Friday, December 27, 2013

Everything changes

I've passed this property almost daily for the last ten years. Until the last couple of years, activity. A car in the drive, an old fellow out mowing the lazy acres.

From the road I could see a lake with a dock, some rowboats, those old metal shell chairs watching out over the water.

Nice place for grand kids, I thought.

Then quiet descended. Ah, the old folks are gone, I thought, and they were.



A year or so later a For Sale sign went up. 

I thought it was an old farm and surely had a beautiful old barn on the property. 

I took a picture on the way down the lane,


Then encountered No Trespassing signs posted on the doors, 
so I backed out to the road and left.

Recently the For Sale sign had Sold pasted over it.

Sold, I learned, to a developer who would split the lots and build two homes.There is so much acreage they will be lovely, secluded homes, only a short walk to the National Park. Hop on a bike. Jog on down. The park is just down the road.

I mentioned to one of the policemen I  would like to take pictures before the buildings were gone. Would anyone catch me?

"Oh, the old campground! No one will care."


I went back down the lane, past a fallen down sign.
Reminded me of Woody Guthrie's walking song, encountering a "Keep off the Grass" sign.
"And on the other side, it didn't say nothing...."


A little worse for wear since the last time I was down.
Every building taped off with Condemned tape.


That was not a barn out back, but a good utility building in its day.


Folks could rent little cabins, or tenting spaces,


eat meals out looking over the lake. 

When I was a child we stayed in so many campgrounds like this, vacationing.


Overlooking a lake.


My brothers fishing off the dock.


Some bulbs coming up in the unseasonably warm December weather, nestled in a warm tractor tire.

An old resident of the township once told me, apropos the homes demolished and ninety odd percent of the township eminent domained by the parks,  

"If you drive down any road and see the daffodils blooming in the woods or in a field, there used to be a house there, with a front porch and a door, a tire swing in the maple tree, kids running...."



19 comments:

  1. The daffodils are a giveaway here too. And in the country chimneys survive long after the house has gone, and fruit trees outlive them.

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  2. There aren't many places like this in the UK but I stayed in one once in California and I loved it. It's sad to see these places torn down and replaced by private homes, I think.

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  3. Same here..and also great swaths of tiger lillies are a tell tale sign of human habitation now gone....patches of chives...

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  4. I think they call it progress. It's sad when this happens isn't it!

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  5. Too bad a family member could not run the camp ground. Fixed up cabins might be popular near a national park.

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  6. I love places like that... You sound like me... you can stand there and just imagine all that happened there over the years..... almost hear the laughter and see Mom in her apron hanging out clothes. In a way it's kind of sad to think of it with houses... but it will be good to hear the laughter of kids again.

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  7. It seems like it is time for the rustic look to change. I do not like to see too many changes either. People can never understand the sentiments of other people. I thank God for my memory and also my imagination.

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  8. how lovely. not that they are going to tear down the old buildings and put up two houses, my city neighborhood went through that and while property values did rise, it also transformed the neighborhood into something else entirely. no I think that seeing clumps of daffodils or others bulbs coming up in the middle of nowhere is a lovely reminder that once someone did live right there.

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  9. Such a sad looking old house, if only it could be renovated. Perhaps it is too far gone.
    I hope the developers build site friendly homes, not ultra modern eyesores.
    Out here, a reminder that there once was a home is often a string of lemon trees.

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  10. The older I get the more change seems to speed up. It is sad to see the familiar torn down, but two houses isn't too bad. At least it's not condos or fast food!

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  11. Hari OM
    Surely the past is worth the remembering, but as this now looks derelict, the plans seem to me to be a good option, bringing life and use back to the place. Like #1Nana, let us pray the development is tastefully done. YAM xx

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  12. "Progress" some call it, and then they squeeze houses and condos onto every square inch of green space. Right now we are wondering what will become of the truck farm operated by two elderly farmers across the street from us. Breaks my heart to see it fading away, overtaken by weeds.

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  13. Doing away with the old to make room for the new - so is life.

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  14. Is it change or is just another d.. developer making a big profit off our countryside. Our farm lands and open tracts of land are being sold off wholesale while our beautiful landscapes are being scraped. It would be a good project to follow as to what happens to this piece of land. Show before and after. Will the lake become less wild with an ugly spray fountain in the middle of it? Those little cabins would be great on someones land to be used as utility sheds etc. The house's material could be recycled like they are doing in Cleveland. I could go on -- it is just I cannot tolerate developers. excellent post!-- barbara

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  15. It makes me sad to see houses and buildings go downhill like that. There are a few abandoned farmhouses around here. I wonder about the stories they have in their walls!

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  16. That is sad that the land will be changed like that with the addition of several houses on that piece of property. I'm sure the original owners probably knew that would happen upon their passing too, but knew there was nothing they could do about it.

    betty

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  17. When things reach a certain point, there is no saving them.

    Everything changes -- indeed.

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  18. I'm glad you recorded the area for posterity. It's always a little sad when an area is "upgraded" or "developed".

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