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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 8 of 8)
Jerry Oct 26th 2011 12:27AM
Yeah, the right wing republican corporate capitalist pigs believe in making all the "LITTLE PEOPLE" as they call us, slaves to their capitalist system of dependancy. Excape while you still can. If you are out of work go out start homesteading BLM land. Grow your own food and tend your own live stock. Get away. The corporate capitalist machine is so worried about people doing this that they are righting laws making it illegal to grow your own food and raise your own live stock. They are on the run, KEEP THEM RUNNING !!!
Sue Oct 26th 2011 1:04AM
What this has to do with this article, is that just like Route 66, America's values are deteriorating just like the sights along this route. Pretty soon, America will be no more!!!!!!!
Shirley is a TRUE AMERICAN!! That feeling of pride in ourselves has been lost. We the older generation can read a clock, we can add in our heads without a calculator etc. WHY? Because we were brought up to have Pride in ourselves, Pride in our work ethics, and Respect for other human beings.
Tired, you bet, NOT TIRED due to age, but tired of those that just don't have that pride in being a True American.
I feel sad that so many do not get this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ernest DeBrew Oct 26th 2011 2:02AM
Just by looking at that picture on top, I kind of fear that we may be going back to that kind of living.
patrickhenry1776 Oct 26th 2011 3:40AM
Nostalgia, Yep I think about the swimming holes we all use gather at in Hopewell Va. Crystal Lake,The hotdogs and fries, listening to the PA play music basking in the warmth of the sun, All gone drained by the city,...now..Gone.. I remember before the vidoes games hanging out at drive in on a warm spring evening after a long cold winter, with friends after helping my Dad plant crops for the summer, Back yard BBQ's friends and family dropping by for good fellowship. Being able to ride my bike and never had to worry about some wacko wanting to hurt kids, the streets were safe then..gone...In 69 as a kid watched as Neal took the first step on Moon for all mankind..Now Gone..Space program..shutdown by a bankrupt country, I remember better days and I remember the bad also as a kid didn't understand it, I remember J.F. Kennedy's funeral and later Bobby Kenndy and stil the senseless killing of Martin Luther King..Gone...But I believe in God and I believe in this Country, I think those intend to hurt this Country will one day reap what they have sown, Love your Family, Teach your kids to respect, Men be fathers to your children. and don't listen to the media their is no truth anymore.
Ccrafty1 Oct 26th 2011 4:40AM
I do not want this mans money...but CEO's at the top would not make all that money if not for the people who do the jobs each and every day. The workers who stock the shelves, answers the phones, or push the papers and many many more dutues and assignments. All the workers want is a piece of the profits for their hard work; instead all the profits have been divided up to the very top few, or put in banks off shore to avoid paying taxes on the money. For the years of dedication and doing a great job, the workers get nothing year after year, while expenses go up....in fact their medical insurance has gone up, and other benefits eliminated, but still they work hard........and just as they are looking for a second job, canceling the newspaper, or the health club to save a few dollars they are advised that their jobs are going over seas and if you stick it out until the end and train some of these people....you might just get a few hundred dollars of a bonus for your efforts. Then the CEO and his buddies take that golden retirement package and lays on a beach somewhere, so he doesn't have to pay taxes. His buddies and the CEO pay a lobbists to get their already paid for senator to change the rules so they can bring back a big wade of that tax free money state side, to give to their kids and grand kids. They are not really too interested in creating jobs, and they laugh at the poor people who have no clue of just how much of a mushroom they are....and hope it stays that way! Only in America....and you wonder why people are involved in OWS. This is only one story of what is happening...there are thousands, may millions of more stories. No one CEO is worth 12 to 19 million dollars a years for setting on his butt, while the rest of us do the real work. Young people are our future, who do think has been fighting these wars? Our youth are not all lazy....we have all been through growing pains...and we succeeded, our youth will too...if given a chance!
Mr. Jan Oct 26th 2011 4:52AM
I`m 64-One and only one word-FANTASTIC
ruthsgardens Oct 26th 2011 6:38AM
WOW!
Judy Oct 26th 2011 7:16AM
We agree with Shirley. The liberal extremisist fringe groups and current corrupt White House have turned America into a third world bananna republic. Hundreds on millions of our jobs have been sent to communist China. Americas number one export is now pornography and the largest industry in now the dovorce industry.. Our media has become so piliticaly correct that we never hear the truth or the real facts on any issue. For decades our children have become selfish, saggy clown pants, sideways idiot cap victim wannabes who watch garbage tv, stare at cell phones and get tattoo after tattoo while produceing nothing. Wake up America. We must turn the tide and correct the current mistakes. Look hard at the current politicians. They are the worst in our history. Political correctness has never solved anything.God bless America. In God We Trust.
