Last March an old friend and former ranger buddy invited me down to his new place near Montauk State Park in Missouri. It was a wonderful five days of reliving the old days on the force with him and a couple of other old dogs.
One afternoon, he and I took off on a road trip. After many turns and twists we came on this old home. It is ten times the size of the usual home of that era in the Ozarks. Most homes were simple one and two room buildings. Life in the Ozarks has always been a hardscrabble existence. The two chimneys were built with amazingly large solid stone blocks. While the home itself is not long for this world, I am sure the chimneys will stand for many a year.
Click on the photo for fine art prints or note cards of this image.
A bit closer to his farm I ran across the old oak barn below. I love preserving this old bit of history as images. Most of the beautiful old barns constructed of native oak planks and tin roofs have either fallen down or been removed. Not too many years ago I could take a days drive and shoot ten or so beautiful barns. Recently I took three one day trips for barn photography and could not find even one,
