# Stars on houses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358 "2012-06-16T18:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/1 "2012-06-16T18:27:45Z")
I’m in rural Ohio this weekend for a wedding. In driving around I see lots of houses that have a large 5 pointed star on the side. Is there any meaning to these or are they decoration? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/2 "2012-06-16T18:33:08Z")
Sneetches live there. 😃 Do they look [like this?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstar) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/3 "2012-06-16T19:19:53Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Sneetches live there. 😃 > > Do they look [like this?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstar) Yes they do. Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/4 "2012-06-16T19:24:04Z")
N.b., if you’re ever in Columbia, SC, and wondering what the stars on the state house are all about, they mark where Sherman’s artillery scored hits. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/5 "2012-06-16T19:37:21Z")
In addition to the style in the Wiki link, I’ve also seen a fair number of barn stars made from woven grapevine. The folks I know with them consider them purely decorative. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/6 "2012-06-17T04:29:44Z")
We have a couple of them on our house. There’s no real deep meaning to them. They are just good luck symbols, kinda like horseshoes. You see them a lot through PA and OH, especially in areas with heavy Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sasquatch\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch_1)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/7 "2012-06-18T14:09:29Z")
Not always purely decorative, my family’s 130 year old stone farmhouse has 5 pointed cast steel stars serving as decorative washers on the outside ends of long bolts that go through the walls. The bolts extend all the way through the house, inside the 2nd story floor joists, with nuts and the about 1’ across star washers on the outside of the house. Obviously to help keep the walls from leaning, I think only the better made houses have them though. One of my sisters lives in a similar age, two story stone house, and her south wall bulges noticeably, like a little residential pot belly. Now, we built an add-on to the house that required moving/covering up two of the stars, so we replaced them with plain steel plates and moved the two stars to a purely decorative position near the front door, so I guess “some” are structural now and some not. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/8 "2012-06-18T14:15:15Z")
I got one, though haven’t put it up yet. In my case, it means: 1. Astronomers live here. 2. I think barn stars look cool. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/9 "2012-06-18T14:45:33Z")
You see a lot of them around here, too. Then again, I live in the Lone Star state. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/10 "2012-06-18T15:35:13Z")
Glad the answer turned out to be less tragic than [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_star_mother). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-on-houses/625358/11 "2012-06-18T15:49:06Z")
I am rather fond of [hex symbols](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_sign) on barns - it hits upon my german side, not so much of the stars though. I always thought a [hypercube star](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Hypercube_star.svg/435px-Hypercube_star.svg.png)would make a great hex symbol 😃