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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 6 of 8)
John Carmickle Oct 26th 2011 7:23PM
Back in the late fifties I traveled Highway 66, in July with the temperature hovering in the high ninties and at times over 100. No air conditioning of course. Windows wide open and a canvas bag of water hanging from the front bumper. Interesting, beautiful, hostile everchanging landscape. Strange little towns and road side attractions. Moving west to the promised land, leaving a life I would never lead again. It was good and it was bad. A new, unknown, promising future. Next gas 100 miles, and they meant it. If I could do it again I would not hesitate.
TIM Oct 25th 2011 5:35PM
The pictures reflect an eerie progression of places time has forgotten. As for Shirley, I agree completely with your sentiments. However, I'm sure your parents and grandparents thought the same of your 1950's. They might have thought TV was evil and might have thought Eddie Fisher, The Ames Brothers and the onslaught of rock and roll was truly radical, negative influences, "the Devil's Music". Nobody can help the times we're born in or grow up in. I'm young enough to be your son, but have a father considerably older than you. At least you were in your prime as an adult when many American companies provided a future for devoting 30-40 years with them. We were the sole economic power globally which is quickly eroding to our stupid trade agreements and all the globalization craptalk of twenty years ago. The 1980's saw many companies emulate a Japanese work ethic of always working which has eroded our social fabric to a large degree. The problem is that our companies have treated our workers as truly expendable, and that has impacted many peoples' attitude when they see the American Dream has turned into an unattainable nightmare. You cannot sustain a middle class with McDonald's wages. Your generation of Americans lived when we truly had a "can do" attitude with hope for the future. We have come to realize our mounting problems and the fact that all these political figures really can't solve these problems. Yes, it appears to a large degree these teens and twenty somethings are dirty looking, pants hanging tattoo studded messes. It bothers me as well because it doesn't indicate a level of self respect. They don't have a timeline of life yet as one sadly realizes in mid-life how the decades pass. Do I think many are spoiled brats? Yes. As for government entitlement, given your stated age would I be correct to assume your collecting Social Security, or did you decline the government pay? Since you've worked all your life, do you not feel entitled to it? Your parents and grandparents didn't have to depend on, did they? I'm sure your now changing the chairs around at your dinner table as does the hypocrisy of our Congressmembers do in their speeches and campaign sloganeering. I guess the cost of "put a little nickel in, in the nickelodeon for Music, Music, Music costs much more today.
USforever Oct 25th 2011 5:49PM
Shirley's comments are not only NOT on the subject and out of place, they're here to get a rouse out of whomever disagrees w/what was spouted. Out of fear, yes, ppl write and think and believe a lot of stuff out of fear, but it's also anger and and a sense of entitlement that Shirley writes. The only thing that Shirley cares about is what Shirley cares about and not the topic at hand. Shirley wants everyone to read what Shirley wrote so that sense of entitlement can be perpetuated. Who knows what s/he really thinks. It sounds like the person is amazingly tired of living already and is glad to not have to be around to see how the world changes b/c it's not going to change in the way Shirley would like to see it change. I really despise a lot of what's going on in the world, myself (overpopulation is one of them, and how many children did Shirley have?) but there isn't anything I can do about most governmental stuff except vote, and sometimes my vote gets overridden. Oh Well! We have to live w/it and go on. Being negative and hateful doesn't do anything for anyone and it certainly doesn't help. All the ppl who feel the same way will just spread more of the negativity.
And while I'm here, I'll comment that it would be great to get the time to take a road trip. We did every year for vacation when I was a kid, and I miss road trips. Going the length of route 66 sounds like great fun. I've been to Bodie (CA) both when I was a kid, when it wasn't a state park and a few years back, when it became a state park. That town is so interesting. The mountains around it are very cool (go off onto back dirt roads and explore) and there's a total air of mystery surrounding the town, itself.
Raybe Oct 26th 2011 6:49AM
Lets do something.
Vote straight TEA PARTY.
Maybe it will begin to look like America once again.
Sharon Oct 25th 2011 6:59PM
I know exactly what people mean when they say " I miss the ole days". Sundays were all about visiting family. Sunday rides when you would have fun looking out the window counting the weather vanes. ( now kids are too busy with their i-pods to look out the window) Hours past while laying on the grass looking for four leaf clovers. There was no tv on while having dinner because ALL family members were at the table and everyone discussed their day. If you were outside and thirsty you didn't run into the house for the outside hose was right there. Catching pollywogs was a great past time. Halloween was a time to have fun, not to have fear someone would kidnap you or you would find a pin in a candy bar. It was ok to go from house to house for all the neighbors were watching out for the kids and drivers knew kids would be out so they took extra caution. The kids of today have missed so much of the simple pleasures in the name of advantagement. Remember how collecting baseball cards and trading them was a big deal. Baseball teams were formed from the amount of kids that showed up in the field. Playing jacks, blowing bubbles, flying kites didn't cost much but was hours of entertainment. I spent hours in my Grandfather's garden and it didn't even seem like work and I learnt so much from him. When was the last time a kid spent hours working with their family and loved it. Kids today are missing out on so much
CK Oct 25th 2011 6:55PM
The reason politicans do not help is because there is NO MONEY in it FOR THEM. Todays politicans do not get into it because they want to help us out. No matter what they say. They do it for the money and nothing more. Sad but true...
