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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 7 of 8)
Katie Oct 25th 2011 10:48PM
I'd more interested in reading more from the author, then if it's not Shirley. I don't subscribe to a lot of those theories, but it is well written and pointed.
Ben Oct 25th 2011 9:45PM
Shirley, I'm certain you're tired and frustrated but what you said is mostly inaccurate and just mimics the falso positions of the right wing and the tea party. I'm 65 and also worked hard all my life. I;m a veteran of three wars ago ( how easy it is to forget that Vietnam was supposed to teach us something) and I put my life on th eline for this country. However I feel completely different than you do Shirley because I look at things not in frustration but in perspective and examine the facts rather than the emotions. My comments will not change anyone's mind - I know that - but they should be said so Shirley's comments are not just accepted.
First there are people with no work ethic but that doesn't make the buying of our society by the very wealthy any less true. Income disparity is getting worse, period, and working people have no redress. Redistribution of wealth is not given to those few with no work ethic but to those many who wrok and are still falling further behind.
Second Islam is no better or worse than any other religion. Chrisitianity preaches love also - then look at the murderer in Norway. For every atrocity committed by a Muslim against a non-Muslin there is probably one the other way. We have to look at people as people and Shirley's view only perpetuates the hatred.
I agree with Shirley about the bigotry of Saudi Arabia and I deplore it but this doesn't make it right on our end.
Drug addiction and alcoholism are diseases and should be treated - with public money if necessary. Would you allow a poor cancer patinet to just die? If you think that people just have a choice about addiction has never dealt with an addict or alcoholic.
Shriley's lines about people not taking responsibility for their actions and her lines about how bad young people are (with tatoos ext.) was exactly what our parents said about us in the fifties and their parent's said about them in the thirties.
So Shirley continue to be tired but look at things factually not as you've been deluded to believe.
Sandra Oct 25th 2011 9:51PM
Amen Shirley! You expressed your views eloquently & without rancor. There are millions of us out here who are also tired, who go to work everyday, who don't have an axe to grind & who also despair at the lack of work ethics, commitment and honesty and the preponderance of the philosophy of "gimme, gimme, gimme." You aren't alone; there definitely are millions of us out here. Only trouble is, we don't lead the nightly news or appear on LetterLeno nightly. After all, we're only part of the unwashed masses in flyover country--the very people LetterLenoStreisFondaSarandonMatthews love to hate over their brie chablis parties in non-flyover country. Take heart.
Sandra Oct 25th 2011 9:56PM
Ben--Only a male would have the audacity to say Islam is no better or worse than any other religion. Put on your burka or chardor and risk getting stoned when you've been raped because you've "enticed" the male with your ankle...die in childbirth because no male doctor is allowed to deliver your baby and no female is permitted to be a doctor--or even read for that matter. I could go on and on, but until you're a female and have experienced Islam, please, with all due respect, just shut the hell up about things you do not have the slightest clue to even experience.
sheldon Oct 25th 2011 10:08PM
very well put but the people are so liberal and stupid they dont care if they arebeing robed or riped off by politations.i am 74 worked my backoff since 12.but 1day in the future there will be 2 types of people rich and poor.iprobly wont see it all but it has started.people want a free ride. no way i worked for what i have.the havenots will have to work like us oldfolks. sheldon
Bill Hoover Oct 25th 2011 10:17PM
I sure enjoyed this photo spread ABANDONED AMERICA. Many memories were brought back from the trip my family made across country in 1956 from New Jersey to Arizona and then up to California. That was probably the most educational thing I've ever done.
Our trip back then took us along route #66. At that time the towns were mostly hustle and bustle. On the outskirts of towns we would see old abandoned properties falling down at that time.
In the late 1990's my Wife and I attempted to follow my Dad's 1956 route. With the interstate now in place most of the old Route #66 was gone. The interstate and the fast cars brought all the small towns and villages to the point of abandonment. Folks just walked away from what they had. I had to laugh at the picture of Shamrock Texas. Wife and I stopped in Shamrock on our trips back east from our home now in Nevada. We liked what was a big Best Western and then became a private motel called the Shamrock Inn. The nearby cafe where we ate was so quiet because there wasn't much business. The town seemed hollow. There wasn't much life. It made us sad.
