kokopelle | Entries tagged with rural

I like to sometimes revisit an abandoned location. The time of year may be different, the lighting changed, or perhaps the deterioration may have progressed. In this spirit I returned to a tenant house in Ora SC. The structure is a bizarre combination of intactness and ruin. There is a water rot hole underneath the hole in the roof. The rest of the wood is relatively intact. It appears that somebody stripped out the internal walls. In the middle of all of this is a very sturdy fireplace that has green paint on one side.

This abandoned rural tenant house continues to amaze me. I wish I could find more sites like this...

Opening in Roof Above Painted Side of Fireplace

Rear of Tenant House. Attached Portion is Kitchen. Hole in Roof is on the Right Side of the Picture

Click on an picture to see a larger image.

( More Pictures of the Tenant House )

Current Mood: contemplative

This picture set features the exterior of the Blakely House in Ora SC. Ora is a small town on the outskirts of Laurens SC. The community was a thriving farming community until an agricultural depression just prior to the Great Depression of 1929. The events of the 1930s forced many farmers to sell their land and leave for the city. The age of prosperous farmers ended and many houses and buildings fell into disuse.

The Blakely house was once a grand house with electricity, gas heat and wonderful wood work. A set of french windows makes the now ruined building stand out from the remaining multi story farming houses in the area. This blog entry focuses on the exterior features of the house. A future blog entry will feature the equally grand and ruined interior.

All 97 pictures of the Blakely House are in this flickr set.

Top:French Windows at Front of House
Bottom: Attic Window at Rear of House

Click on picture to see more larger image

( More exterior pictures from Blakely House... )

Current Mood: contemplative

The area around Greer SC used to be farmland. Now an airport and car maker have made obsolete a former farm house and barn. In time the land will be cleared for industry or a new housing division... the march of progress.

All 60 pictures of this location are in this flickr set. There are more pictures of the barn and outside pictures of the house.

Top: Front of House.
Bottom: Second Floor Room, Windows are Covered with Vines.

Click on picture to see more larger image

( More pictures from the Greer farmhouse... )

Current Mood: contemplative

I've located some VERY abandoned rural houses in Laurens. There were three houses and one chimney in about a mile of road. The posted signs indicated that the property was associated with a hunting club. With the light fading, I took pictures in the houses using my flash. I'll post a longer blog of my findings later. For now I will leave you with these two pictures. All of the pictures can be found in this flickr set.

Current Mood: awake

This blog features the silos I found in Clinton SC. The large concrete silo revealed odd squatter constructions. Is it an alter or a bench? I suspect the mundane is more likely. Still, what would it be like to party in an echoing concrete silo? Sublime... The woods also revealed a partially demolished concrete block structure with metal basin and an incredibly large pressure tank.

These silos and their hidden finds complimented an incredibly decrepit house at the same location. All 142 pictures of the location are in this flickr set.



Top: Concrete Silo Bottom: Twin Metal Silos

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( More pictures of the silos... )

Current Mood: awake

On 12/29 my mate and I stopped to view an abandoned barn on South Carolina Hwy 81 outside of Anderson. We walked the property and found the ruins of a large two-story house, now burned to the ground with only the side chimneys prominent in the invading vegetation. This blog entry focuses on the ancillary buildings that were also found. They all had echoes of the past, with present day interlopers left to ponder the relics left behind. The Bottle House had dozens of cider type bottles under the collapsed structure. Did the people drink that much cider or was there another use? The open shed had something looked like a fire pit, but there were no ashes and the construction did not make sense. These mysteries are one of the things I like about exploring and documenting abandoned locations.

All 129 pictures of the location are in this flickr set.

Top: Red Building Bottom: Bottle Building

Click on picture to see more larger image

( All of the ancillary buildings... )

Current Mood: contemplative

On 12/29 my mate and I stopped to view an abandoned barn on South Carolina Hwy 81 outside of Anderson. The property also revealed the ruins of a house and some odd ancillary buildings. This blog focuses on the barn. In the future I will post one more blog featuring the ancillary buildings.

All 129 pictures of the location are in this flickr set.

