Progress or Destruction of our History

I recently moved to Cary, NC (suburb of Raleigh/Durham) - this town is in a growth explosion like I've observed in my hometown of Dallas back in the 1980's and 1990's. Rarely do you come across old farms left standing in the middle of suburbia in Dallas - if any remain they belong to stubborn landowners that refuse to give up their way of life or the family land all in the name of progress.

Behind me is a shopping center......

So this is the case where I live now - it is JUST HAPPENING, and what this means is I see tons of old farms still standing in the middle of surburbia development or many of them sitting on heirloom farmland just wasting away. It's sad to me - we tear down every iota of history all in the name of progress. Don't get me wrong I love my home in my planned community, but isn't there enough room to preserve parts of our past? Why do we have to go in and tear down a 100-year old farm and a handmade dovetailed barn along with it's 100-year old trees just to build over it? I never understood that mentality in Dallas, and I don't understand it here in Raleigh.



On my way to work every day, I see at least 6 farms that have been here since the early 1800's. One or two are still lived in and lovingly cared for, and the other's were probably abandoned after being bought out, or the owners escaped the suburban sprawl or just sold out due to growth. It's a sad and disappearing remnant of our agricultural past...........a past that none of us would be here unless our forefathers cultivated this land.



An old barn in Morrisville, NC - about a mile from the Morrisville Station Civil War skirmish.

Call me a sentimental sap, but I see beauty in neatly manicured and loved farms.......I see history of the land, the house and a family. I see settlers pulling up to this land in wagons and making that piece of land and home their legacy. I think it's a tragedy for all that history is lost by a single bulldozer razing it over to build a 'master-planned community or parking lot'. A true shame...............tragic..................parking lots and cheaply built homes are the legacy we will leave our children.

Old home in downtown Morrisville - completely being overtaken by new road construction - thus the reason I could barely stop to take a quick picture. It must have been a grand home in its day.......this home was here during the Civil War skirmish.

A proud and loved farm still owned by the original family that settled it - it is surrounded by master planned communities and an incoming highway. I wonder how long they can survive?

So, today on my lunch, I went out and took some quick pictures of some of these old homesteads (mind you most have super roads around them or are surrounded by neighborhood divisions.) I'm sure there time here is limited...........I wanted to capture their beauty and capture their history as much as I could. Getting these photo's was no easy task dodging traffic.........and I took these on my Blackberry with full intentions of getting my good camera and re-taking them on a weekend when traffic is less hectic.

A Tribute to the American Farm..........a dying legacy of our past!