Pioneer Village

I have had plans to stop by Pioneer Village in Minden for many years now, ever since I drove past it when I was criss-crossing Nebraska making photographs for ninety-three. It has been over 30 years since we visited on a roadtrip to see a family friend out in Grant, an experience I only have vague memory of. I have worried that the venerable roadside attraction, a relic from the heyday of US Highway 6, would close before I found the time to stop and explore. Fortunately, it is still there, open every day, and is apparently in better shape than it was just a few years ago.

Harold Warp collected all sorts of machinery, technology, furniture, and more to help Americans see how much progress had been made since the pioneer days. Now Pioneer Village, the same as it was in the early 80’s, is largely a monument to dust and a lack of attention as time passed by. It’s dark and tired, eccentric and obsessive.. and also a wonderful place to just walk around and enjoy. I hope Minden is able to find a way to save it (and modernize the lighting just a bit).

The Crossroads

After a night in Oxford, I spent a day exploring the Mississippi Delta and the birthplace of the blues. The weather was dark and gloomy, and so are the photographs.

Following along…

One of my reasons for heading south earlier this year was to experience a place I know only from photographs that are incredibly familiar and important to me - Hale County, Alabama. This is where Walker Evans and William Christenberry worked, documenting the landscape, the people, and structures for more than sixty years collectively.

I purposefully avoided looking at their Hale County work before departing on my trip, choosing to just go and see what I could find rather than hunting down the location of specific images. The only name I will always remember is Sprott, so I made sure not to miss it - little more than an abandoned crossroads with one of the churches that William Christenberry’s documented for decades not too far away.

William Christenberry - Sprott, Alabama

This experience - and this whole Southern trip in general - really made me realize how attached and inspired I am by every aspect of the Great Plains and the West. The South is not my home. I felt like I was just passing through, gawking at the landscape rather than documenting it in my usual way.

I am very glad to have visited Alabama, even as a tourist.