| Time Files |
[27 Nov 2009|10:42pm] |
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Genesis 'Cul-De-Sac' |
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Photographed in a barn at an abandoned citrus packing plant near De Land, Florida.
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| Poor farms |
[25 Nov 2009|05:12pm] |
Being unable to care for one's self in Victorian times was seen as very dishonorable to a family, especially in America, the land of independence. Before the era of retirement homes, social security, or even state hospitals, the first attempt to remove burdens from society (other than prisons) came in the form of poor houses, or poor farms, akin to 10th century European almshouses.
Communities built self-sufficient facilities to house the poor, the disabled, and the elderly, leaving the more able-bodied to essentially fend for the other residents with provided resources.
The two poorhouses featured here held between 20 and 30 beds, and possibly more above the garages and stables. History aside, they were really big houses that look cool when they implode on themselves after decades of decay.
These institutions began to be abandoned as the Social Security program was adopted in the 1930s, and while the land is still farmed, the connotation of poverty and destitution still lingers in these areas.
Not far from the abandoned poor farms, regional homeless shelters and senior centers are now accommodating for thinly-spread welfare and social security packages as this this measure of the population is growing larger.
I'm still trying to find the location of the poor farm in my home county, but stories conflict and records are curiously absent.
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| From a Flood long ago |
[17 Nov 2009|09:42am] |
Having hiked every trail and game trail along this creek, I decided to hike the creek itself, wading in the water. It is by that route that I came across this long ago flood wash. It was an early morning hike, just outside of Austin, Tx. It's odd to think of how many times I've passed this, unknowingly, and for how many years, as I love this creek.
Trees have grown around it, and it is buried by years of cliff-slide debris on this side of the vehicle. The engine is still in it, though rusted and mostly buried. I don't know the make of the car either.
I have more photos, but I haven't processed them all yet.
( from the other side )
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| St. Lukes Church Abercarn(UK) |
[07 Nov 2009|12:53pm] |
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I know this ruin well as I attended the church as a child. It is on the mountain side above and outside the village of Abercarn, Gwent I had hoped to get closer but the first picture and the close up of the tower were taken from outside a locked and chained high gate. The front view is taken from the main steps up to the church which have been mined out by locals wanting good stone for patios and walls. The windows, all of which were Victorian/Edwardian stained glass were removed and put into a near by less isolated church that had no stained glass.
( Read more... )
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| Lock 22, Hennepin Canal, near Wyanet, IL |
[15 Oct 2009|10:42am] |
The Hennepin Canal was constructed to join the Illinois River to the Rock River and provide a direct water route between Chicago and Rock Island, IL and even more importantly to the Mississippi River. Earlier, all boat traffic had to travel all the way down the Illinois River to Alton, IL just north of St. Louis and then back up the Mississippi to Rock Island. The 75 mile long canal would cut off 419 miles of this trip. A sister project completed decades earlier, the Illinois and Michigan Canal tied together several rivers and wtih the Hennepin canal, provided a water route from Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico. Construction started in 1890 and was completed in 1907. A 30 mile long feeder canal was also constructed from higher up the Rock River to the central part of the canal and supplied the canal with more water when it was needed to raise the water level. Unfortunately though, during the construction, the Corps of Engineers enlarged all the locks on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to accommodate larger barges that were being built. So by the time the canal was completed, it was already obsolete for large barge traffic. Plus cheaper rail shipping was beginning to make barge shipping too expensive. Still it remained open to smaller commercial and recreational traffic until 1951. In the winter, the canal would freeze and ice was cut and sold to help maintain the canal. Several small freight companies made use of it by selling goods to farmers and hauling grain to market.
The canal had 33 locks. 21 were required to make the 196 foot climb in elevation from the Illinois River to Wyanet. Lock 22 sits at the summit of the climb, just west of Wyanet. The Corps of Engineers employed 55 people to run the canal. At each of the 34 locks was either a lockman or a patrolman or both. 14 of the locks had Marshall gates which were unique as they raised and lowered horizontally like a rural mailbox door instead of swinging outward like batwing doors. A telephone system was built so the lockmen could be informed when a boat was coming to their lock. All the locks were operated by hand and the gates and enclosures were all built of concrete which was cheaper than cut stone. After 1951, the lock gates were all replaced with concrete slabs which created a series of waterfalls on the canal. Now recreational boat traffic has to portage around the waterfalls. Each lockman was provided with a residence near the lock and all the foundations were of poured concrete which was very unusual for the time. None of the houses had electrical wiring or indoor plumbing. Bridges crossed several of the locks. The bridges could be raised or lowered by hand. The normal position was up to allow for river traffic to pass underneath when the lock raised the water level. A wheel windlass sat near the bridge. This was turned to either lift or lower huge counterweights. When the weights were raised, the bridge went down and vice versa. The bridge at Lock 22 is called the Farmer's Bridge because it was constructed for local farmers so they could get their wagons of grain to market.
The old tow path is now a hiking/biking trail and the canal is still open to recreational boat traffic and is part of a state park. I think this Lockman's house must have been lived in by someone else as there are clearly some electrical outlets that were added later.
