En route to Union Church (see the previous article) I drove south to Lorman, Mississippi, and turned left (east) on MS 522. It is 2-lane and winds through woods and farms in west central Mississippi. I had never been on this road before and was not sure what to expect. But turned out very well, with some interesting old farmhouses.
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| House off MS 522 near Harriston Rd. (Panatomic-X film, Fuji GW690II camera) |
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| House off MS 522 |
This beat-up old House was sitting forlorn in the woods just off the road. Amazingly, the poison ivy was not too bad. These were 1 sec. exposures on Kodak Panatomic-X film.
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| Silos on MS 522, Blue Hill |
The modern silos attest to active agriculture in the area. These are in Blue Hill, which looks to be not a real town but spread-out farms and homes.
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| Cottage on MS 522 (McBride Road), Blue Hill |
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| Combination bus and shack off MS 522. |
Proceeding east on MS 522 (also known as McBride Road), I saw the standard mixture of trailers, old wood cottages, steel sheds, and an occasional McMansion.
These were nice little farmhouses in their day, but many have been abandoned. Where did their occupants go? Do they live in new houses nearby, or did they move away? Are they happy in their new cities/states? Abandoned homes are a graphic symbol of the hollowing-out of rural America.
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Tractor off MS 28, Pleasant Hill (Fuji Acros film, Leica IIIC, Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 lens)  |
Finally, two more examples of forgotten cottages or farmhouses in Pleasant Hill. I need to take more road trips into central Mississippi, which is nice terrain with its rolling hills and woods. It has a different character than the flat Delta, where I have explored often in the past.
9 comments:
These photos remind me of rural southwest Michigan. Lots of the same kind of sort-of-still-holding-together structures.
Thank you for writing. Maybe I should take a road trip to SW Michigan and check the rural roads. I expect that the climate in Mississippi is more destructive because of the humidity and heavy rain, let alone the termites. Once the roof is compromised, wood structures do not last more than a few years.
It is telling how often structures like this appear to share characteristics once they reach this stage of deterioration. At the same time, there are always little observable differences, like the 3 windows with their awnings on that little gable ell. In the one with the bus, I could not even see it was a bus until you open the larger photograph; then you see the camper under the next building. Wondering is it storage or also abandoned; after all, the weeds are high, unlike the old trailer and cottage where the yard is neatly mowed. It is always a puzzle of a story your pictures tell. Nice work.
Many of these houses, like the one with the triple windows on the ell, were handsome and substantial structures in their day. If maintained, they are still totally usable now, some 100 years later. Note how the triple window face slightly different directions. An old-time builder in Houston (Texas) told me that this was not just aesthetic, but designed to capture even the slightest breeze in the pre-air conditioned era.
I lived in BlueHill, MS for years.My aunt Ethel Moore let me stayed in one of her houses in the 1990’s which I see in one of the photos listed above.What a beautiful place to live.I will never forget home these pictures brought back so many memories.We lived off the land and running water didn’t exist at the time for years.I will never forget this place love was always in the air family was everything and the farm life kept us together.People used to call us BullHillers.Its like we lived in a place of magic although we didn’t have a lot we had love for each other.My name is Trenessa Moore and my mom name is Gracie Bell Jackson. My mom and aunt helped place BlueHill on the map and get us running water to come through BlueHill.There’s know place like home.
Thank you for the nice comment, Anonymous. It is rewarding to hear from someone who lived in the towns that I photographed.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️My MawMaw welcomed everyone and the love that filled those rooms made you feel like you were living a luxury life in a 100 room mansion.
Most of my cousins & I grew up in that home and remembers it well to this day because it’s a reminder of the simpler times. Living off the land and not a care in this world. Talking to my children about it nowadays they couldn’t even imagine living like that but even though the family aren’t there now….. a few live close by and visit for a walk down memory lane. But their lives are reflective of simpler times without all the chaos of city living but just enough of it to have cellphone service, running water, internet service & paved roads ( unless you’re my Dad and still live on the gravel end…lol).
Thank you, Anonymous and Anonymous2. I appreciate feedback from readers. I envy a simpler life without modern distractions. But I do like running water...
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