The remains, in the day
As far as I know, no one has counted the number of abandoned farmhouses around here. But from what I know, it would be a huge number. Places like this one are all over the place, with now-dead trees clawing at the stucco, with windows gone, with roofs collapsing in, with complete ruin just a matter of time.
The ones that have a fence around them or a No Trespassing sign I tend to skip: I’m a dedicated photographer and all, but I am not that dedicated.
This place was right by the dirt road that heads east out of Pep, and there was no fence, so I stomped through the scratchy remains of last summer’s weeds and had a look. The remains of the house were pretty sad – some ragged curtains that’ve been sawed down from constant blowing against broken glass, a kitchen counter that was saggy from water damage (it must be very old water damage: it hasn’t rained in ages), and the usual random piles of crap (literally and figuratively) that these kinds of places tend to have. As you can tell from the slits of light against the interior walls, the roof has holes. A roof with holes is a roof that’s not going to last. And once the roof goes….
Pep, Texas
photographed 2.16.2014
Posted on February 27, 2014, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, abandoned buildings, abandoned farmhouse, black and white photography, melinda green harvey, monochrome, one day one image, pep, pep texas, photo a day, photography, texas. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
Reblogged this on What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?.
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But why are there so many abandoned places? And are there no squatters?
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That is a good question. And there are a lot of reasons. Farming is not as labor-dependent as in the past. Families are smaller. There are more corporate-owned (instead of family-owned) farms. Some acreage has shifted from farms to grassland, which requires a lot fewer people. Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy a mobile home than to repair an old house. A decades-long population drain to larger cities.
And probably more things I don’t know.
There’s not really a problem with squatters – there aren’t that many people out here. I’ve heard about meth labs out in some of these farmhouses, so I don’t stop at anyplace that’s got cars or recent/current evidence of people around.
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Thanks, Melinda. I’m currently reading John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, “corporate-owned (instead of family-owned) farms”. 😦
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