Why You Might Spot an Old Landline Phone Deep in the Kentucky Woods

My penchant for exploring backroads and, in some cases, backwoods, has led to some fun discoveries. My favorites are the completely random ones. Here's an example that ranks high on my list.

Trying to organize, in my mind, the timeline surrounding this tree and that railroad track nearly gave me a headache. So I just sat back and enjoyed the realization that you can't stop nature. If you lay a railroad track and trains stop using it, Mother Nature just might take over.

Landline Phones in the Woods

While on a hunting trip, a woman posted a picture of an old landline telephone she found in the woods, but you have to scroll down in the comments to get a possible explanation. From Dusty Day, we get the following...

Amish communities typically use a "community phone" housed in a separate, small structure like a "phone shanty" or "phone shack" located outside the home, which is often shared by several families. The phone is not kept inside the home to avoid disrupting family life and the community's values.

I find that fascinating, so I did a little digging and, sure enough, Dusty Day knows his stuff. Amish telephone booths seem to be sprinkled across the countryside near where you will find Amish communities. You're likely to see more of them where these communities are more prevalent, like, for example, in Pennsylvania.

What an amazing tradition, and one that makes perfect sense. You know, I learned a lot from watching the great Harrison Ford mystery thriller Witness, about a Philadelphia cop who has to hide out in an Amish community after being shot by crooked fellow detectives, but I obviously didn't learn everything.