Athens, Greece

The Odeon on the southwest slope of the acropolis in Athens was built in the 2nd century and continues to host performances today. The 2nd-century Greek geographer Pausanias called it the finest building of its type. Pausanias traveled extensively and wrote a geography of Greece that is still used by archaeologists. [2006]

Horrel Hill, South Carolina, USA

An abandoned filling station: When you pass through Horrel Hill, there are no reminders of the past. All you can see is a gas station in ruins. It's hard to believe this was once the county seat of Richland County; that is, until Columbia was built (smack-dab in the middle of the state) to be the state capital. It was then that the eclipse began. [2020]

Gardi, Georgia, USA

An abandoned apiary: Only the sign remains to remind attentive travelers that it was once part of the county's economic base. It may sit idle now, but it's not an eyesore. It's an invitation to think about Gardi's past and what the town was like when this was the post office. A decade ago, Gardi was removed from the state highway map, and then put back! [2007]

Roggen, Colorado, USA

An abandoned motel: There is little left of the lodge and little left of the town. Yet, Roggen is located near an Interstate highway interchange. The initial thinking about Interstates was that they would breathe new life into small towns. The reality has turned out to be just the opposite: They draw people away to larger urban centers (like Denver). [2019]

Växjö, Sweden

When the international border between Sweden and Denmark was here, Kronoberg Castle was necessary for Sweden to guard its frontier. Lots of resources went into fortification, expansion, and upkeep. When the international border was moved to the Øresund, Växjö lost its strategic significance and the castle declined. Today, only ruins remain. [1984]

THE BACKSTORY ~ Posted on the 11^th Anniversary of Geographically Yours, 4 August 2021: From my travel log on the two days a friend and I spent in Växjö, Sweden, in the summer of 1984. “We headed inland and got off at Alvesta, then caught another train to Växjö. In Växjö we stopped at an outdoor museum (closed), saw a windmill, and a few folk barns, stopped to see the cathedral, and fortunately bought a few things for supper at the grocery store. Växjö was dead though. It was Saturday afternoon and almost everything was closed.”

The next day we rented an Opal Corsa for a single day and drove out into the countryside from which so many Swedish immigrants to the United States had come. My friend was a descendent of one of those immigrant families. “We  drove back to Växjö, after eating in the car, on a very rural road that wound its way through the woods and among the lakes of Kronoberg. It rained the whole day and prevented a lot of picture taking. In Växjö we rushed to the Emigrant House Museum, which is undergoing considerable expansion. It was located next to the Smaland Museum where they have some buildings moved in from around Sweden. Nobody in the museum knew anything about the outbuildings and didn’t have anything in writing about them either. The Emigrant House Museum was very nice. It had both English and Swedish descriptions which made it more meaningful for us."

“One more stop we made before returning to the hostel. We went to see the ruins of Kronoburg castle, the best castle we have yet seen. It is situated on a point of land which juts into Helgasjön Lake. The ruins were restored with a few bricks to support the arches and a few new stairways made of wood.  The castle is open to the weather, however. The only contrived aspect was the wooden stage and simple benches which were set up in the central courtyard and some passageways that were blocked off. We had the whole castle to ourselves. The castle is on the site  of a medieval bishop’s castles (Bishop of Växjö). The present castle was built in Gustavus Vasa’s time and was added to in the 1550s.” The next morning, we boarded the train to Stockholm. D.J.Z.

