We continue on our exploration westward on historic US 80 through rural Louisiana.
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4554 US 80 Girard, Louisiana (Fuji X-E1 digital file, 18mm ƒ/2 lens)
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Girard is an unincorporated community in Richland Parish, Louisiana, on the west side of the Boeuf River. Originally, the town could ship merchandise to other markets via the river. But starting in the mid-1800s (before the Civil War), the railroad became the prime means of shipping agricultural products. This is now solely a bedroom community, with houses and a few stores.
The Easy Pickins' Thrifty Sales store is in a nicely-restored old grocery at 5144 US 80. It was open and quite interesting. I asked about old cameras, but the owner only had some old Kodak box cameras and Polaroids. There are always Polaroid cameras at these types of stores, but the lack of most types of instant film makes them useless today.
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US 80, view east, Start, Louisiana
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Start is another unincorporated community along US 80, this one in Richland Parish, Louisiana. It consists of an unused (?) gin, big gas station, and some homes.
The buildings of the C.W. Earle Gin, address 5947 US 80, are a short distance south of the highway. Some of the equipment and siding was quite rusted, and I could not tell if this is a going concern or not.
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Texaco, US 80 view west, Start, Louisiana
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This is all the excitement in Start. The next community west is Monroe, the "big city" of central Louisiana. We will continue our trip on US 80 in the next article. Thanks for riding along.
These digital images are from a Fuji X-E1 compact camera with the 18mm ƒ/2 Fuji lens.
