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Photo Gallery: Abandoned Americana
The old America is all around us. Americans used to be farmers. They used to go to drive-in movies. They used to think Route 66 was the greatest highway in the world. Some still do.
If you drive out of the city and leave the strip malls and cookie-cutter suburban homes behind, you'll find it soon enough. Head down a county road and you'll pass dilapidated farmhouses and overgrown gardens, the handiwork of people from our grandparents' or great-grandparents' generation. Like this old farm in Clay County, Missouri, near the Jesse James farm. I was with a couple of friends on a Jesse James road trip and we drove many of the back roads of western Missouri, places where Jesse committed his crimes and hid out from the law.
Everywhere we went we found this old Americana. On the outskirts of Kansas City we found a drive-in movie theater unchanged since the 1960s, and still open for half the year. To the west of Lexington we followed a potholed country road that led to a tributary of the Missouri River. Half a century ago there was a ferry at the end, popular enough that this road was lined with gas stations, hotels, and nice homes. The ferry disappeared when I-70 was built, and one by one the homes and businesses were abandoned.
Then there's route 66, half ghost highway and half tourist trap. And old boom-and-bust mining towns like Bodie, California, now a State Historic Park. Not to mention all the failed businesses, the empty big box stores and bankrupt shopping malls that are creating the new ghost towns of the U.S. Much of industrial Detroit looks like an archaeological site.
Next time you go on a road trip in the U.S., get off the Interstate and take a county road. drive slow and look around. You'll find the old America that hasn't quite left us.
Gallery: Adandoned Americana
Filed under: History, Learning, Photos, North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 8)
Tom Oct 25th 2011 12:31PM
I'm only in my fifties, but grew up in Upstate NY around Route 66. I enjoy that route to this day, whenever I get the chance to drive it. It's historical, and sad that everything people worked hard for, has been left to deteriorate. I wish I had the means to help preserve our history. In those days, people worked hard, but I would love to have been a part of that history. Things seem to have been a whole lot better back then. To turn back the hands of time, if only one could.
Thank you for sharing. I wish the younger generation could appreciate it, as much as we do.
ha ha you Oct 25th 2011 12:51PM
Yup, now it's the age of the concrete jungle and 20pd cans of spam.
Ann Oberlander Oct 25th 2011 1:01PM
This is to Brenda: OK, I read your diatribe, here is my reply. I am 79, and have lived an amazing life. I have traveled Route 66 five times and met some great, hard-working people along the way. I have visited the Caribbean several times and learned how to properly dangle my feet off the bridge while drinking a rum sour and listening to the wonderful steel drums. I have hiked through the mountains of California ... even fished and caught a few good ones. Brenda, there were times when I worked three jobs a week; my regular, an afterwork one and one more at night (a drive-in checking out the cars as they came in to see the movie). Times I worked OT every day except Sunday. BUT, never, never, never did anyone tell me I had to do this or I had to do that. From 16 to 18 years on, you are your own person. Stop this "they make you do this" stuff! What country are your from? America and freedom is not easy but make the most of what you have.
tony Oct 25th 2011 2:02PM
Sorry, Ann. Shirley is right. I left a promising military career to pursue the American Dream, only to discover that the government (at all levels) has made it unachievable for all but the luckiest or ethnically privileged few. It's not an opinion. It's a fact!
Lyle Smith Oct 25th 2011 1:16PM
I stayed at the motel pictured here in Shamrock Texas. Car broke down, and I had a woman and her two children with me. Left the keys to the car with the gas station that was going to repair the car. The attendant was alone so we started to walk to the motel (about two miles away). A lovely lady pulled up next to us after a few blocks walk and asked if we wanted a ride in that wonderfull Texas accent. I remember it like it was yesterday ..... but it was in December of 1974
beemer Oct 25th 2011 1:14PM
love the comments from Shirley. i agree all the way and am only 62yrs old. such a change we have seen in 60 yrs. backwards!! i live on retirement and should be enjoying myself, but am afraid to touch investments because of lack of trust in my future and our country's future. take from the rich(and medium "rich") and give to fruitcakes that know nothing of a work ethic and think they are entitled to handouts from the government. selling drugs, and killing each other over their drugs or because someone looked at them wrong.give us new leadership in Washington and maybe things will turn around, but i doubt it. politicians are all alike, wheather they are democrates or replublicans. not solving any problems just fighting against themselves. so sad about our country, we need to do something about it. i know, but what.
Busy Kitty Oct 25th 2011 1:23PM
This is a reply to William: What a short memory you have. It seems you think others will not remember. But, let me just recall this: Bush started "Shock and Awe" and decimated a country and a lot of its people, he then turned to the American people and said, "Not to worry, just go out and SHOP." If you think, following a man like that, who brought our country to its knees by spending and making enemies is easy, William, perhaps you need to go back about 12 years to remember what we had before Mr. Bush took over! So easy to blame the guy who has to clean up the mess, isn't it?