Top: Front and Side of Barn Bottom: Rear of Barn

Click on picture to see more larger image

( More pics from the SC 81 barn... )

Current Mood: contemplative

On 12/29 my mate and I stopped to view an abandoned barn on South Carolina Hwy 81 outside of Anderson. The barn was an excellent find, but there was more. A walk through the overgrown woods revealed a ruined house destroyed by fire in the distant pass. There were also an odd set of ancillary buildings, typical for a former farm location. Emerging from the woods, we spoke to the owner of the adjacent property. He said that the house was a large two story dwelling, destroyed by fire in the early 1980s. The site was a fascinating study in relative sturdiness of man's creations when destruction and neglect combines the nature's aggressive touch. This picture blog focuses on the ruined house. Future blogs will share the barn and ancillary buildings.

There were several types of buildings at the SC Hwy 81 location. All 129 pictures of the location are in this flickr set.

Top: Left Chimney Bottom: Right Chimney
A portion of the front porch is visible in each picture

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( More pics from the SC 81 ruined house... )

Current Mood: contemplative

This photo essay features a tractor powered sawmill we found on the property of Mr. Johnson, the same property that previously posted Wyatt General Store is located on. The sawmill is still operational, proven when Mr. Johnson came out to see what we were doing on the property. After he was assured we were only taking pictures instead of tools, he shared that his father had purchased the tractor in 1949. Mr. Johnson uses the sawmill as a hobby and the most recent results of his efforts were evident in the cedar boards on the ground. The cuts were incredibly smooth, though we were told that this is not true when things 'go wrong'. The entire operation is almost entirely powered from a drive connection to the tractor. A single electrical line only powers the working lights and a small motor operating the chain and pulley that removes wood chips from underneath the blade. There were other odd bits of machinery on the property. Mr. Johnson said that he liked to collect things.

wulfwalker and I could understand as we do the same.

This picture set is part of a larger trip we took in Anderson county. All 66 pictures from our journey are in this flickr set.

Top: Tractor powered sawmill Bottom:

wulfwalker gets a rare picture of

greensh in front of the 1949 tractor

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( More pics from the tractor powered saw mill and other sights seen... )

Current Mood: content

Welcome to the very rural Wyatt General Store in Anderson County, SC. The store was active from 1908 to the 1930s. We learned about the history of the location from Mr. Johnson, the owner of the land. His Grandmother lived in a large house that was adjacent to the store. The original furnishings were removed from the store in the 1960s and now Mr. Johnson intends to move the building to another location. We very much appreciated his information.

This picture set is part of a larger trip we took in Anderson county. All 66 pictures from our journey are in this flickr set.

Click on picture to see more larger image

( More pics from the Wyatt General Store... )

Current Mood: awake

On 11/11/07 my mate and I found an abandoned farm rural house outside of Pelzer SC. The house was large but unremarkable. It appeared that some form of Frankenstein remodeling had tweaked the interior in ways unpleasant. The exterior of the house was more impressive. We found an outhouse, pre-motorized farm equipment, a kind of nasty well and a farm wagon complete with metal rimmed wooden wheels.

There were a total of ninety two pictures of the taken of the site. The can all be seen in this Flickr set.

Click on picture to see more larger image

( Outhouses, farm equipment, and an old well... 21 pictures )

Current Mood: awake

This weekend I was at a wonderful rural location near Rutherfordton NC. The location was used a farm in the past. A walk through the woods revealed a stone structure that looked like a soil retention wall. This is not unusual on a rural farm. The area above and below the retention wall had "young" trees. These pictures are an interesting agricultural rural 'ruin'.

The puzzle I wish to share is a circle of stones found adjacent to the retention wall. Perhaps three feet across, the stones seem to be too symmetrical to be natural. The moss on the stones seems to eliminate recently placement by the wellness/health facility now on the land. Does anybody have an idea of what the origins of the rural circle may be? More pictures of the retention wall are here on Flickr.

A side question for my fellow photographers. My Samsung L73 struggles maintain a crisp automatic focus during low light conditions. This is frustrating in dusk conditions (like I was shooting in the woods) or in dark houses. The flash helps, but the results can be washed out, robbing the scene of the truer colors. Does anybody have any pointers?

( The retention wall and more pictures of the circle )

Current Mood: contemplative

I explored a partially paved road leading into the rural woods. An investigation of the dirt trails revealed a power line spur leading deeper into the woods. I followed it and found... a lone power pole and a concrete slab. The debris and out-buildings show that there was a house here at one time. So, for your consideration, the ruin in the woods.