This song has been stuck in my head for dayyyys.

Posted on May 16th (7:31pm), 1 day ago

OMG. THIS.

americanguide:

THE SPACES BETWEEN THE PLACES – UPSTATE & SOUTHERN TIER, NEW YORK

There have been numerous references throughout history to “the journey, not the destination”; the idea that one should savor the road being traveled, it being the actual reward above and beyond the destination itself. For me, the journey that consistently offers up its bounty is the vast expanse of upstate New York and its Southern Tier.

To travel this region is a great reminder not only of the current state of things in rural America, but also of what used to be. The forests and watersheds allowed much of this area to thrive in the late 1800s, which made way for the prosperity of farms and small factory towns in the first half of the 20^th century. You’ll see many stores, farms and factories, some still thriving, some barely hanging on and some in a state of disrepair, now only a remnant of what was and likely will never be again.

It’s the ruralness of this area that can take you by surprise; the fact that these folks make do much by themselves so far from any greater metropolitan area. You can imagine that everyone must know their neighbor’s business. For the traveler passing through it seems that so little must have changed over the years, except that the vacant store fronts must once have been open for business, and the barns that are now collapsing in on themselves must have strongly stood upright in the afternoon sun. 

For the rare small town that somehow shrugged off decay and demise and manages to carry on despite it all, it offers a glimpse of how it used to be better. It can genuinely give you a sense of stepping back in time, of driving into a town from decades past. And then you blink your eyes and you’re through it, back into the farmland until the next small town appears.

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Guide to the Northeast Brett Klein lives in Connecticut and works in New York, but prefers small town life and his homestate of Maine. Any chance to get rural is a mental vacation. Follow Klein on Tumblr at The Coast is Clear. His curatorial collection of Americana, rural life, other artists and ephemera can be seen on Tumblr at Tons of Land.

manolescent:

Mont Saint-Michel at night