Stony Point, NC – 1993
I first became aware of Stony Point, NC in 1993 on a drive from Charlotte to Banner Elk. Old NC90 winds northwest on the way to US321. You parallel the train tracks past sleepy hamlets from a bygone era.
On my first trip through this small town in northwest North Carolina in 1993, I was startled to find this ghost of Jim Crow still visible on an abandoned brick building. It appeared that the place had once housed an upholstery company and a used car business. Though the signs on this building were all faded, and the building had experienced a fire in it’s past that had collapsed part of it, yet it still stood as testament.
Shocking in 1993 to still see signs like this in the south, I pulled over in the late afternoon and got out of my car to set up my medium format camera. The surroundings were completely empty. Though I had the feeling of eyes peering out from curtains in the nearby houses. I have been chased off of places before by irate property owners so my guard was up, as well as the hairs on the back of my neck as I quickly made this single image.
Flash forward twelve years later to 2005 and I am traveling near Stony Point and decided to see if the building still stands. Surprisingly it was. But this terrible reminder of history was finally demolished in late 2008. Good riddance.
Stony Point – 2005