Carden Bottom, Arkansas
I'm not exactly sure when the school was built, but the gym was built in 1938. It appears to have been abandoned in the 1970's. The school and gym are overgrown with brush. The ceiling to the gym has collapsed. I was amazed to find two pianos. Unfortunately, someone turned one on its back and the ivory has been removed from both of them. Many of the windows are broken allowing the weather to destroy much of the flooring and there are a few holes in the ceiling. Fallen ceiling tiles littered the floor.
The tree had no leaves and this particular day started out gloomy and I thought the tree in sepia tone with my fisheye was the perfect way to capture it.
This is the room to the left as you walk inside the foyer to the gym.
You can tell that no one chops down any of the vegetation. I cannot imagine what it will look like in the summer when everything is growing.
Abandoned and forgotten. I'm sure in its day it played beautiful music.
Broken down door with no glass.
I wish I could see how much fuel cost when this pump was closed down in the 1970s.
Entrance to Carden Bottom School
On January first my husband and I found Carden Bottom school. It was quite the adventure. The school and the gym buildings are covered in plant life. If it had been summer, I don't know if we would have found it. It was fortunate that I knew what I was looking for, but from the road, it looked like a patch of land that was grown over with trees and leaves.
Forgotten Piano
It is sad to see a place in such disrepair.
This is the Carden Bottom School. I believe it was built in 1938 and it was abandoned sometime in the 1970s.
There is dirt and dust everywhere. This is the view once you climb the steps and go into the building.
Apparently the leaves like music.
I really liked the way the sun shines through the windows to make these shadows.
This is the Carden Bottom Gym. It was built in 1938 and I believe it was abandoned sometime in the 1970s. The roof has collapsed, but the structure remains.
This is still the room on the left. It amazes me how much the plant life has taken over.
There were no door knobs on any of the doors. Dust cakes every surface. The metal is rusty.
The window light fell on the leg of this piano and it made me happy.
This door runs under an archway from the main school building to the gym. The weather has taken most of the wood flooring. There are gaping holes in the floor on the other side of the door.
The area between the school and gym will probably be completely covered in the spring and summer with vegetation. I really am enamored with the archways.
Archway in to Carden Bottom Gym
This archway leads into a foyer area inside the gym.
This piano sits next to a window in an old classroom. Some of the keys still play notes. It is terribly out of tune. It is difficult for me to imagine leaving a piano to rot in this way. The window next to it is broken so the piano is exposed to the elements.
I really like the archways. I think that I need to go back in the spring and see them again.