On the Dixie Overland Highway, Historic US 80 - Waverly, Louisiana (LA-03)

Dear Readers, let us continue our trip west on US 80, formerly the Dixie Overland Highway. It still stretches across northern Louisiana and continues as far as Dallas, Texas. The Federal Highway Administration has an interesting web page describing how the Dixie was named and laid out in the early 20th century, when America was first motorizing. I have been slowly working my way westward, looking for old stores and interesting structures. For older articles about US 80, please type "Dixie" in the search box.

I wrote about the section from the Mississippi River to Tallulah in 2019. The previous article covered the town of Tallulah. I also wrote about Tallulah in 2013 and 2018 (please click the links).

We proceed west to Waverly, an unincorporated community in Madison Parish. From US 80, the big silo/elevator complex dominates the scene and offers a lot of interesting shapes and patterns for a photographer.

Waverly from US 80 (Tri-X film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm ƒ/3.5 lens, yellow filter, 1/125 ƒ/11.5 )

The Mount Sinai MBC Church sits in a field just off US 80 with rather uninspiring scenery.

Elevator/silo complex, Waverly (GAF Versapan film, 90mm ƒ/6.8 Angulon lens, orange filter, ⅒ ƒ/22)

Detail, silo complex, Waverly (GAF Versapan film, 135mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar-S II lens, yellow filter,  1/15 ƒ/22-32)

This impressive complex may be the Farmers Grain Terminal Inc - Waverly Grain Elevator. It is surprisingly hard to find the exact name, but I am not an agricultural scientist and may not know what to look for or how to phrase the search terms. Regardless, it makes for some interesting industrial photography.

Hwy 80 Bar & Grill, 3551 Hwy 80, Waverly (Tri-X, Fuji GW 690II camera, yellow filter, 1/125 ƒ/11.5)

This lonely little bar and grill caught my eye. It was south of the highway with woods all around. Otherwise, there is not too much to see in Waverly.

This is all the excitement in Waverly. Next stop: Delhi (Louisiana, not India, although I have been there, as well).

Update: for some superb large format film photography of wood grain elevators in Canada, please see the excellent work by Jan Normandale titled "Wooden Elevators."