Here you see an attractive structure on the Flye Point ridge that apparently was a working barn at one time, but now reportedly contains living quarters. There’s a similarly-painted red and white structure across the road that appears (from the undisturbed snow) to be a winter storage shed, perhaps for boats or farming equipment:
White-trimmed red barns and other rural “outbuildings” are traditional in New England. However, that tradition was not started because the red helps cows find their way home in a snowstorm or that the red distracts bulls from charging farmers, as some of the myths told to tourists allege.
The red-painting practice here reportedly started in the 1700s. That’s when New England farmers dug up rust-colored iron oxide and mixed it with linseed oil and lime to create a reddish varnish that protected structures against fungus. When red and white paint became commercially available later, they were used because the red had become a traditional color and red and white paints usually were the cheapest available.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 26 [storage] and 27 [“barn”], 2025.)