GHOST TOWN DETAILS
One of the great joys of ghost towning
is not just in exploring the old towns, buildings or ruins, but in really
looking at and relishing the details of the old locations. Some of my favorite details include
architectural features such as windows, doors, cornices and fancy woodwork or
masonry work. Also onsite rubble can be
very revealing or picturesque. Old
vehicles, cemeteries, signs, and general debris often lend interesting
views. Abandoned toys, furniture or
other cast-offs can lend an interesting perspective to the lost and forgotten
showing that ghost towns are more than just a collection of old buildings or
ruins. Ghost Towns have personality. Remember, people once lived in these towns –
men, women and children that all had hopes and dreams,
just like you or me. Let the photographs
linked to this page enable you to look at ghost towns in a whole new
light. Discover the personality of these
wonderful relics of Americana through their details. Let them help you see these old towns in an
entirely new light, and may you too take memorable photos of these rapidly
vanishing relics of Americana!
Another facet of ghost town photography, is that
every once in a while something totally bizarre occurs or appears in
photographs. These bizarre items can
occur in any photography session, but maybe it’s the ghost town aura, or what
some folks credit to the paranormal, but sometimes very unusual pictures get
taken. Some of these are shown in the ALIEN ENCOUNTER section below. Just to clear the air. I am NOT a believer in the paranormal
nor non-earthbased aliens here on earth. I actually can explain what happened in the
photos, but nevertheless, they are still fun shots!
ALIEN
ENCOUNTER
·
Mutual, UT
o
While
reloading film (remember that process?), I always clicked the first shot to
clear the photo. Usually by aiming at
the ground. While shooting the old store at MUTUAL,
UT I caught my shadow at high
noon and it led to an unusual perspective of a 6’3”, 200 pound body! The first
shot is as it was developed. The
other is with a few Photoshop tweaks – cropping and increasing the
color saturation! I call these my ALIEN
ENCOUNTERS! If you look real
carefully, you can see the toes of my hiking boots at the bottom of the legs.
DETAILS –
DETAILS – DETAILS
·
Belmont, NV
o
Lookin’ up the skirt of the Combination
Mill smoke stack – overhead brick details.
·
Coaldale, NV
o
Ghost
Town Still Life in
“New” Coaldale.
·
Kent, OR
o
Non-working gas
pump
·
Molson, WA
o
Brickwork
detail in the Chamberlin
Building, built in 1913.
o
School
Daze. Old desks in the Center
Molson School Museum.
o
Triple
checking the temperature!
o
Side
of the Molson
State Bank building.
·
Shaniko, OR
o
Old,
dead piano
sitting on the front porch of a store
o
Sepia-tone version of the same photo
above
·
Toyah, TX
o
Stairs
leading to the non-existent
second floor of the tornado-damaged bank building.
DOORS TO THE
PAST
·
Belmont, NV
o
Interior
of courthouse
as seen through a dirty window.
o
Door from brick
storefront into empty space.
o
Entrance into explosives bunker at the Combination Mill.
·
Burke, ID
o
Red
door on
huge concrete Hecla Mining Company mill building.
·
Gem, ID
o
Weeds
in front of garage
door.
·
Kent, OR
o
Front
door of
the old lodge building
o
The
door to Narnia
·
Jerome, AZ
o
Door
and set
of stairs leading to a non-existent second floor.
·
Molson, WA
o
Molson
State Bank door.
·
Tonopah, NV
o
Second
floor door to
nowhere – On left side.
o
Explosives
bunker at one of the Tonopah
mines.
DRIVEN TO
OBLIVION
·
Belmont, NV
o
Old
Fire
Truck.
o
Dead
pickup
truck behind old brick store.
·
Kent, OR
o
Dead
car sitting
in a field behind a building
·
Molson, WA
o
Still drivable 1936
model car.
o
Antique
McCormick-Deering
tractor
at the Old Molson Museum.
·
Rhyolite, NV
o
Dead
truck
behind the Rhyolite Mercantile building.
·
Shaniko, OR
o
Dead
cars
o
Rusty
relic of Shaniko’s old fire
truck
·
Toyah, TX
o
Sign
on the fire
truck door.
IT’S ALL
MINE
·
Miami, AZ
o
Massive headframe
·
Molson, WA
o
Old
mine
car at the Old Molson Museum.
·
Tonopah, NV
o
Piece
of riveted
brace at old mill site.
LAND OF
FORGOTTEN TOYS
ODD &
UNUSUAL
·
Asbury Park, NJ
o
At
the top of a long dead amusement building
facade
·
Belmont, NV
o
Unusual
view of a storefront - from the rear.
o
Courthouse
flag, backlit
by sun.
·
Jerome, AZ
o
Poster
in the window of a vacant building reflecting
the view.
·
Topaz, UT
o
Brick manufactured in the
California ghost town of Carnegie.
·
Toyah, TX
o
Sometimes
adverse
weather conditions can turn an ordinary town into an extraordinary one!
o
Looking
for odd
and unusual angles and strong lines can lead to interesting
juxtapositions of the past and present.
o
Like
the weather, sometimes local wildlife
can add interest to an otherwise boring scene.
R.I.P
·
Grafton, UT
SIGNS OF THE
TIMES
·
Alviso, CA
o
Advertisement
for a tattoo
parlor
o
Rusty
remains of an old can sign advertisement for beer
·
Burke, ID
o
“19
HECLA MINING COMPANY 24” on upper part of front wall.
·
Chesaw, WA
o
All
roads
roads lead away from Chesaw.
·
Coaldale, NV
o
Slots
or Sluts? Sign
on Coaldale Casino modified by vandals.
·
Currant, NV
o
Old MOTEL sign
– motel closed in 1996.
·
Gem, ID
o
Hecla
Mining Company assay
office & metallurgical laboratory sign.
·
Helper, UT
o
An
old sign in front of Helper’s Rainbow
Inn.
·
Hope, AZ
o
Whether
coming or going, the sign at Hope
says it all.
·
Maricopa, CA
o
Ice
Cream anyone? The store that once sold Arden Ice Cream is
now a Rock
Shop.
·
Molson, WA
o
Sign
on the door of Molson
State Bank.
o
No
spittin’!
o
Faded
sign on the side of the Molson
Mercantile.
·
Monse, WA
o
Faded
“Monse General Store” sign
at top of the side wall of the Monse General Store.
·
Shaniko, OR
o
Old
sign on the side of an antique wagon
in the Shaniko Wagon Shed
·
Tonopah, NV
o
Once
glamorous – Now abandoned. Railing
sign for the Mizpah Hotel.
·
Toyah, TX
o
No
longer ADA
Accessible!
o
At
the main entrance to the present City Hall is this fading
sign.
TANKS FOR
THE MEMORIES
·
Belmont, NV
o
Old
tank of
some sort at one of Belmont’s several mills.
·
Cochise, AZ
o
This
old railroad water
tower hearkens back to steam engine days. I re-visited Cochise in July 2010, and noted
that the tank is no longer standing.
USED FURNITURE
ANYONE?
WINDOWS OF
TIME
·
Beatty, NV
o
Memories
of the “Good Old Days.”
·
Burke, ID
o
Window
on Hecla
Mill building.
o
Upper
windows
on front of what appears to have been a saloon.
·
Currant, NV
o
Come on in for some Home
Cookin’!
·
Tonopah, NV
o
Tattered
curtains on
an upper floor hotel window.
o
Furniture
in store
window.
·
Toyah, TX
o
Window
on an old
adobe house.
***************
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POSTED: September 06, 2009
LAST
UPDATED: August 12, 2012
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