Joe’s Place

This is “Joe’s place. The sign in front reads “Joe’s Triangle” (it’s hard to make out the second word) and it’s impossible for me to determine what it once was, except for the fact it sits at a triangular intersection between two roads leading into the small town of Eden, North Carolina, a short distance from our home in SW Virginia. As I was making this photo and the ones below I was thinking about who Joe was and what he did here. Perhaps it was a bar, perhaps a small store selling who knows what, perhaps it was a barber shop, or perhaps it was just “Joes” home. One of the neatest things about photography is being able to imagine these sorts of thoughts about the scene you are photographing. This is especially true when deserted buildings are concerned, or when you see a faded-paint sign on the side of a farm building out in the middle of the country. Unfortunately, American has in many respects become too urbanized and we often fail to notice remnants from our history still standing, even if they are usually dilapidated and overgrown with wild vegetation. Joe’s is from a simpler time. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be able to go back there and revisit places like this when they were in their prime.