More Relics in Rural America

On my way to and from Badlands National Park in early June 2025, I drove through many small towns and rural areas between Texas and South Dakota. I always keep my eyes open for photographic opportunities to break up the long drives. One of my favorite targets for such are old, rural structures, especially those that appear to have been abandoned. This post will feature some of those photographs from this trip.

Alone

I spotted this magnificent old house just a few miles before my first ovenight stop over in Kansas. It sits well back from the roadway in an open field. I shot from a fence line near the roadway with my 24-70mm, then used my 80-400mm to get a closer view of the house.

Alone 2
Alone 3

The following day, not long after leaving my overnight area, I spotted more intriguing structures, which required some minor rerouting to get close enough to shoot.

Stone House in Field

This stone house appears to be in fairly good condition, but seems to be abandoned. It is not far from a dirt road, but there is no indication of any roadway access to this structure.

Roofless

I had to walk a considerable distance on a muddy, dirt road in a drizzling rain to get close enough to shoot this old one and even then I had to stop at a fence line and photograph from a distance. I had only brought my 24-70mm lens mounted on my D850 and wished I had put on my 80-400mm, when I had to stop at that fenceline.

Roofless 2

There was another, smaller structure, in similar condition, down the hill from the house, but I was too far away to get a good shot of that with my 24-70mm.

Roofless 3

I would have liked to have gotten closer, but I did not want to cross that fenceline and trespass, since that fence was obviously there to keep people out. There was no evidence of graffiti, which I suspect is an indication of the lack of easy access from the local roadways and the remote rural location of this structure.

Stay tuned for more Rural Relics,

Ken

 

Indiana Fall 2022 – Old and/Or Abandoned

With only one day left of our fall 2022 Indiana visit, I traveled the backroads from our cabin one last time.  Many trees were already bare, peak color was nearly all gone, it was overcast and threatening rain, so I hoped to find interesting barns, old homes or other interesting rural scenes to photograph.

Exfoliating Barn
Nobody’s Home
Fall Fade
Indiana Barn and Post Harvest Field
Past Peak
RV Barn
Why am I Forsaken
Old Homestead
More than leaves are falling here

Those three trees out front were probably planted with the anticipation of sitting on the porch in their shade some years down the road.  The child’s bike beside the house makes me think that a family lived here or maybe a child visited grandparents here.

Indiana Barn
Leaning Gate Barn

I saw numerous other interesting rural scenes similar to these, but either there was no place to pull off of the roadway to photograph those or those were set back too far on private property to approach without permission.

This is the final post for Indiana Fall 2022.

Thanks for following,

Ken

Indiana, Fall 2022, Part 5 – Rustic Barn and Abandoned Home

Faded Red Barn

I first saw this old barn and a nearby abandoned house, while in route to another destination.  I came back a few days later to photograph these old, rustic buildings.

Quaint, Old, Abandoned Indiana Farm House

The image above was selected for Flickr’s Explore Page.

Abandoned Home and Barn 1
Quaint and Old
Abandoned Home and Barn 2
Rusty Fall

More fall in Indian 2022 later,

Ken

 

Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – Part 5, September 2022 – House of Eight Gables

This is a continuation of September 2022 road trip photography.

House of Eight Gables 1

This old, abandoned block facade house, sitting in a wide open area along a gravel roadway was visible for some distance from the highway I was traveling on in Kansas.  It is impressive enough to justify a detour to check it out.

Through A Window
Interlocked
House of Eight Gables 2
Corner Collapse
House of Eight Gables 3
Stairwell

Until the next adventure,

Ken

Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 4 – Rural Abandonment

This is a continuation of road trip photography of September, 2022.

No More Loads
Pastured
Abandoned Farm House, Kansas
Roofless
Window Sitting
In the Hay

To be continued,

Ken

Road Trip Photography Between Destinations – September 2022, Part 3 – Abandoned Farm Homes

This is a continuation of road trip photography of September 2022.

Prairie Home, Nebraska High Plains
The Gate
Homeward Lean
Still Spins

After shooting and driving away from this abandoned Nebraska home, I realized that I should have used a slow shutter speed to capture the motion of the windmill.  The windmill still spins, but the pump is disconnected.

Old Prairie Home
Stormy Horizon
Duplex Model 55

This is apparently a popular pump gear box that is or was used with windmills.  In researching this item, I found online listing for parts for this model gear box.

Listing Porch Roof
No Panes
Distraught Tree

The evergreen tree on the left seems to be distraught about the dilapidated condition of this abandoned farm house.  Maybe children once played around that tree.  This image was chosen for Flickr’s Explore Page.

Hanging On

Even more road trip images in the next post,

Ken