HIGHLIGHT: KENTUCKY
Just off a bend in the Cumberland River stands a weathered tobacco barn whose planks have gone missing piece by piece. Lois “Nan” Coffey, 95, points in exasperation with her tobacco pole cane at the gaping holes and absent barn doors, which she says were stolen. Barnwood thieves have been stealing Kentucky memories across the commonwealth to feed a growing desire for the farmhouse chic popularized by HGTV hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines – taking ancient, weathered barnwood and using it to make a new house look old. Sheriffs have seen some barns stripped to their frames and aluminum roofs.