General J.E.B. Stuart on Monument Ave, Richmond, VA

   Located along historic Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. This sculpture was done by Frederick Moynihan and unveiled to the public in May of 1907.

Armour Meat Packing Plant, East St Louis

The Armour Meat Packing Plant was built in 1903 when the company wanted to expand outside of Chicago. There was already a large railroad yard nearby, so a massive complex of stockyards and packing plants grew up in this area north of East St Louis, Illinois. For a number of reasons, the plant shut down in 1959 and sat abandoned for over 60 years.
On April 16, 2016, the plant was imploded. Interstate 70 had been rerouted nearby a few years earlier.
Gone but not forgotten. These photos were taken in March 2011.
--->Link to video of implosion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_-XtxB28tI

CSA Monument, Mulberry, TN

Confederate Monument

   This is part of the Confederate Monument at Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Tennessee.

I am going to focus on Civil War sites for awhile, unless I comes across something more interesting in my travels that I want to highlight here. I am hoping to photograph every Civil War soldier monument in Tennessee(not all are Confederates!). If you know of any that are not well known, please let me know where it is!

The Research Phase

    I have not posted much lately because I have been more busy in the research portion of my "job". Writing up my own 'book' of interesting things to see in Tennessee, county by county, town by town. Well, interesting by my own personal taste and point of view. Not everyone cares about old buildings or water towers or weird signs. With every find of a hidden gem, I come across major disappointment. There is a Google Street View feature that allows you to sort of "time travel" by looking back in time at previous versions of that street view(if there are any available). And sometimes it is painful to see what is now missing.
   One town I just looked over, their whole downtown area, two blocks of a road along the railroad tracks and a few buildings up the main street, are now all completely gone. How sad is that? To just wipe out any sign that there was ever a town there. It hurts my heart in a way that I am sure most people do not understand. And it is why I photograph places. Because you never know when they will be gone. Because some day, someone like me might come along to research a place and wonder what it looks like-or used to look like. It is a shame when there is no proof that something ever existed.
   I am just sad now. But also bolstered by the places I 'discover' that should be remembered. And I will do my best to remember them.