Susan Oct 25th 2011 1:19PM
Although I am not in your age catagory, I agree 100% with your article. Our country needs to wake up and take back the values we used to live by.
mlrshowbiz Oct 25th 2011 1:27PM
All of us baby boomers can agree and say those were the great times in our lives. The real sorrow is it may have been one of the greatest times in history for a young person to grow up. You always had something to look forward to and be excited about. The weekend was coming and a date at the drive in was like getting ready for the biggest day of our lives. It was a complete night of planning for the best possible social experience. After the movie it was cruising time then to the drive in to show off your date a car.
I remember spending everyday after school with my friend talking cars and girls.
The most important was planning the weekend strategy and getting those important instructions from your friends that never worked.
Your parents were interested in everything you did, to interested.
Oh those were the days my friend!
Donna Oct 25th 2011 6:50PM
So sad that a piece of our history is so destroyed and long forgotten.....I wish I had billions of bucks I would spend it in refurbishing old sites......I am so nolstalgic. The govt should never let this happen....
talkinturtles Oct 25th 2011 1:34PM
beautiful pics. there is beauty in every single one of them. thanks for sharing the photos. not everyone would see the beauty and value in taking pics of the old abandoned places and i enjoyed them very much.
LAURA Oct 25th 2011 1:39PM
Shirley, you rock!!!
tony Oct 25th 2011 2:09PM
Shirley for President!! You still have time to straighten the country out. God knows you have the right attitude. Your post sounded like Ronald Reagan reincarnated.
Joyce Oct 25th 2011 1:47PM
Good article. I have often thought over the years of driving Route 66 -- probably not in a Vette though, too expensive. I also enjoyed the photos. And Shirley, I agree with Amanda -- your comments do not have anything to do with the article -- and I believe they are inappropriate here.
David Oct 25th 2011 2:05PM
Ditto Shirley!!!!! word for word...im TIRED! im glad i wont see this country in 30 years! my poor grandkids, i feel sorry for them. I dont understand how or why the normal citizens can sit by and let these protesters scream for handouts! GET a JOB! any job! youre not getting my money that i started earning when i was 16! i dropped out, started at the bottom and worked my tail off! now i have enough to pay my bills and eat out at times! i knew this pathetic, group of parents would raise up a generation that thought the world owed them something! guess what? no one owes you a thing! get a job! because you were never told "NO" as you were growing up or had your Butt busted when you needed it, now you think you can do as you please as an adult! not at my house! get a job!
Rockstar Oct 25th 2011 4:15PM
I love this "I feel sorry for my grandkids..." nonsense while you are whining about THE WORLD THAT YOUR GRANDKIDS ARE CREATING! I guess it's clear where YOUR KIDS got the "not my kids..." rationalization. The old people just change it to, "it's not my grandkids". Clearly, this attitude of "it's all everyone else's problem" started a couple of generations ago given the obvious lack of understanding or logical correlation between your comments, but I'm sure your hypocrisy is the fault of the current generations too. Yep, you people didn't get the ball rolling AT ALL...
In 30 years, I just hope that I'm not as scared, negative and out-of-touch as all you make yourselves out to be.
Larry Swails Oct 25th 2011 1:50PM
The old farm house and farm buildings in MO almost made me cry. I am 69 and grew up on a 400 acre farm in IA and lived in a house which liiked very close to the one in the picture. Our farm buildong were about the same also Last time I was in that area the house had collapsed and could not be seen for the tres and the farm building liiked the same as the ones in the pictures. Very sad that what we built in the 40's and 50's are being absndoned the same way our American sirit an values are being abandoned, with our Muslim president leading the way now..
robb Oct 25th 2011 1:58PM
Next time you take a trip, go off the Interstate and
drive SLOWLY..............
not "drive slow."
And these morons call themselves "journalists."
Lou Oct 25th 2011 2:03PM
Shirley’s comments may not have anything to do with the article Amanda, but they speak volumes about the state of things in our nation and the world as a whole. I for one am happy to know we still have a few clear-minded non politically correct individuals left, even if we are a dying breed.
Ralph Oct 25th 2011 7:53PM
I liked your comments and I also think that there should be more accountability in our country. I do long for a time when people think more about what they could do for our country, not more of what they can do for themselves. I am a retired Firefigher from San Jose Ca. that did not go out on a disability retirement although every Doctor and Lawyer I spoke to said I should. I have injuries that will be with me till I pass but I to felt that I had enough through my pension to sustain me and my family, now the city wants to reduce my pension that I put into for 30 years.
I have collected federal assistance i.e. welfare when my wife and I first started out, back in the 70’s, That was a very embarrassing time for us and we knew it was time for us to step it up and do more so we could support ourselves and we did. We have paid back that debt in more ways than one. My daughter and husband and three kids live with us, not because they want to, but because they need some help right now and we love them so much. My son in law is a hard working computer guy who works over eighty hours a week but is compensated very little, but he keeps on working and trying. I am so proud of him; I know how he must feel. They have been living with us for over two years now and have never asked for welfare, We are family. I have always said that you can’t change the world but you can change your world, and if everyone did that we wouldn’t be in such a mess.
There is a lot of bad that go’s on in the world and we hear about that all the time through our media but you have to understand, that for every bad deed there are a thousand good deeds that go unnoticed by everyday people like you and me. Be bold, Be proud, Be honest, honor your mom & dad, Mom & dad give them something to honor. Be a spiritual people stop the hate. You might not think like us but you can if you choose too. The choice is yours