This week’s piece will lack much substance, but it is too interesting not to touch on. While sitting in church this past Sunday, my good friend and fellow Pence Springs neighbor, Mary Rudisill, walked up to and handed me something. After unwrapping it, I found this rare early-1900s fan from Barnette Funeral Home, Inc., in Hinton.
I thanked Mary for giving me such a great piece of Summers County history. I had seen one before in the showcase at Pivont Funeral Home in Hinton, alongside other old local funeral-related pieces.
I started doing some research on Barnette Funeral Home and ran across this old photo of a home in Hinton that was listed as having been its location. I couldn’t stop thinking that it looked oddly familiar. Then it finally hit me, it is Zeigler and Zeigler law office.
I then emailed Mr. Zeigler to be 100% sure that it had been in what is now his law office. He said that it had been Barnette Funeral Home at one point. He went a little deeper and explained that it was located in it for a brief period. He further told me that after moving to Hinton and opening his practice in 1974, he found out (to quote him) “the best information I’ve had about it is that it was a funeral home for only one year, then it moved up James Street to the first or second house past Second Baptist Church.”
He also told me that some time after opening his practice, an elderly client told him that his father had brought him to a funeral there in the office. The funeral was for a man who had died while constructing the 2nd Great Bend Tunnel in Talcott. This man’s father worked on the construction of the tunnel as well. He told Mr Zeigler that the Railroad officials desired the other workers to go to Barnette Funeral Home to view the corpse to entice them to be more cautious on the job.
If you know of any facts about Barnette Funeral Home, such as owners, dates, locations etc., please email me at greenbrierantiques@gmail.com.