( For more of the tour, see back here )
Enjoy,
Wander
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| Hemp Plantation House near Lexington, MO |
[07 Oct 2009|10:58am] |
If you travel east or west on US 24 through western Missouri, you will come across several old plantation houses, many in the Greek revival style. The area was settled in the 1830's and the population boomed for several decades due to the proximity of the Missouri river which was a major shipping channel at the time and the abundance of coal and other natural resources. There was a brickworks not far away that supplied bricks for the entire region so most of the houses you see along the road are made of brick and have survived at least in part. The area became known for cattle, hemp and tobacco farms. Hemp was used to make rope. Nearby Lexington, MO was the site of the founding of the Pony Express and the home of Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 and Kansas City's later connection to it spelled an end to the future of Missouri River commerce and as Kansas City gained population, this region started to decline in both population and importance. Coal production continued into the 1900's to fuel the railroad and farming diversified into corn, wheat and soybeans. It remains an agricultural area today.
I found this house a few years ago but never had time to stop. So I finally did this past August. The surrounding fields were in corn and soybeans and some of the outbuildings were being used as storage for machinery, but the house has been long neglected. I had to hop a low electric fence meant to keep critters in but no one stopped along the road as I explored. The grass looked as if it had not been mowed in a very long time and unruly brush blocks access to one whole side of the house. The wooden surfaces inside and out are badly decayed. If the house were all wood I doubt it would still be standing, but brick lasts a very long time.
( More back here )
Enjoy,
Wander
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| Raglan Catle |
[30 Sep 2009|05:53pm] |
I spent the morning at one of our bigger Rural ruins, Raglan Castle. While many of the Norman Castles in Wales have had towns and even cities grow up around them Raglan stand proud in the flat(ish) land just on the English border in South Wales. There is a small village within sight of it, but it is a distant sight as you will see. I have learned to do clckable thumbnails now so the majority of the pictures (all those under the cut) will be of this type. I have heard that many of the Castle scenes in the new series of Merlin were filmed at Raglan but I don't know idf there is any truth in this.
The castle from the carpark. The castle was inhabited right up to the Civil war which started in 1642. The owner. The Earl of Pembroke stood for the King (Charles I) and when the castle fell to the Parlimentarians it was slighted(made ruinous) so that it could not be used by the Royalists again
( More below. )
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| The Ghost town of Farley, NM |
[29 Sep 2009|02:02pm] |
Farley seems to have died in stages. What is left now seems to be in the death throes. I'd gone there last month to see the old High School which at one time boasted a NM State Championship basketball team. I didn't expect to find that the whole town had died too. Farley started out life in 1929 as a railroad town being that it was the rail head for a Spur line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad out from Mt. Dora NM. For about 30 years, the town was booming with a High School, cafe, hotel, grocery store, post office, gas station and newspaper. Then in the 1960's the rail spur was closed down and the tracks torn up. When the reason for the town's existence left, so did many of the residents. The High School is still there although empty now and behind a barbed wire and electric fence and very unapproachable. The last class seems to have graduated around the end of the 90's or very early 2000's. Main street holds many clues about the town's demise. A Health Inspection sticker in the window of the old Cafe dates only to the 60's and 50's model trucks are parked like skeletons out front. I drove around for a few hours and saw not a soul though there were newish cars parked in front of some houses. No businesses have survived though and the nearest gas station or grocery store is 10 miles away in Gladstone, NM. I'd imagine once the current residents die or move there will be no reason save the cemetery for anyone to come to Farley again.
( More to See )
Enjoy,
Wander
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[28 Sep 2009|06:35pm] |
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( Kabul. )
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| Al Wadlington Home, Farley, NM |
[22 Sep 2009|02:05pm] |
This house was the home of the family that owned the abandoned Shell Service Station I featured on my last post. It was a huge coincidence that I even explored it. It was the car that got me. A 1955 Buick Roadmaster hardtop. Damn! It was a good thing I couldn't find the owner that day. I'd have been very short on money when I got home. When I did get back from my vacation, I did a little internet sleuthing and found an obituary for Virginia Wadlington who had been Al's wife. They were married in 1940 in Raton, NM, not too far away. He passed away in 1985. She passed in 1997. His full name was Albert Sidney Wadlington. They had a daughter who died earlier and two sons, Jack and Jerry who live in Texline, Texas and Elkhart, KS respectively. I've written to Jack with no answer yet. I'll try Jerry next for more details on the town. The house was filled with papers, many of them receipts having to do with the Service Station. I could not find any later than 1975 which is when I'm assuming it closed down. When she died, she was living in Gladstone, a town about 10 miles away. She moved there in 1991 from Farley so she must have stuck it out in that dying town for a few years after he passed on. From other receipts I found in the house, I found out Al had once owned cattle and sold them from time to time. Even with the mess, walking through the house I could tell a family grew up and had good times there. The floors were solid and ceiling mostly intact. Someone could make it a home again...if there was any reason to stay in a dying town.
( Wanna see more? )
Enjoy,
Wander
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