Peafowl in Barrettville

There is a long history of peafowl in the small unincorporated community of Barretville, Tennessee. Peafowl are some of the most beautiful birds on the planet with their bright blue and stunning green plumage. The male birds are referred to as peacocks and the females are peahens. The family Barretville is named after, once had 40 beautiful birds, but now there are only two peacocks; George and Charles. George is the dominant cock, being the prettiest and as their owner, Dr. Barret Matthews, told us, “the biggest.”

Dr. Matthews grew up having the peacocks on his families homeplace. Both his grandmother and then his mother took care of peafowl; it’s only right that he now does it too. Dr. Matthews lives in his mother’s old home. It’s in this yard that George likes to strut. Charles prefers the yard next door; peacocks are very territorial.

This legacy has a historical start. Paul and Sallie Lou Barret, Dr. Matthews’ grandparents, lived in the home across the street from where he lives now. It was in 1920 that Dr. Matthews’ mother was born in that home. “During her childhood, this house was her grandfather’s house, he was James Hill (J.H.) Barret. He owned the J.H. Barret and Son’s store. His wife, my great grandmother, died in this house in 1935 and J.H. died in 1936; I wasn’t born until 1949 so I never knew them, but my mother and father were married in an outside ceremony, on the lawn across the road on August 26th, 1946. In those days. Paul and his wife Sallie Lou had something of a farm operation. They had raised hogs and cured hams—made sausage. They had all kinds of fowl; they had chickens, turkeys, guinea hens, also quail and pheasant, which are a pretty colorful bird. Not like a peacock, but they have bright plumage and are a game bird. Once my mother was married to my father and he came to live here in Barretville—they moved into this house because it was being used as a rental house. It was sometime in 47 or 48, before I was born, that my dad gave my grandmother the idea to buy some peafowl. He said, ‘You enjoy your pheasants and your game birds that you’re raising. Have you ever considered having peafowl? They could roam the yard and you wouldn’t have to keep them in the pens like you do your other birds.’ She thought that was a great idea and ever since then, there have been peafowl in Barretville.” Dr. Matthews was born in January 1949, just after they had gotten the birds, so the birds have been here longer than he has!

The birds can be a little vain at times; I mean just look at their plumage! Can you blame them? Dr. Matthews explained the behavior, “Sometimes the peacocks will let you get right up close to them if they’re strutting. Depends on what kind of mood they're in.” Strutting is an indication that it is mating season. Mating season can be through spring to early summer. The Barretville peacocks tend to have feathers from the end of November until early August, but their feathers are brightest in March and April.
There are some misconceptions about peafowl. “People think that they are such large birds that they can’t fly very well, but that’s not true. They roost in the trees at night. The cocks particularly are good fliers, but the hens can fly too.” If the birds can fly, why are there so few peafowls in Barretville today? Dr. Matthews has the answer, “The problem is, and this is where our attrition has occurred with the peafowl. when the hens are laying their eggs and sitting on their nests to hatch them, they make their nests on the ground. They try to hide them under bushes, but stray dogs or coyotes can easily smell where they are. The hens will not fly away and leave their chicks, so they’re easy prey for animals to catch. Little by little they’ve gone. My mother was Becky Matthews and before she died in 2011 she lived in the wing of this house. At the time of her death, we had one hen I think and either 7 or 9 cocks, but very shortly after that the hen was killed and little by little in the past 7 years we’ve lost down to two cocks.”

Dr. Barret Matthews hopes he’ll have better luck in the future and will be able to keep some hens so he can keep the peafowl legacy of Barretville alive. “Barretville is known for the peacocks. Everyone going to school, the schoolchildren will say, ‘Mama, drive down Barret Road and drive slow.’ They all like to come to look at the peacocks.” These beautiful birds are jewels that help make West Tennessee the star it is.

A perfect opportunity for you to see the peacocks is the Bobby Blue Bland Day which will be celebrated for the third year in a row in Barretville. The party is going to be held on June 1st and is a free blues festival that we covered in our May 2018 issue. This is a great chance to see the peacocks and see Barretville during this epic celebration!