Abandoned Kentucky Backwoods- Photography

 

Abandoned Kentucky Backwoods

As children, my cousins and I had what seemed like an entire urban forest to explore. We were free to set off on wild “adventures”, as long as we were home before dark.

I, being the oldest, generally wound up being the leader of our expeditions. Age being rank, I was followed by Brian, and then Joel.

 

 

My cousin Joel and I were able to go for another explorative adventure recently, as we met up in Kentucky for a  family wedding.

The sun was setting as we quickly grabbed our cameras, and headed into the surrounding countryside in search of story.

 

 

The fading sun cast a golden glow on the bright, late spring foliage.

We drove with the wind in our hair, bandanas pushing both our unruly locks from our faces.

 

 

Happy to be together. Exploring, once again.

An unexpected treasure.

We both love the abandoned and seek it out with curiosity. He, in the foothills of SoCal. I, in the cornfields of Indiana.

 

 

My father… removed from Kentucky to… Indiana, in my eighth year… It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up… Of course when I came of age, I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher… but that was all– Abraham Lincoln

We marveled at the antiques, sold for big bucks in stores, forgotten.

 

 

 

 

The backwoods of Kentucky are breathtakingly beautiful.

That natural beauty hides stories that are less lovely. Of abandoned, neglected structures left to return to nature.

 

 

Of poverty.  Loss.

Even so, the land boasts a tenacious lot who are proud of their heritage.

Of their home.

“All backwoods folks were poor by material standards; they knew how to make do. They were not wanting to tame the wildness, in themselves or nature.”
― bell hooks, Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place

 

 

 

 

 

The light withdrew further into the horizon. Dark comes quickly, and completely into the thickness of these woods. As the light retreated, so did we.

With the special blessing of a new adventure, one we’ll treasure as adults. Grown-ups with kids and mortgages and spouses and jobs.

 

 

 

 

 

For a few hours though? We were just Joel and Christa,  the family explorers.