Picture of the day - May 12, 2007

A Crumbling Old Barn Shed

Out in the fields along virtually every country road in Washington County, Virginia stand numerous old barns, sheds and outbuildings, many of which are rapidly withering away due to years of unuse and neglect. I love photographing these dilapidated old buildings because they are rapidly fading icons of the many small family farms that have formed the backbone of our local economy ever since colonial times. These abandoned structures stand (and sometimes lean) as testaments to the hard work and untold sacrifices required of our ancestors in order for them to live their lives and raise their families in the rural farming communities in which they lived. Every time I pass by an old barn like this one near the town of Abingdon, it brings to mind a thousand memories of my childhood growing up on our own small farm in Widener Valley. Today we live in a fast-paced world where the family garden typically consists of the produce section of our favorite supermarket and what used to be the neighbor's pasture field is now a subdivision with two dozen virtually identical houses sitting side-by-side in rows. We like to call this progress, but sometimes I think our society is moving in the wrong direction. In my lifetime, we have literally traded a simple lifestyle where we knew all of our neighbors on a first-name basis and our doors remained unlocked at night for one in which we have no clue who lives in the house down the road and security systems blare at us every time we turn around. Nothing is simple anymore, and it never will be again. There will likely come a time when all of the old farm buildings in my neck of the woods will be gone, and as they disappear one-by-one, they'll take along with them a a lot of family histories and rural traditions that should have lived on forever. Unfortunately, the cost of progress often includes a piece of our soul and the burning of the bridges to our past.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"