Roads & Routes

When Route 66 came to Arizona, the state was less than fifteen years old. But Arizona embraced the Mother Road, clinging to it long after any other state and then making sure that the world didn't forget it. Today that heritage is marked along the roadside by abandoned places which all tell a story, a narrative picked out in trading posts and motels and ordinary people.

To many travelers, these stores, diners and motels were a lifeline; to the people who owned them, they were, quite simply, their life. In an effort to ensure that we don't forget this recent history--the tales that make up the past, the buildings that provide us with a doorway into yesteryear--Abandoned Route 66 Arizona records some of those places along the Mother Road before they finally fade away and take their stories and secrets with them.

Texas has held a special allure for settlers since the earliest days of the nineteenth century. "You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas," said famed mountain man Davy Crockett after he lost an 1835 congressional election and joined the growing tide of pioneers heading west towards the Lone Star State. Millions have followed in his footsteps in the nearly 200 years since.

In Abandoned Texas: Under a Lone Star Moon, join photographer Mike Cooper as he travels thousands of miles on his late-night treks across Texas. From the ruins of a school in Terlingua to the burned-out remains of a hotel in Caterina to the crumbling, deserted hangars of Rattlesnake Bomber Base, Cooper illuminates a side of Texas you've likely never seen. These otherworldly images, shot on quiet back roads and in near-deserted oil fields under a simple full moon, take you back in time to the glorious Texas imagined by Crockett and the early settlers. These long-exposure photos of churches built by European immigrants, courthouses and schools constructed in boom towns, 1950s-era drive-ins created to entertain families, and roadside monuments meant to attract the curious will cause you to see Texas in a whole new light.

Weak maritime nations have always sought to augment the strength of their coastal defenses and navies by the use of "diabolical" contrivances for destroying an invader's ships.

The history of the adoption of the torpedo as a recognized implement of warfare is not unlike that of gunpowder or of exploding shells. Each in its turn was met by the cry, "Inhuman, barbarous, unchivalrous."

During the American Civil War, the Confederate Navy employed submerged mines, called torpedoes, and explosive charges mounted on a long pole referred to as the "spar torpedo" which was bumped into the hull of an enemy vessel exploding on contact. These weapons enjoyed great success during the conflict.

In July 1869, the Secretary of the Navy announced the establishment of the Naval Torpedo Station on Goat Island in the harbor of Newport, Rhode Island, for development of a more sophisticated and deadlier self-propelled torpedo. From its founding until the end of the Second World War, the Naval Torpedo Station has been the Navy's principal center for the design of torpedoes.

Newport continues as the home of the U.S. Navy's most important laboratory for research and development of modern weapons' systems.

Have a glimpse of the ruined and the doomed. Visiting abandonments is seductive and boosts the adrenaline for the urban explorer. A new form of art emerges from the forces of nature once structures shutter. Mother Nature claims its prey and wraps an abandoned site with vines and commands the acceleration of rust. From the once-mighty regional industrial giant, Dan River Mills, to a haven secreting the amusement park cast-offs of twenty-foot-tall concrete busts of presidents, to St. Alban's Sanatorium perched on its mountaintop like a looming sentry, see the forgotten--often hiding in plain sight. Other forsaken Southern Virginia chapters include schools, churches, an isle merging Southern Virginia's earliest history with natural beauty, industrial cast-offs, vintage trucks, opulent manors, quaint general stores, old-time diners, and several homes. Even though these sites are shuttered, they are not forgotten with this photographic record for posterity. Embrace the essences of once loved and revered places before nature mandates its final claim or the wrecking ball forwards the last kiss.

Abandoned as a school in the late 1960s, Harjo Consolidated Dist. No. 5 became one more statistic in the decay of the American education system. Institutions like Harjo once were, and often still are, staples in rural communities and among those that served African Americans, Native Americans, the disenfranchised, and the poor. As these institutions closed, many students found themselves forced to travel significant distances to continue their education or forgo it altogether. Harjo was no different, offering services to several cities within the locale. Conceived during Oklahoma's oil boom, Harjo was hailed as one of the finest schools of its kind by the late 1920s. However, the institution faltered almost as quickly as it rose. Many remaining alumni have fond memories during their tenure at Harjo, but as time passes, their numbers dwindle, and the institution fades. Not without effort, attempts to repurpose the facility have been implemented, though Harjo never returned to its full glory. This is a pictorial documentary of Harjo, and it is one of many tales of America's struggle with inequality and the education system.

