Monday, July 15, 2013

Scenic route

I've had to make a few trips over the last couple of months, to Fredericksburg and Richmond, and I-95 has been so undependable - or rather, predictably useless - that I've been using US 1, the old north-south highway that runs all the way from Key West to the Canadian border in Maine. I enjoy US 1, because of the heterogeneous mix of pretty, rolling farm land, and run-down commercial districts, both elements yielding plenty of specimens of abandoned real estate, which interests me, strangely. Maybe it's the ghostly quality of buildings that once were new and functional, and played a role in the lives of people who are now (mostly) gone. Maybe it's just the idea of the inexorable working of nature and the elements in reducing the untended creations of man to ruin. I think a photo essay featuring some of the lonelier, more delapidated structures would be interesting.

For instance, near Aquia, I noticed this abandoned assisted-living facility, which I'm pretty sure was originally a roadside motor court (click on image to enlarge).







In addition to what's barely standing, there are also fascinating historical markers denoting what is now long gone. Also near Aquia, there is a crucifix marking the first English Catholic settlement in Virginia.








5 comments:

bruce said...

I think it's great Paco.
I still thrill at the romance of exploring off the beaten track. I recently read Kerouac's Dharma Bums and found it a touching description of hitching trains across the US - now a lost world.

Paco: On The Road...again.

RebeccaH said...

Nice photos, Paco. You should do more of that.

mojo said...

"Bates Motel"?

Anonymous said...

Deborah .... This fascinates me too. I love history. We lived in Virginia in the '50s/60s, but never knew about that settlement. Please do more travelogues.

Jonah said...

Scrap prices for history are getting humongous, history will be sold out of existence before too long.