who cares Oct 26th 2011 2:25PM
SHIRLEY you hit the nail on the head with your statement and i could agree more, as for rockstar,,,,,,,some people will never understand, im only 38 but can understand what youve been through and what you see now happening, its like a cancer eating up society and destroying everything for generations to come, a new policy should be put in effect starting immediately WANT MORE ? DO MORE then see how many people follow it. i work 80+ hours weekly to survive in this economy with a small business while people sit on there @$$ collecting money for doing nothing, ive sold possessions so i could pay taxes to support these sponges of society and every govt effort to help targets those who do nothing to help themselves, enough said its 7:30 am and i have to go back to work so i can leave at a reasonable time to see my family been here since 4am will be here till 7 or 8pm as usual
Min. D. Wiley Oct 26th 2011 10:32AM
Praise God! Shirley, you've just expressed the sentiments of many Older Americans, who can truly, understand what you're saying here. I've learned to Live " My Life" by Reading, Studying, and striving to daily to Live the way " Our Creator-God " has Commanded for all of " His People To Live." It doesn't matter what Regious beliefs a person is, I'm sure the "Message Is the Same".
Our Creator! God said in Matthew 6:33 We are to " Seek (first) the Kingdom of God, and all of these things, shall be (Added) unto our Lives. Disobedience is a big problem, not only hear in the Great United States of America, but the " Entire World ". So! I'd like to encourage those who are " Faith " doesn't matter what the Religious beliefs are, God's Words shall not return unto (him Void).
I Read what Shirley wrote, and I can assure those of us passed the age of 60 years old, certainly can relate to all the things that Shirley said.
So! May I Encourage everyone who Read this, to continue Praying for one another, help those w can help, seek to find someone that you can Bless, and just tell somebody that God Loves Us All! He does not Discriminate (no-one). So! Thanks to our Creator, that those of us who can still remember where we came from, may be blessed not to forget where we were, and help someone else along this pathway.
Life is to be Lived to it's fullest, it's our God Given Right, to enjoy this Blessed Life, and all of the Blessings that (God) allows us "all" to enjoy, that is if we'd focus on how God didn't have to allow any of it to happen, but because of " The Gift of Life" and Life is God's Greatest Gift, and we are to enjoy it to it's fullest, and help those we can, and Pray for those we can't because somebody is watching us 24/7, and He's GOD. That's all I have to say, and My Our Creator, "GOD" Bless everyone who Read, and Agree, and God bless those who don't. It's just My two cents added to a Wonderful Observation that's afforded an opportunity for someone to remind others of Who! Created this Wonderful World we Live In, right now! As Louie Armstrong sanged: " It's a Wonderful World ". Now! I'm Thanking, and Praising God, every day, taking them one at a time.
That's My Two Cents! Praise God, he is Our Creator, and nobody can change that. Hallelujah! To God Be The Glory!
Lin Oct 26th 2011 10:54AM
Could not agree more with your article. I too prefer America's backroads to her super highways, and savor the historic wealth which may be found there; some of it I've also photographed (see link below). I desperately hope we will not lose precious historic buildings because of lack of awareness which contributes to lack of interest which leads to absence of preservation funding. Once it's gone, it's gone, and no amount of lamenting will bring it back for our kids and grandkids to see and experience.
http://www.linharingphotography.com/BlackAndWhite/No-Forwarding-Address/14675234_fRvWx3
Lin Oct 26th 2011 12:27PM
The disrepair as is evidenced in these images did not begin three years ago, or even ten, but has, instead, been an ongoing process for decades. Neither a politically partisan issue, nor a religious one, no amount of "us against them" scapegoating will slow the decline of buildings long left unattended.
This is America's "history" and "art" and we, as Americans, its stewards. Anger and fear are beneficial emotions ONLY if they point one towards positive action; in this instance, it would be to become involved in attending to these gems in one's own community. Here's a good place to start: http://www.preservationdirectory.com/HistoricalPreservation/Home.aspx
Lassie Oct 26th 2011 1:14PM
I don't know what that is all about, or why you are responding to my post... I DID live through the 60's and 70's, and I DO remember the good old days before the countryside was razed for McMansions and strip malls. Yes, life did seem better in the past in a way, but we were fairly well off and educated.. I see things like the old silos and it's like a glimpse of the past, gone and near forgotten. What is specially interesting to me is walking through any number of public parks and looking at the brick and stone walls and stairs built back in the 30's. I went to the zoo, was walking along a walkway made of lumber, through the park - looking down below were old, overgrown brick steps leading down a hillside. They were mysterious, and beautiful, like out of a fairy tale.
Nicholas Stix Oct 27th 2011 8:59PM
Shirley,
How dare you! You ripped off Robert A. Hall.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/imtired.asp
I knew something was rotten, when a woman claimed to have done "National Service." Women were never drafted. (Actually, the locution didn't even sound American.)
There's nothing morally wrong with reprinting a great essay someone else wrote. There's loads wrong with reprinting it under your own name. That's stealing.
Isk Youyousova Dec 2nd 2011 3:03PM
Do you all remember "AmericaKid44"? He posted, "Leaving to explore Route 66 with twin daughters" It's been 46 days and his family has not heard from him. Life is a hell of a thing to happen to some people. Isk & Tsk Youyousova