Strong, enduring – and abandoned

It is not uncommon to find a chimney all by itself in a field somewhere. It is the one part of a house that remains after the house collapses following decades of non-occupancy. The fireplace and chimney had to be constructed from brick or stone even if the rest of the house was built with wood. Usually, it’s a skinny little thing that keeps on enduring long past the last occupants abandoned the place, and long past the rest of the house has disappeared.

So I was quite surprised when I came across this very substantial fireplace and chimney still standing its ground in the middle of a field, somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley.

chimney in the field

It was constructed with rocks, bricks, and cinderblocks. The cinderblocks, especially, seemed out of place. Were they used later on to repair deteriorating brick work? Were the bricks there from the beginning? What time period are we looking at?

Bricks and cinderblock

Weeds growing inside the fireplace seemed particularly out of place but reinforced the theme of nature taking over the man-made structure:

Weeds in the fireplace

These little baby vines are just beginning to climb up on the lichen-studded layered rock:

Lichen on chimney rock

More mature vines have spent years embedding themselves in the mortar and brick, strong and enduring themselves.

vines

I wonder what kind of a house stood here, who built it, what kind of families lived here, who were the last occupants, why did they leave? There’s only one thing I know for sure: they believed in warm, cozy fires to keep them warm.

Don’t you just love it when three different photo challenges come together as a unified theme!?

The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Endurance.
Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Strong.
Sunday Stills, The Next Challenge: Abandoned.