Everybody wanted a house with a picket fence.” But that could be any fence. How did a white wooden fence become synonymous with the American dream? In a piece for Smithsonian tracking the ...

Wood fencing, while visually pleasing ... and two smiling kids standing in front of the big house with the white picket fence — that picket fence is obviously made of wood.

Despite all the work the wooden fence requires, he has no plans to remove it permanently. “It just goes with the house,” he says. Nor will he replace it with some of the newer white picket ...

Despite all the work the wooden fence requires, he has no plans to remove it permanently. “It just goes with the house,” he says. Nor will he replace it with some of the newer white picket ...

Painted to make the wood last longer, the image of the white picket fence became burned into the collective unconscious as a symbol of niceness. The fashion was popular abroad, too, especially in ...

These were woven through the picket ... wood gave way to painted pickets. Homeowners vied to outdo each other with gingerbread detailing. The final stage in this fence evolution is today's ...

In Colonial times, a mixture of lime and water protected the wood pickets and gave the fences their traditional white color. Getty Images Blame the Cold War for doing in the picket fence.