Day 21 Shakespeare (My Butt) Ghost Town.
Just on the inside of the Western New Mexico border there is a town called Lordsburg, and just south of Lordsburg on the map is a place called "Shakespeare Ghost Town". Being that we are on a tour that we have entitled, "Future Ghost Towns Tour", we are compelled to stop here, and maybe get a few photographs.
We are short on time, but since you can basically do 140 km/h across the desert at any time to catch up, we take the detour. Mark is immediately skeptical. As we cruise down the old road* towards the southern peaks, things look promising: the trail is narrowing, we pass an old cemetery, there is an old wooden sign with an arrow marked "Shakespeare Ghost Town". We have our hopes high that we will find an rickety abandoned main street, with empty wooden shacks and a few rusted old carts for good measure. As we crest over the final summit we see a camper/trailer and a big fence. In the distance there are a few restored sheds. A man comes out immediately to greet us. Somewhat enticing are the sheds, but not worth the admission price of $8 to cross those gates. What a let down. Mark was right when he said it would be "all made up". We have a Pioneer Village right in Toronto for that sort of histo-voyeurism. Rule of the day: If a ghost town is on the map, it isn't a ghost town. This compels me even more to do an old road* tour.
* the old road*
When you are travelling on a highway through the wilderness, remember that the road you are on was built over top of an older route, one initially used by settlers, trappers, explorers, natives. I am perpetually intrigued by the "old road" (ask my band or my wife, who have to suffer my imaginary musings on the topic).
The old road intrigues me, because once a new highway is built, it is often cut along a better topographical line, leaving segments of old road to wither, decompose and die. As you whizz along the new road, you get occasional glimpses of the old road, usually overgrown and winding into nowhere. Who knows what lays down those abandoned paths ... former rest stops, motels, restaurants, inns, ghost towns ? Like modern day rivers, roads act as the lifeblood to many communities, depositing wealth of all sorts onto it's gravel shores.
Old roads are especially evident in mountainous areas, where modern innovations in blasting and excavating have promoted more efficient highway infrastructure. On this tour I've tried to take a few pictures of them, in Northern Ontario, BC, California and Arizona. It's down these roads that I want to explore, finding ghost towns that didn't make the map, and maybe the occasional abandoned wagon or motel.
Just on the inside of the Western New Mexico border there is a town called Lordsburg, and just south of Lordsburg on the map is a place called "Shakespeare Ghost Town". Being that we are on a tour that we have entitled, "Future Ghost Towns Tour", we are compelled to stop here, and maybe get a few photographs.
We are short on time, but since you can basically do 140 km/h across the desert at any time to catch up, we take the detour. Mark is immediately skeptical. As we cruise down the old road* towards the southern peaks, things look promising: the trail is narrowing, we pass an old cemetery, there is an old wooden sign with an arrow marked "Shakespeare Ghost Town". We have our hopes high that we will find an rickety abandoned main street, with empty wooden shacks and a few rusted old carts for good measure. As we crest over the final summit we see a camper/trailer and a big fence. In the distance there are a few restored sheds. A man comes out immediately to greet us. Somewhat enticing are the sheds, but not worth the admission price of $8 to cross those gates. What a let down. Mark was right when he said it would be "all made up". We have a Pioneer Village right in Toronto for that sort of histo-voyeurism. Rule of the day: If a ghost town is on the map, it isn't a ghost town. This compels me even more to do an old road* tour.
* the old road*
When you are travelling on a highway through the wilderness, remember that the road you are on was built over top of an older route, one initially used by settlers, trappers, explorers, natives. I am perpetually intrigued by the "old road" (ask my band or my wife, who have to suffer my imaginary musings on the topic).
The old road intrigues me, because once a new highway is built, it is often cut along a better topographical line, leaving segments of old road to wither, decompose and die. As you whizz along the new road, you get occasional glimpses of the old road, usually overgrown and winding into nowhere. Who knows what lays down those abandoned paths ... former rest stops, motels, restaurants, inns, ghost towns ? Like modern day rivers, roads act as the lifeblood to many communities, depositing wealth of all sorts onto it's gravel shores.
Old roads are especially evident in mountainous areas, where modern innovations in blasting and excavating have promoted more efficient highway infrastructure. On this tour I've tried to take a few pictures of them, in Northern Ontario, BC, California and Arizona. It's down these roads that I want to explore, finding ghost towns that didn't make the map, and maybe the occasional abandoned wagon or motel.
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