Dr. William R. Ferris pointed out in Mississippi Folk Architecture, that “salvaged” items are common in folk structures.

Items discarded as “junk” in non-folk culture become functional or decorative in folk culture. A tour through the Piney Woods is a study in the art of recycling. Bed-springs become a garden gate. Prince Albert tobacco cans decorate a flower bed, rubber tires become planters, styrofoam egg cartons become tulips. Materials are imaginatively transformed into new uses (Figs. 33-36).