Preserve Kentucky’s Real Estate Heritage

Our firm appraises farms in Kentucky and southern Indiana. Our focus is generally on smaller family farms. Recently I inspected a farm in Spencer County outside of Taylorsville, Kentucky and saw this cabin. It’s a late 1800’s log cabin with asbestos siding, which became popular as an exterior sheathing from the 1920’s to the 1980’s in the US and Canada. At the time, asbestos, which has been mined for over 4,000 years according to asbestossiding.org, was added to Portland cement and then pressed into siding.  I have come across it many times over the 15 years I’ve been appraising.  It is a very durable, long-lasting, tough product. However, since 1989, it has been banned in the US by the EPA.

However, this picture that I took struck me for some reason. It represents a tie to the pioneer past, the 20thcentury, and now the 21st century, It has stood in 3 centuries now.  Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching Barnwood Builders on TV lately, and that show does a good job about talking about the history of the pioneers and how they building things. Or maybe I’m getting older and I’m getting sentimental in my old age. This building just seemed to be standing proud.

So, I’m all for commercial and residential development. Real estate fuels our economy, and new construction is a huge part of that engine. I’m all for expansion, revitalization, tear downs, renewals, re-purposing and urban sprawl. But, sometimes I come across a property that I hope will be there another 100 years and will remain untouched.