Beyond the wheat fields and off the beaten path, these abandoned and forgotten places lay in wait to tell their stories of a more productive and useful time. From small towns to ghost towns and all the places in between, the vastness of Eastern Kansas can be seen as a curse that will slowly drain a place dry or an untapped resource. Even though these locations are far from the ever-growing city's reach, they face the same fate when expansion is needed for improvements, or there isn't enough demand to continue daily operations. However these stories play out, all that is left is a reminder of what used to be: abandoned relics of lives, dreams, and businesses scattered across the open heartland of Eastern Kansas.

Viewing Pittsburgh's Trolleys and Inclines is a photographic essay covering Pittsburgh's trolley car system that under Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRC) operated about 600 miles of trolley car lines that linked with other systems, making it possible to travel from Pittsburgh to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, by trolley car. PRC completed the Mount Washington Tunnel in 1904, and placed in service in 1936 the Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) car that transformed trolley car service. PRC purchased 666 PCC cars, making it the second largest PCC car system in the United States. As late as May 3, 1962, PRC operated thirty-six full-time trolley car routes. Following the acquisition of PRC by Port Authority Transit (PAT) in 1964, buses replaced most of the trolley car lines. However, a change occurred, and PAT rebuilt the system into a modern light rail system. Pittsburgh also has two operating inclines in service: the Monongahela Incline (oldest in the United States) and the Duquesne Incline (saved by residents). Most of Pittsburgh's many inclines were served by PRC trolley car lines. Viewing Pittsburgh's Trolleys and Inclines documents Pittsburgh's trolley and incline history.

The story of the Blue Ridge Parkway--America's Favorite Drive--has been called awe-inspiring. Beginning with the inception of design work done during the early 1930s through its construction and final completion, the parkway--the longest road planned as a single unit in the United States and also an elongated park, protecting significant mountain landscapes far beyond the shoulders of the road itself--was completed with the contributions of many talented individuals. The National Park Service, which oversees it, informs that a Blue Ridge Parkway experience is unlike any other: a slow-paced and relaxing drive revealing stunning long-range vistas and close-up views of the rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands. The parkway meanders for 469 miles, protecting a diversity of plants and animals, and providing opportunities for enjoying all that makes this region of the country so special.

Watertown Square--quaint New England town center, hub of culture and commerce, bastion of history--it is all this and more. Founded in 1630, Watertown, Massachusetts, has gone through countless transformations while maintaining its roots and small-town feeling. Read Watertown Square Through Time, and imagine you are walking down Main Street, paddling down the Charles River, and visiting the theatres, parades, and trolleys of yesteryear. Then read about the thriving Square of today--a walkable mecca of museums, eateries, shops, libraries, and the arts. Did you know that Watertown Square was once home to a hotel that was a Revolutionary War meeting place, a gristmill, livery stables, and even a chocolate factory? Through a splendid entourage of photographs, illustrations and maps, you will learn the rich and surprising history of a very special part of Watertown Strong. Whether you are new to Watertown, passing through, or have lived here all your life, you will uncover many fascinating details about Watertown Square.

It was as if the word GOLD echoed around the world as people came to the Pacific Northwest in droves in search of sudden wealth in the 1850s. Thousands of Chinese men came to America dreaming of the wealth that had eluded them in their native land. They traveled far in search of Gum Shan, also known as Gold Mountain. They worked mining for gold, building railroads, logging, and in agriculture and factories. They planted vineyards and cleared the delta, diverting water so that crops could grow on land where only water had been. They dug canals so water could be diverted for agriculture; installed irrigation for orchards; and worked in the fishing industry and in canneries. They worked as servants in private homes, in hotels and restaurants, and operated laundries, restaurants, markets, and other businesses.

Creating a "fun" history book can be a tall order, but author Bo Grebitus has made a real go of it in his new book, Touching History. In rediscovering Tahoe City's historic waterfront, Bo has created a delightful story line and presented wonderful vintage and comparative modern photographs. Bo then adds a new twist by combining vintage and present day into a single image. His unique history-meld images put turn-of-the-century railroads, rustic buildings, and weathered piers, long gone from the scene, back on their original foundations in our modern world. Finally, he weaves his magic into a walking tour of the city's waterfront, guiding you through this quaint High Sierra town, once bustling with tourists, trains, and maritime steamers. Look on with delight as a steam train shares the walking path with you. Discover piers extending out on the water to meet the steamers--all made possible in his history-meld images. With book in hand, you can tour Tahoe City and its park-like waterfront, reach out, and almost touch its history.

Jutting out into Boston Harbor is the Nahant peninsula, the smallest township in Massachusetts. Despite its size, it was selected to house the most powerful seacoast weaponry ever conceived by military engineers, capable of destroying enemy warcraft far at sea, and the most advanced electronic devices employed in modern warfare to detect and locate enemy aircraft, surface ships, and submarines.