Zippertheslipper Oct 25th 2011 7:00PM
I am scared like a little girl.
Flynn Oct 25th 2011 7:10PM
Shirely,
You make me tired. Rest In Peace. Your grand daughters will be just fine.
Jean Oct 25th 2011 9:15PM
Shirley - Along with the memories of Route `66 this brings back memories of our country in a better time. I know this is the point you are making.
changetheworld Oct 25th 2011 7:20PM
Natural disasters and illness cant be controlled. But we all have the power to make this world a better place for everyone. People improve situations with their thinking and their actions toward one another. If people learn to accept other cultures and treat others with respect this world would change overnight. People are growing up with their grandparents and parents teaching them to hate whoever they hate. And if people arent programmed and brainwashed from relatives they pick it up from friends. This racism is spread to every area of their lives. they bring it to their schools, their neighborhoods, their jobs. Theres alot of KKK and NAzi mentality in the world and they live to ruin peoples lives. these racists dont realize the harm they do everyday wih their malice and ignorance.
flynn Oct 25th 2011 7:26PM
Agreed! I am "TIRED OF" people going off on their political-agenda-tangent instead of responding to the story. Shirely is surely bitter the world is not turning her way, or didn't stop turning when she became rigid in her world view, back in the 50s. If she really is 76. Stop whinging Shirely and enjoy the remaining years you have. Your grand daughters and their grand daughters will be just fine. I promise.
Back on topic: Don't assume those old barns are the product of bad times. My Uncle has a dilapidate barn on his property just like the ones in the photo spread. He also has a newer modern barn on another part of the property. It's cheaper and easier to let those old 1930s barns rot than it is to restore them. Love the photos though!
JoJo Oct 25th 2011 7:29PM
The photo of the abandoned gas station (#8), was where we would turn to go to my great uncle's house. I remember that when we saw that gas station, we knew that we were almost there. We knew that it would soon be time to play with my cousins and run through the woods. What a great memory.
farmer Oct 25th 2011 7:36PM
Please don't encourage people to think of properties that are not lived in and run down as "abandoned". Every inch of land is this country is owned by someone or something. We have a farm where the farm house was burned down by an arsonist after a relatived moved to a nursing home. Apparently their are many people who think they have a right to trespass and take anything they want on what they see as "abandoned". It's still trespassing and stealing, regardless of the condition of the property.
Donald Oct 25th 2011 8:24PM
I agree with nearly every point that you made. I am 70 and I also worked my entire life. I started in the United States Navy at the age of 17. I worked two or three jobs and raised three children. I have never drawn welfare or even unemployment in my lifetime. It is time the younger generation got off their lazy asses and started earning a living.
Glenn Oct 25th 2011 8:41PM
Burn them down and turn them back to fields until progress catches up for these areas.
patrickbgawne Oct 25th 2011 9:17PM
I love rickety old buildings that seem abandoned, but when you investigate them, they are still populated by the lost souls of the people who died there.
Gary C Oct 25th 2011 9:25PM
Here in Southern Ohio we have small parts of the Ohio Erie Canal that closed in 1913. Most of the locks are gone or are in private hands of people who do not care. The one lock that is still in very good shape recently became the foundation of the owner's new home. So much of our history is being destroyed. Civil war battle sites are now covered over with malls or being destroyed by other means. If we do not know our past how can we know where we are going in the future? Will we repeat the errors of the past because we do not know what the mistakes were?
Dale K. Oct 25th 2011 9:44PM
Man.I wonder how many people would like to join me and go metal detecting in those spots?
karz10z Oct 25th 2011 9:44PM
I read Shirley's reposting of the "I'm Tired" article and agree with the sentiment...even though I'm only 40. Yep... those of us in "Generation X" feel tired too. However, I feel I must defend the younger generation a little bit. Many of us in the younger generation have also worked hard since our teens. We have put ourselves through college, struggled to manage work and family life and paid our bills. We worry about how in the heck our kids will get through college without accruing massive debt and wonder if they will be able to find jobs when they graduate. Many of the people who have responded to this post mention that they are retired and are presumably drawing Social Security. Sadly, those of us still working 50 hour weeks know that the Social Security program that we continue to contribute to will likely no longer exist when we are at retirement age. Talk about depressing. Neither my husband nor I plan on retiring before 75, God willing. This is not because we are living large and over-spend. It is because we know that we are on our own. There will not be any federal money left to support us. It has not all been wine and roses for the younger generation. Seems like the older folks ( and I include myself in this category sometimes) like to blame the nation's youth for the downfall of society, but let's face it, kids in their teens and 20's didn't make the policies, draft the legislation or elect the officials who screwed up our government programs or public education system. We have only ourselves to blame..
jim Oct 25th 2011 9:43PM
The statement by Shirley is being sent all over the internet but by various names. Some people are making some very derogatory comments about this. But I agree 100% in what this says.