A Brief History Of Hex signs and Barn Stars
The geometric designs used on hex signs are not unique to the Pennsylvania Dutch/Dietsche. In fact they go back to very ancient times and cultures around the world. It was the use by Swiss and German immigrants that came to settle in Lehigh and Berks county to decorate their barns and houses that gained reputation and a place in the hearts of people all over the world. There is documented evidence of barn stars being painted on the local gables as early as 1819, although possibly carlier. When Pre-mixed cans of paint became commercially available around the time of the Civil War, they became much more widespread. But it wasn't until the advent of motor travel in the carly 1900's that their beauty became known to the outside world.
Traditionally Blumme and Schtanne (flowers and stars) where painted directly to the barn and known as just that, Barn Stars and Barn Flowers. It is uncertain how the word "Hex" got into the picture. We believe that Yankee Author and Artist Wallace Nutting first publicized the use of the word while touring the Lehigh Valley in the carly 1920s for his book Pennsylvania Beautiful. He drew a few sketches of local barns and labeled them "Hexefoos Barn" (Witches Foot Barn) after supposedly talking to one of the local
farmers about what these strange designs where for. They weren't called Hex Signs until a few decades later when they started being painted on wood discs to make them more portable for the tourist trade. Often incorrectly associated with the Amish Community, hex signs never adorn the barns or homes of the
"plane folk". Although P.A. Deitsche they are, the strict old order Amish and Mennonites consider these to be only for the "Fancy Deitsche". The meaning behind them has been debated by scholars in America and Europe for decades. Some insist that there is a magical purpose behind each one, others that they are just for nice. But their use by the germanic peoples goes back very far. Medieval tombs in southern Germany have them carved onto their faces. As well as the grave stones of many of my own ancestors locally.
Whatever the meaning behind them they were found to be important enough to adorn their final resting places for all eternity, one could say protecting them in the afterlife, or maybe they were "Chust fer nice" I do know that they where a very superstitious and god fearing people, who often practiced the art of powwow or Braucherei. A type of folk magic used to heal ailments, fix problems or for protection. Wether for a person, home, family, barn, livestock or crops. It was never to be used for evil or ill intent. Since we can't go back in time and talk to our early ancestors we'll never really know for sure. Although there is a symbolic meaning behind every color, number, shape or symbol used. It all comes down to the specificartists intentions while creating each individual Hex Sign or Barn Star.
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Robert A. Maletsky
About The Artist
Born and raised in the Lehigh valley. I'm a direct descendant of the first German to
emigrate to Pennsylvania in 1680, Heinrich Frey, 2 years prior to William Penn's
Arrival. I have roots deep into Lehigh and Berks Counties going back to the first
settlers of the valley in the early 1720's. My Family has lived in what is today North
and South Whitehall Townships since my 6x Great Grandfather Lawrence Guth first
built his home in 1742 along the banks of the Jordan Creek (now Covered Bridge
Park, SWT). It was there on his farm in South Whitehall that his son my 5x Great
G. Grandfather Lawrence Jr. on May 27 1776 held a meeting of almost 1,000 men
known as the "Associators" from then Northampton County. They gathered to vote on
wether or not to break ties with the King of England and William Penn's Sons
Thomas and Richard. An act of treason that could have them all hanged. The Guth
Family was one of the largest land owners in the county and very influential
politically. The vote was unanimous and they picked their representative to send to
Philadelphia for the next Continental Congress where less than 6 weeks later the
Declaration of Independence was signed. It was the earliest recorded meeting of its
kind in all of the 13 Colonies and on that day the Colony of Pennsylvania ended and
the Commonwealth began. I learned much about my PA Dutch heritage and the hex
signs I paint from my late uncle Randy Geist. He first introduced me to this beautiful
folk art over 30 years ago as well as taking me to many old graveyards to show me
our ancestors. My Grandmother Shirley Dornblaser told me a story from when she
was a child in Dryville, Berks Co. in the 1930s her father Robert would often send
her to spend time with, help out and learn from the old lady next door, who was
the neighborhood Pow-Wower / Braucher, but always warned her to stay
away from the lady on the corner because she was a witch. My mother was also
warned about the witch on the corner while visiting as a young girl. As well as
stories of Papy Dornblaser, my Uncle Randy and others going into the woods
behind the house to a spring fed pond to do, what was described to me as "some
kind of ritual". Robert Donrblaser, born in 1869, lived through the early heyday of
Barn Stars in the area and held many of the superstitious believes that got us to
where we are today. In 2014 I began to paint them on shingles salvaged from local
barns as gifts for friends and family. I took my first climb up a ladder to paint a
barn in 2022. Now I'm lucky enough to be able to do the art I love while living with
my wife, two children and crazy dog in the bucolic country side of North Whitehall
Township, Pennsylvania.