I aim to please. I really do. However, Avus has requested pictures of classic backwoods Tennessee shacks. The kind that Lem and Alvin might inhabit. But Tennessee is a long, narrow, stretched out state that starts in the Smokey Mountains, then flattens out, is criss-crossed by mighty rivers and ends at the Mississippi. My time was spent in the flatter, Western portion of the state; my mental picture of Clem, Lemuel or Alvin, beards and all, places them in the hollows of the eastern mountains.
On that wonderful wild country ride with The Other Niece From Memphis. we did find classic unpainted, tumbledown buildings, such as the barn above. This example was quite unexpected, as it was located on a fairly prosperous-looking horse raising spread; if you look closely, you'll see horses under the roof.
We passed these abandoned trailers as we headed down a less traveled highway; turned out they probably belonged with the automotive jetsam across the road (below). Again, the operation looked to be supporting a comfortably life-style for the owners. The surprise was finding a junker business out in the middle of nowhere.
Another possibility. Not. Though unpainted, this barn appeared to be in operating condition. Also, note that it has power.
But as we closed in on our goal, the freshwater pearl museum, we passed through a very curious enclave of truly abandoned houses and outbuildings. I'd guess that this house was the central building of the cluster, Big Daddy's home as it were.
Something more like the shanty that Avus has in mind. It was one of several stretching along the road.
Further back on the property...
...then these tired, worn-out structures were next.
This more modern, house appeared to belong to the abandoned group of buildings. Note that its roof
is
not corrugated iron -- and has withstood the ravages of wind, rain and more wind.
Next to the "modern" home in the pictures above was this classic backwoods Southern house...
...and this building, thoroughly overgrown. What a strange story must lie in behind such abandonment -- perhaps an estate became tangled in the intricacies of probate, with all heirs dead or settled in California by the time matters were finally settled.
As for Jeb or Abner, the backwoods boys, here's where they'd probably be living these days -- in a second or third hand single-wide mobile. Not nearly as colorful, but a lot more comfy!
Linkages: Thanks to Terrell, my post about Swamp Things made it into the monthly Learning in the Great Outdoors round-up, which lists several interesting places to explore. BTW, I didn't mention in the previous post that I finally had a reason to try out the sports setting on my camera, which made photographing the Apache Crown Dancers much easier. I was inspired by Amie's sequence of her dog leaping into the lake; very cool.
In the course of my wanderings these past few months, I came across a pair of recycle bins that just begged to be partnered. The first was this fine collection of soda pop cans down at the Birdsong Creek marina in Tennessee which I visited with TONFM (The Other Niece from Memphis). The big surprise? All that Mountain Dew; for overseas readers, MD is a lemon-lime soft drink concoction. I had thought that the South was Dr. Pepper country, but I don't see any below.
And here's the similar bin, over at the local upper crust Goodwill store on SR69. Don't weep for the decline in literacy that this might represent -- these titles are the same sort of stuff that one multi-story second hand bookstore in Chicago used to sell for 5 cents a pound.
I wouldn't want to give Goodwill a bad rap for denigrating the printed word. The more respectable reading matter (i.e., more likely to sell) is available on neat shelves at the back of the store.
Posts
