barn abandoned

 



In these parts, abandoned buildings outnumber those that are occupied.  This forlorn barn has more character then its homestead house.  The barn ages and oxides with a patina; the house is just falling down.  Even when it was built decades ago, new materials were not used.  Faint ghost lettering is still visible of the tin's original commercial use.  I am not alone in my fondness for old buildings-- joining other photographers who try to capture the past in what the Huffington Post calls a ubiquitous trend of "ruin porn."

The old barn stands

Abandoned, rustic,

Rusting, slowly yielding

To the wind and rain.

Once home to cows or sheep,

Chickens, pigs, horses

Rafters resounded with

Moos, baas, oinks, and whineys.

Now home to crows, mice, rats

Wayfare wildlife, feral cats.

The wind howls through

Open doors, broken windows.

Every year robs

More siding

From tottering walls.

The artist pauses to capture

The testament to the past

With camera's click

Or painter's brush

Before the old grey barn finally tumbles

In splinters, done in by storm

Or wrecking crew

Unwilling to tolerate

Its drunken swaying in the wind.

Old and tired,

The ancient barn

Sighs adieu.

 

Barn Abandoned by Erin Yorke

 

County Road 5100 and Farm to Market Road 1264

Lubbock County, Texas

smith homestead

 

As a child, I thought the Smiths lived in a big house surrounded by stately trees.  Today's reality didn't match my memories.  My Uncle Ed said it was all right to wander around and photograph the barn.  I didn't ask when the barn was built but it predates the 1950s tractor still inside.  Uncle Ed's father moved to Lorenzo in 1910 around age 11 -- before the town was incorporated. The Smith family engaged in farming and had a gin. Ed, the Lorenzo ginner's son, married my Aunt Betty, the New Deal ginner's daughter (guess who was flowergirl).  Uncle Ed, age 84, still "supervises" son and grandson who farm the family land.

 

Lorenzo, Texas

no hunting

 

The "no hunting" sign is ironic since I drive the countryside hunting for old barns and structures like this.

 

FM 1075

Swisher County, Texas

3.14.2014

chartreuse store and orange fire hydrant

Botas El Malcreado painted their store an eye-catching chartreuse (verde-amarillo intenso in Spanish). Evidently El Malcreados are like Mexican Tony Lamas -- there are stores all over.

Botas El Malcreado
2312 Clovis Road
Lubbock, Texas

JANUARY 15, 2012

that old barn on west 4th

Every time I drive out west Fourth Street toward Reese I tell myself I need to photograph that old barn while it's still there. So I did.