Welcome to Rural Rust
I was initially going to name this site “ruraldecay.com” or “rural-decay.com”. I changed my mind because I feel that it is too negative of a term, the other reason is that I am not going to pay over $1,000.00 for the “ruraldecay.com” DNS name “rural-decay.com” was under $20.00!
In my mind, decay is always a bad thing, like rotten, spoiled, or bad. Rust is different, rust is a patina earned over time, it adds character!
It is sad to see houses 80 to 90 or more years old falling apart due to neglect, when a young couple built it, and first moved in, it was their pride and joy. They raised their family, tended the farm, now they are gone their children have that newer house with AC, on the other side of the farm, the grandchildren went to college, never returned, drawn to the “excitement” of the city.
There are many small towns that were once lively centers of agricultural communities that often appear to have
disappeared overnight, while others look like they languished for years before they gave up
For over 15 years, I have been photographing abandoned towns, farms, houses, and equipment in rural southern Virginia, the eastern shore, and northern North Carolina, and I thought I would share them here.
I never intentionally photograph occupied homes, I think that’s rude, and I am not trying to shame anyone, but documenting something before it is gone. If you have seen anything here that you know is occupied, please let me know.
I don’t trespass, if I have to shoot from the road, I shoot from the road. I have the lenses and tools to get close enough to enjoy.