DO YOU EVER WONDER, as I do, about the history of a place?
Look at this old farm site in the area of Ellsworth in western Wisconsin:
Imagine the farmer who settled here, proud to own a piece of land. Consider how he labored to build a barn and a house and then erected a windmill.
The windmill once stood proud, fins catching the wind, providing energy to pump water from the well. An old pump remains dwarfed in the presence of the now bladeless windmill.
The barn, with numerous additions, seemingly defies age in her strong, straight rooflines. But her windows are boarded, her roof rusted.
Mismatch of fence panels askew presents a certain disconnected visual chaos.
Was it illness or lack of money or a non-caring attitude or none of the above that caused this farm site to fall into disrepair and apparent abandonment?
What happened to the house? Who drove the vintage car? Where are the horses? So many questions and no answers.
The place is for sale, or maybe it’s just the car and/or manure spreader.
What is the story of this farm? Every place, every person, writes a story.
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
As we drive the countryside it’s sad to see these farm places deteriorating with no-one to care for them. From the looks of it, it appears it has been abandoned for awhile; possibly the bank now owns it….what a shame. Someone’s history is hidden deep within it’s structures; let’s hope someone will buy it and bring it back to life.
I feel the same as you when I see farmhouses abandoned, barns caving.
Every place like this certainly does have a story and hopefully the story will have a sweet happy chapter added to it when the new owner buys and takes it over. If indeed it is for sale. 🙂
I love your optimism.
What a beautiful old farm. Not hard to imagine a bunch of young ones running around.
How true. And it would be a great place for a family, except for the absence of a house.
Yes, I often wonder about those types of places. I think of the person who first moved there, and how proud they must have been to be moving into such a place, and the children who grew up there, calling it home.
Have you ever seen old photos in antique stores? These make me very sad, as I think about the person who was having that photo taken, usually for some special occasion. I am sure that they never would have predicted that their wedding photo, or their new baby’s photo would end up in a basket of old photos selling for 25c each. Then I wonder where all of my old photos and my home will be in 50 years.
Yes, those old portraits hit me the same way as you. Sad that no one cares anymore.
This is an amazing writing prompt. And there are so many layers in that photo. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to buy a place like this and make a writers’ retreat center?
Oh, a writers’ retreat center. Great idea.
There so many of these dotting our countrysides. Around here, many have been bought by neighboring farms and the owners have retired to town living. Because of our ridges/rugged terrain we don’t experience the large corporate type buy-outs. Many memories and pieces lost in the mists of time…………….
Then that makes your area of Minnesota even more dear, that farms remain smaller and local.
It does. There are so many “Centennial” farms (proudly noting their “birthdate” on the barn!).
If only walls could talk! Humm per a previous post, I wonder if this was a dairy farm at one time due to the white barn!
Yes, if only…
The photo reminded me of a property once owned by a family member. The property was abandoned due to soil contamination from the next door property(improperly stored material from the railway). Someone will potentially be able to rescue this land in another 77 years (I think initially it was to be left along for 100 years).
That is sad, to hear of the lack of care for the land. Thankfully we have advanced in our consideration of the land.
Every time I pass an old abandoned farm, I wonder those same things..and then I want to get out of my car and explore, but I almost never do. I’m always afraid I’ll meet up with some crazy person who lives in the barn
Laughing here, Jackie. Crazy person in the barn…perhaps, but unlikely.