I’m not sure why old buildings, old cars, and other old things appeal to photographers. Although I can’t speak for other photographers, I’ve seen enough pictures of these subjects to know that I’m certainly not alone on this. Maybe they have character or a timelessness that we’re trying to capture. Or, maybe we just want to get that photo before urban renewal or further aging will be their demise.
Last weekend we took an old fashioned Sunday Drive. We just purchased a new car and wanted to start getting some miles on it. We had no planned route; we just turned whenever we felt it was time to turn and drove along on highways, byways, and back roads. At one point we ended up on Highway 19 and, seeing Indian Lake County Park, we decided to turn in and take a break from driving.
After a short break we started to head out of the park. While watching for traffic before getting back onto 19, I noticed the ruins of a building across the road a short distance to the west. So, instead of heading east to go back home, we crossed 19 and turned into a small parking lot where a sign identified the site as a Dane County Wildlife Area named Halfway Prairie.
The ruins of what might have been a two-story house were surrounded by a fence. Given the precarious appearance of the remaining structure, the fence was obviously needed to protect both the building and overly curious visitors.
Outside the fence, a short distance from the house was a smaller but complete structure that may have been a barn or a similar structure. The lack of significant windows made it seem unlikely to be a residence. Oddly enough, although the sign included a map and information about the wildlife area, the buildings were not marked on the map and the text didn’t mention them. A quick search on Google also turned up nothing. So, in case there a plans to tear these structures down, if you want to take some photos you might want to drive out there in the near future.