Did you ever, while driving down the highway, deviate off of your route? A detour? A mistake? A chance to see something different? Maybe you ended up in a place with a name like West Union or Cherokee. Or maybe you found yourself in a place more unique in it's name...like What Cheer or Holy Cross. Or perhaps, you saw the old cemetery with the wrought iron "Blue Point," hanging alongside a lonely gravel road...the only reminder of a town site long forgotten and abandoned. That is what we are celebrating here. My goal is to eventually go to every community in the state of Iowa, and photograph what makes them unique. There are 99 counties with 947 incorporated communities...but that doesn't include the hamlets, burgs, unincorporated, and yes even the ghost towns. My plan is to not only highlight the 947, but the towns of yesterday too--after all, they have their own stories to tell. Plans in the work include a book and a blog...but those take time and I want to share the beauty and history that I have been photographing since 2009. So, won't you please come along for the ride? We'll be stopping by some neat places that you may not have known ever existed, and who knows? Maybe you'll find something to see as well.
