Ghost Town Tour. Stop #2: Balaclava & A Sad Little Schoolhouse

Another stop on our dreary little road trip of dead towns included a drive along the Opeongo Road where we stumbled across an old abandoned schoolhouse. It looks like some reclusive creep once lived here but there seemed to be no sign of life when we stopped by.

I dare you to spend the night out here all alone with no cellphone - just a flashlight and a can of beans. Would you be more afraid of demons/ghosts, aliens or redneck hillbillies?

After we drove along the Opeongo, we visited a skeleton of a town called Balaclava. It had a pretty cool looking mill, a general store and a few houses that were all being swallowed up by weeds and water. There are still some functioning houses here and I wondered if any of the residents would be freaked out at night with so much history creeping around in the shadows.

The next ghost town road trip installment is the best yet. Stay tuned for Foymount.

Anal Wood.

Is this a highly

organized geriatric guy's wood pile or the work of a mad man?

Look at those manicured trees and the perfectly cut lawn.

He's the Edward Scissorhands of log stacking.

G-llama-rous.

Our local produce market has some pretty adorable pets including two golden retrievers that hang out all day with chickens riding on their backs, a few fat kitty cats and a pair of llamas. There is a white one who looks kind of like Nick Nolte in his alcoholic years (who I will try and photograph next time. He's skittish and seems to be going through permanent withdrawl and doesn't like much attention). Then there's this brown beauty, who is the Tammy Faye Baker of llamas. Enjoy.

Ghost Town Tour. Stop #1: Vennachar

A few weeks ago, the old man and I went to a wedding about 4 hours northeast of where we live. The drive up there is pretty beautiful at times, but mostly desolate. Before we left, we looked up some ghost towns in the area to occupy us on our drive back. Most of the towns (settlements would be a better name for them) are all but stone foundations now, swallowed up by nature, but there were a few that were pretty strange and cool.

I'll start with a pretty creepy and run down little place called Vennachar. Yea, you heard me - VENNACHAR. I have no bloody clue why it has such a strange name but that's what they call it. Apparently it used to be quite the place back in the early 1900s with plenty of action including a grand hotel, a church and a general store. About 10 years after it was settled, a huge fire burned most of the place down and they had to start again. Clearly it never managed to regain its charm and remains, for the most part, a shit sty.

This is the sad little (homemade looking) cemetery.

This church could be pretty neat if it wasn't entirely covered in insul-brick...

A lot of the houses looked pretty dumpy and run down - many of them abandoned.

This place looked pretty sketchy...like someone left in a hurry.

Loved the gang signage out front (which many houses had in this town)...

Speaking of signage...

And their 'new' church looks pretty dumpsville...

And finally, the general store that is no longer a general store - just a run down house.

I must say, being in this place was pretty depressing. It's in the middle of nowhere with no city or town for a couple of hours. What do people do for a living there? Is it a drug haven? Is it a hideout for wanted criminals? How could anyone who is left there make a living in Vennachar?

My next ghost town post will be of an old schoolhouse on the Opeongo Road and a quaint but forgotten town called Balaclava.