Southern Folks Who Never Lived Underneath a Tin Roof Have Never Actually Lived
There is absolutely nothing
on this earth that can compare to anyone who has been given the extreme blessing of living in a house with a tin roof. Although this sentence structure and idea is very simple in measurement, the idea and feelings are higher and much more priceless than can be derived from the knowledge of one living in such a "slice of Heaven," as many (who had tin roofs) would agree.
Tin roofing (circa. 1800) was not a work of passion, but efficiency. Soon, tin shingles began to be imported to America from Wales, where tin was mined. In Philadelphia, Christ Church was completed by 1744 with a copper roof, but the Arch Street Meetinghouse was designed in 1804 to have tin shingles.
The people who lived underneath tin roofs did not stop to realize just how peaceful and pleasant a tin roof was to them. When the first people put tin on their offs, it was more of a step of progress than an idea to help in keeping a house free from leaks when it rained. It was an evolution of sorts.
The town of Hamilton is where this story originated.
Efficiency breeds with convenience
as some wise farmer probably sat out on his front porch to rest after the evening meal and to get some rest from a day that began at sunrise and stopped at dark. The deep-thinking farmer must have saw how efficient that his tin roof worked on his barn, so with a few questions, he began to ask himself why not use the same type of tin on his home?
And that was when the tin roof began to surface as a "modern" home because most homes of this time had roofs made from wooden shingles. Although wood shingles was a great idea to improve the living conditions of a home, a tin roof somehow made it a bit better. In easier terms, there is just "that" unspoken something that makes living in a house with a tin roof a bit easier and peaceful when the day is done.
Tin roofs were
in fact pieces of tin that were lifted to a worker or two atop the house who was placing the pieces of tin in a secure manner. Roofing nails had come upon the hardware scene by now and by using these special nails made the pieces of tin adhere to the wooden rafters and bottom wood much faster.
Of course the men who hauled the tin as well as helped to place it on the home or barn were due to have cuts from the sharp edges of the tin, so this was a major danger for the people using the tin. In many years, the tin would begin to rust and have to be replaced thus the asphalt shingles were in the next evolution of roofing in the early states of America.
All in all, even with the wooden and asphalt shingles, many today still hold true to the unfailing love of being raised (and later living) in a house with a tin roof.
Tin roof-living
can best be explained by using this description: the farming family has eaten their supper, the livestock fed and bed down, dishes are washed and food set ready for the morning meal which usually starts at 4:30 a.m.
When this day (which is how most days) end, the entire family is sitting either near a big fireplace while the father reads his Bible verses or a newspaper if he can attain one while the mother sews, knits, or does those little chores that she never finishes. Their children are resting and gazing into the fire (in winter) while a slow rain is playing a soft melody by the raindrops on their tin roof.
The adjective, hypnotic, easily fits living underneath a tin roof. A tin roof is without question, the best therapy for any working family of this generation for rest, relaxation and a deeper, clearer sense of meditation that stems from the lives that are underneath a simple tin roof.
There is really
no way for this or any writer anywhere to aptly describe the deep-rooted feelings one has who has experienced living in the farmland in the early South. This fact was blessing enough, but when the addition of a tin roof was added, life itself for these families were complete.
Magic? Special music? These are not worthy ajectives in talk about tin roofing. The idea that a soft rain falling early in an early American working family it is supposed that the merging of the rain and tin roof coupled with the family's hard day at work, made the family have deeper sleep, get more rest, and recharged for another day.
You will love these links that pertain to tin roofs, their usage, and living in a house with a tin roof:
www.timelesslumber.com/barnwood/roofing.html
roofonline.com/top-ten-roof-songs/
10.) Drip Drop -- The Drifters
9.) Raise the Roof --The Wild Party - Julia Murney
8.) Is This Love -- Bob Marley
7.) Tin Roof Shack -- Golden Gate Wingmen
6.) Rain on The Roof -- Lovin' Spoonful
5.) Ready to Go -- Republica
4.) Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) -- Parliament
3.) Don't Let The Rain Come Down -- Serendipity Singers
2.) Lady, Your Roof Brings Me Down -- Scott Weiland
1.) Up On The Roof -- the Drifters
© 2017 Kenneth Avery
