Perhaps not, but neither were barns. I’ve seen real rust-paint up close and it is indeed a dark red or maroon color. Bright red barns are a result of bright red paint becoming available in the 20th century, and farmers realizing that they didn’t have to use the ugliest possible red, as long as it was red.
I’ve been checking the internet recipes. They either don’t tell you the colorant, or else say “earth colors”. One site suggests using crumbled brick. Another seems to suggest using blood from slaughtered animals (that’s a different way of getting iron oxide). But i know the guide I talked to years ago insisted on rust being the source of the pigment.
The tour at Old Sturbridge Village, MA states that the white was both the cheapest and most expensive color and that red was the most enduring cheap paint. The absolute cheapest was simple whitewash, but it had to be redone frequently having little staying power. The cheapest paint that endured was red–which explains not only painting very large structures, such as barns, red, but also the prevalence of red school houses. Good quality white was the most expensive.
I did not find the exact text of the guide’s spiel at the OSV website, but I did find a page that discussed some aspects of paints through the early 19th century.
A few selected quotes: