The enduring mystique and allure of abandoned old houses in Daydreaming on the Porch

One of the best memories I have from the decade of the 1970s after I had moved from New Orleans to South Carolina, was heading out to the rural countryside outside Columbia with two new friends to explore abandoned farmhouses and barns, a first-time experience for me, as I had grown up in a big city and had no idea what the rural countryside was like.

I had recently graduated from college and moved to South Carolina to get started on a career in journalism, which I had my sights firmly fixed on. I was taking journalism courses at the University of South Carolina as a special student since my college in anew Orleans didn’t have a journalism program. I had just obtained a B.A. in English.

One of my courses at USC was Photojournalism, and in the class we learned about processing black and while film and printing our own photos for the class in a large darkroom. It was all intoxicatingly novel and exciting for me, and I loved it.

Traveling outside Columbia where I lived at the time was eye-opening because with my camera, and the knowledge that I would be making prints myself, I was more deeply sensitized to my surroundings. Having a camera in hand, then as now, enabled me to see the world with fresh eyes.

With the 1930s-era images of the famed Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographer Walker Evans inspiring me, I was ready to explore. My friends and I found one particular old farmhouse we actually went inside of to take pictures, mindful that we could have been noticed and cited for trespassing. But when you’re young, concerns like that fade amid the excitement of adventure and discovery. And then there are the questions: Who lived there? What was their life like in the middle of nowhere? Why was so much left behind? Are there any spirits or ghosts? Why couldn’t the house be saved?

I took one particular photo of the kitchen with a classic 19th century cast-iron stove and calendars on the wall above a fireplace, one of which dated from November 1966. We were there in 1974 so the house had been abandoned at least eight years. We also explored an enormous old barn, the weathered wood sides making great subjects for black and white photography, showing off the sturdy aged wood that was holding back time, at least for a while longer. A sweet old dog named Alice accompanied us, ever curious and to explore with us..

I don’t recall having ventured into another abandoned house since then, wary of trespassing laws and the possibility of self-appointed guardians popping up from the undergrowth surrounding so many of these houses with a shotgun and convincing threats.

Today the young in their 20s are far more fearless than I was, not only exploring abandoned buildings and structures, but posting fascinating YouTube videos that thousands watch, myself included, as they go from room to room with their cameras, offering up commentary that conveys their excitement and awe, especially when the structure was once a grand old Victorian structure with all the last occupant’s belongings left behind, sometimes untouched, but most of the time sadly vandalized and strewn about with often ugly and obscene graffiti on the walls. It’s heartbreaking when the cameras zoom in to for close-us of the last owners and their and their children’s treasured possessions, books, vinyl records, toys, magazines, antiques, forlorn and sad bits and pieces of lives scattered everywhere in each room. In other houses, everything is gone, but the rot, deterioration and mold of decades of exposure to the elements is apparent, and hints at a only brief time remaining before the entire structure collapses into the ground.

While I may not have been inside any abandoned houses in decades, I have photographed many a structure from a sidewalk or street, maybe from my car as I drove by. Occasionally I’ve tried to peer inside. What mysteries lurk within? My imagination takes over and I picture 19th and early 30th century family scenes in and around the house, particularly if there is a large yard with big trees and a weathered and dilapidated picket fence.

As someone once wrote, “Abandoned houses serve as a stark reminder of impermanence and the passage of time. They evoke reflections on life, decay, and the eventual fate of all human endeavors.”

I find this statement to be quite apt, and rather well summarizes what these abandoned places symbolize, and how they make me think about a past that only lives on in what is left behind, be it a house, barn, abandoned commercial buildings along a small-town Main Street, letters, diaries, photographs and films made in pre-Internet days, but which can now be digitized and shared online.

In the downtown and historic district of Charleston, and on James Island across the river from Charleston, I have discovered a number of abandoned houses, most of which I can photograph from the sidewalk. Who knows what the interiors look like? I wish I could venture inside, but that’s quite out of the question. It’s dangerous also because floors could collapse.

This year I have photographed two abandoned houses and I am posting an album of pictures of them. I also went through years of photos of old, abandoned houses that I have posted on Flickr, and put some of them in an album linked below. It’s always amazing to me how these structures can possibly be so neglected when they are beautiful and historic houses that deserve to be saved and preserved. But restoration is very costly, and so most of these old houses end up lost to time, either crumbling into piles of wood and brick, or demolished. Charleston, however, goes to extreme lengths to save all historic abandoned, or else empty houses that have seemingly been abandoned. .

This is one of my all-time favorite empty or abandoned home (not sure which) located a couple of blocks from the downtown of a small, county seat town in South Carolina. It’s been quite a number of years since I took this photo, so I don’t know whether it’s still there or has been restored. I do plan to go back there as soon as I can. It’s about an hour’s drive from where I live.

Beautiful and elegant old house
https://flic.kr/p/2q6wR3V

Abandoned house, downtown Charleston

https://www.flickr.com/gp/camas/9V68Dx7673

Abandoned house and surroundings, James Island, SC

https://www.flickr.com/gp/camas/06md6611J7

Some abandoned and empty houses taken in the past 15 years in South Carolina small towns, and during day trips in the country

https://www.flickr.com/gp/camas/cP945Vioc1

Kappy is one of the most prolific, dedicated and respectful of the YouTube abandoned house explorers. I have no idea how he finds out about all the places he explores and shares with his viewers and subscribers, but he’s dedicated his
life to preserving the memory of them before they collapse and disintegrate and are lost forever.

Below is the link to Kappy’s exploration of Mayesville, SC, a fascinating town in Sumter County with a rich history. I have been to this town several times over the years and photographed there extensively. Tragically, the three-story, brick Kineen Hotel in the empty downtown, burned completely on Christmas Eve in 2020. I had so hoped to visit the town again and photograph the hotel. I will go back at some point, hopefully. Mayesville is located only a few miles from where my mother grew up.

Kappy’s Main Page

https://youtube.com/@urbanexploringwithkappy1773?si=kRR5koYcfOk1Uq2a

Kappy filmed this house last year, a house abandoned with everything left behind, for who knows what sad or tragic reason.

Bros of Decay is one of the most viewed and popular abandoned house exploration channels on YouTube. The filmmaker is based in Belgium.

Last updated July 27, 2024