Abandoned Car Route 66
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Abandoned Car Route 66
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture & Enhancement
Description
An old car still sits on the along the edge of Route 66, the famous Main Street of America. The car, found at the northern end of Petrified Forest National Park, is in the only area in the National Park System containing a section of Historic Route 66.
Route 66’s “golden age” lasted from 1937, when the last stretch of pavement was finished, to 1967, when the beginnings of Interstate 40 were laid out. It died in 1985, officially erased from the list of federal highways. The remains of the old Mother Road were left for dead leaving traces of an old roadbed and weathered telephone poles to mark the path of through the National Park.
One of the main landmarks in this part of Arizona is the Painted Desert Inn, the vision of Herbert Lore, a local homesteader. Lore began constructing the two-story Inn on a high perch overlooking the Painted Desert in 1920. It was first called the "Stone Tree House" because so much petrified wood was used in its construction. In 1924, he registered it as a business and claimed property under the Homestead Act. For almost twelve years, Lore operated the Inn as a tourist attraction. Visitors could eat meals in the lunchroom, purchase Native American arts and crafts, and enjoy a cool drink in the downstairs taproom. Rooms were available for $2-4 dollars per night. Lore also gave 2-hour motor car tours through the Black Forest in the nearby Painted Desert. An isolated oasis in the Painted Desert area, it was without electrical connections, so an onsite lighting-plant was built to supply electricity. Water was hauled from Adamana, ten miles south on the Puerco River. In 1936, the Painted Desert Inn and other sections of land owned by Herbert Lore were purchased by Petrified Forest National Monument.
During the Dust Bowl days, thousands of America’s heartland residents fled west on Route 66 in search of a better life – for as far as their cars would take them anyway... Hollywood documented the era in The Grapes of Wrath movie, which included scenes at the Painted Desert Inn.
Some digital effects were applied to the original image after the photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during the transition. Ordered images will not contain the FAA watermark
Image copyright 2018 Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
July 8th, 2018
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Viewed 311 Times - Last Visitor from Ottawa, ON - Canada on 04/24/2024 at 10:02 PM
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