Early Water Barrels.... Appalachian Style

Those who were reading my 365 Days in the Moonshine Capitol of the World blog last summer fell victim to my obsession with water barrels.

It will be no different this year - possibly even more engrossing and captivating!

In the next few days I'll run the first couple water barrel posts from Moonshine (to get everyone up to speed before this year's madness begins).

First though, here's an authentic rain barrel system from the Booker T. Washington Monument Park here in Franklin County. The buildings recreated are representative of the mid-1800's.

See the functional wooden gutters? They would have been sealed with pitch or pine resin.

Then angled down towards a wooden barrel, complete with iron bands.

Back then, the wooden barrel wouldn't have had the drain pipe, otherwise, it's pretty much the same.

I love the look - a lot more picturesque than my plastic barrels.

My grandmother had a couple barrels like these. She also had a huge concrete cistern where water from the roof was collected and mixed with spring water. She (or whichever kid she could catch) drew it up into the house by using a handpump in the kitchen.

This was replaced in the 1970s with indoor plumbing (same time they replaced the outhouse with the new-fangled indoor bathroom).