# Giant Confederate Flag off of Interstate 81 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352 "2026-02-04T00:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/1 "2026-02-04T00:58:24Z")
Who has seen it during their travels. It’s on the top of a hill a mile or so south of the Virginia/Tennessee border. It was put up by Sons of Confederate Veterans. Here’s why I bring it up: it’s on the farm next to the farm where I grew up. I had to see it every time I went out on my parents’ front porch. Of course that part of Tennessee didn’t side with the Confederacy, but that hasn’t stopped the traitors’ flag from appearing in rural parts of many, if not most, Union states. My parents didn’t like it, and the farmer who owned the property until he passed away thirty or so years ago wouldn’t have either. He was the prototypical target of the “Southern Strategy”, but it didn’t work with him. I used to love to hear him badmouth Ronald Reagan (he pronounced it Ree-gun). “He ain’t got no business gettin’ us involved down in Central America.” Mother nature has reduced the flag to tatters at least a couple of times, but it’s always replaced. I don’t have family there anymore, so I don’t have to look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/2 "2026-02-04T18:40:12Z")
I can’t remember the last time I saw a Confederate flag flying from homes or vehicles in Kentucky (which makes sense given that it was a Union-leaning border state during the Civil War, except that dopes have been fond of the flag). I’ve yet to see a business displaying that flag, which would automatically have me turning around and leaving. Displays of idiot flags or billboards along Interstates can always be laughed at or turned into sports memes.\* [![](https://images.fastcompany.com/upload/hell-is-real.jpg) ](https://images.fastcompany.com/upload/hell-is-real.jpg) \*“Hell Is Real”, displayed along I-75 south between Columbus and Cincinnati, is the name given to the rivalry between the cities’ pro soccer teams. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/3 "2026-02-04T19:04:18Z")
There is another giant confederate flag on 81 near Lexington, VA. The owner of that one wrote a letter to the editor and flatly stated that he was a white supremacist and that’s why he flies it. We drive a couple of times a year from our house to Tennessee and lucky us, get to see both the abominations. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/4 "2026-02-04T21:47:24Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I can’t remember the last time I saw a Confederate flag flying from homes or vehicles in Kentucky (which makes sense given that it was a Union-leaning border state during the Civil War, except that dopes have been fond of the flag). I see plenty of them driving through highway 15 in Pennsylvania, which was more than union-leaning. I’ve also seen them driving between Ithaca and Rochester in New York. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/5 "2026-02-05T01:46:44Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Who has seen it during their travels. It’s on the top of a hill a mile or so south of the Virginia/Tennessee border. It was put up by Sons of Confederate Veterans. They have a facebook group which shows the traitor flag. I reported it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/6 "2026-02-05T02:42:34Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I can’t remember the last time I saw a Confederate flag flying from homes or vehicles in Kentucky (which makes sense given that it was a Union-leaning border state during the Civil War, except that dopes have been fond of the flag). There is a large one just off I-24 near Paducah, Kentucky (near exit 16) that is owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, see it everytime I drive through there. And yeah, it was a close-run thing in the Civil War, the legislature was pro-Union and the Governor (Beriah Magoffin and is that a great name or what?) leaned toward the Confederacy, so they agreed on a policy of ‘neutrality’ which didn’t last long. Fortunately the North had some guy name Ulysses Simpson Grant down there and Kentucky ended up under Union control and except for a couple incursions during the war remained in the United States. Here endeth the history lesson. Press on. ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/7 "2026-02-05T15:52:26Z")
Living in a somewhat typical southern rural redneck area it’s not that uncommon to see some yahoo driving around in a jacked up pickup truck sporting a large American flag on one side of the rear bumper and an equally large confederate battle flag on the other. In my head I’m tempted to ask them which one are they, a fine patriotic American, or an anti-American secessionist? And wonder if they would understand the difference sufficiently to make their head explode? ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/8 "2026-02-06T03:46:59Z")
back in the 2000’s, I saw huge flag on side of highway 71 between Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2026, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/9 "2026-02-07T13:07:02Z")
I have some cousins who have the Confederate flags furling all the time. Each of the three are obsessive little supremacists; conversations with them are always at an impasse. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/10 "2026-02-13T18:47:38Z")
One on I-85 is gone > **[Confederate flag flying over I-85 in Upstate taken down after court ruling](https://www.foxcarolina.com/2026/02/13/confederate-flag-flying-over-i-85-upstate-comes-down-after-court-ruling/)** > > The 120-foot tall flagpole that could be seen from I-85 is no longer standing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-confederate-flag-off-of-interstate-81/1027352/11 "2026-02-13T20:19:46Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > One on I-85 is gone Yay!!