I always liked change. I wanted new and craved the inventions that brought us closer and closer to the stars. Now as I get older and have retired I don't want change. I want the small towns and villages of my youth. Sometimes memories are a very bad thing.
Michael Oct 25th 2011 10:26PM
I hitchhiked Rt 66 about 5 times from east to west....I always seemed to get to my base in Oceanside...in time to report in....I met some really interesting people...saw a lot of The now gone Americana......Route 66 will always be in my memory
mimi Oct 25th 2011 10:32PM
I agree w/ most of what was written about the past and a hopeful future.
I drive across the states and Rt. 66 goes along 40 all the way to Barstow, some you can see and it disappears. I always wonder, where did the people go? the land is still empty w/ remnents of homes, etc. I suppose, this generation will say the same about us??
I just hope America recovers soon for the future of our grandchildren to enjoy, like we did in our early yrs.
Bexarpaw Oct 25th 2011 10:29PM
A common thread from older folks like us that we lived in a great world and time in the 40's and 50's and that I am glad I won;t have to see the Communist gray third world coming and sorry for my grandkids that they will never experience a happy childhood and a bright future!
bully Oct 25th 2011 10:38PM
say there is an old song called "get your kicks on route 66 " i have a great stereo ,and i put it on ,and mixed it with my drums woohoo what a sound i got ,but this tune along with route 66 (NelsonRiddle) the sixties tv program where George Maharis (buz) and Todd (Martin Milner )starred . these songs have that special sound that you can feel yourselve going down the highways ,and byways of oldtime America ,on to a new adventure
Ann Oct 25th 2011 10:42PM
Tony, sorry things did not go well for you. Just to let you know, I served in the Navy Waves. Did not leave a promising career, but did receive an American Spirit Honor Medal. You should know that being female and fighting for the American dream is and always will be a struggle. All I am saying is we are all here to make the most of whatever means the "most" to us. Sure, some seem to just "have it made" and many always appear to just be so darn lucky, but ... really, that is them and you have a life to live. Take deep breathes, smile more (especially when looking into your mirror), stand tall and accept what is given with grace and faith in yourself. Sorry I went on so .. Good luck!
Katie Oct 25th 2011 10:48PM
I find it interesting that only one side of the opinions are posted here and the rest have to be highlighted or copied and repasted to be read. Sounds like the 53%ers run this blog. I thought this was about travel and photography?
Katie Oct 25th 2011 10:49PM
There is an anti woman movement here in the Christian US, though. It's tiny compared to the traditions in the middle east, but don't let a mask of Christianity fool you. There are abusive forces in every religion.
jim Oct 25th 2011 11:05PM
Katie, I read this statement was made by Bill Cosby.
prof Oct 25th 2011 11:03PM
Shirley's comment is pure plagiarism. Doesn't your team check?
Frank Lawson Oct 25th 2011 11:26PM
When I was 16 back in 1959 , I hitch hiked from the middle od Kansas all the way top California on Route 66, on a dare, and made it un harmed, bet that can not happen today on any highway.
neokouros Oct 25th 2011 11:29PM
It reminds me of the old fable of the grasshopper and the ant as interpreted by a Walt Disney cartoon, years ago. The grasshopper sang a song, "Oh, the world owes me a living". This same philosophy is aided and abetted by our government, today.
Leslie Oct 25th 2011 11:40PM
Tired of seeing comments that have nothing or very little to do with the post. The reason we see abandoned houses,businesses and farms is because of progress which is a kind way of calling it greed and corruption of our government and big corporations. They increase your taxes and prices you pay for everyday goods until your poor. I have taken many off roads and its sad to see and thinking this was someone's livelihood and happy home that is gone because of progress. I'm 64 which is old enough to remember when progress was very slow and people were laid back and easy going but change will and does happen with everything. Change doesn't need to mean the way it has been done in the past or now but change that helps and not with corruption and greed.This is what we need and not hatred for this or that.
Mary Oct 26th 2011 12:09AM
"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"
Yeah right. You'll find the Texas Chainsaw Massacre too! Better stick to pictures of abandoned towns instead.
leonard Sciarrino Oct 26th 2011 9:27PM
As the old saying goes- "how are you going to keep them down on the farm after they seen Paree" (Paris) Route 66 is by gone and a dream of
the past.