Nicosia, Cyprus

Abandonment and decay: That's what you typically see in a buffer zone set up to keep two warring factions apart. This one cuts through Nicosia to separate the Turkish north from the Greek south. It should really should be called the Humpty Dumpty Zone since no one has been able to put Cyprus back together since the two sides went to war in 1964. [2004]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

The ghost town of Elkhorn is easily segmented into three zones: (1) the surrounding forest, which provided timbers essential to the mines, (2) the mining zone itself, with its mine shafts and tailings, (3) the town proper, which sprawls along a main street and periodically jabs into the mining zone. [2020]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

Surrounding the town of Elkhorn are mine shafts galore, and the ore bins that serve them. Although the mining era was largely over by 1900, a new mining venture staked out its ambition to re-exploit some of the old mines in 2006. Gold was their target mineral, and its price was on the rise. [2020]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

The railroad was far more important to Elkhorn than all-weather roads. In fact, the road into town has never been macadamized. Judging from the artifact seen here, though, at least one early 20th century denizen got a car up the mountain to a resting place where its spirit of early automobility co-mingles with the spirit of place. [2020] 

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

The two largest buildings in Elkhorn are Fraternity Hall and Gilliam Hall, perfect examples of frontier architecture from the late 1800s, when the silver, lead, and gold mines gave the mining camp an economic base large enough that it grew into a proper, family-oriented town with a post office of its own. [2020] 

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

With a population little more than 10, Elkhorn is little more than a ghost town. In its heyday, however, it had about 2,500 residents, constituting miners and their families, plus the business owners that supported them. By 1900, the mining era had passed, people were leaving, and buildings eventually began to collapse. [2020] 

Aztec, New Mexico, USA

The whole fossil fuel era is beginning to look a lot like this forlorn gas pump. Anyone else remember the days when there was only regular, with another pump for high-test? The U.K. will not sell gasoline powered cars after 2030. Volvo will manufacture only electric vehicles starting that year. And, even GM is envisioning an all-electric future. [2013] 

Medora, Indiana, USA

♫ These Are a Few of My Favorite Things ♫ ~ Ruins: Each year, the landscape is encrusted with new layers of cultural creativity. Each year, old layers decay or are removed. Why are some elements of our shared patrimony saved and others sacrificed to the elements or to progress? What should be done with the remains of this shale-brick plant? [2017]

Saksaywaman, Peru

Look world: no mortar! Just polyhedrons perfectly carved to fit together seamlessly. Here they are forming the buttress for a series of agricultural terraces in the Andes, but it is the same technique used to build Inca cities and ceremonial sites. [2001]

Machu Picchu, Peru

If ever a site deserved World Heritage status, it is Machu Picchu, built in the 1400s as a royal estate for the Inca emperor and abandoned as the Spanish decimated the empire. Fortunately, the conquistadors knew nothing of the emperor's isolated retreat; otherwise, they would have destroyed it. [2001]

Ephesus, Turkey

The Ephesus amphitheater is built into the hillside (the way the ancient Greeks did it!) along the road from the port to the town. The apostle Paul visited and wrote letters to the early Christians here. Those letters have become the Biblical book of Ephesians. And, we know Paul walked past this amphitheater at least once in his life. [2007]

Odebolt, Iowa, USA

One of the shields on the side of this corn crib portrays Cracker Jack, the grand daddy of American junk food. In its heyday, almost all the popcorn (the main ingredient) came from Odebolt. In these corn cribs it was stored until it could be hauled off to Chicago. Odebolt was the Popcorn Center of the World. It is only half an hour away from Sac City. [2019]

Cinnamon Bay Plantation, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Look at what is left of Cinnamon Bay Plantation, which was originally established by the Danes in 1717 with the labor of enslaved Africans. What was produced here? Sugar for the European market. Today, the ruins are part of the Virgin Islands National Park. [2014]

New York, New York, USA

This is the Fifth Avenue that was. There seems to be only one or two lonely "pay phones" left. And, casting shadows seems to be the only service they now provide. At least the shade is free. Wherever you find yourself at this moment, look around: The landscapes of the 20th century are disappearing. [2018]

Upton, Kentucky, USA

Roadside space is usually an unexploited resource, but not here. It's a place to discard ancient vehicles, a place to store firewood until you can sell it, and a place to attract your attention after driving for too long on country roads  But you don't really care. You just want to know something about the Hill of Terror! [2019]