On the first post of this blog, I said that I would be going off-topic more often, and making this blog a bit more personal. This is the first of such posts. Our family likes to go on road trips and explore historical places. We live in an interesting corner of Florida, where there are many cool–sometimes abandoned–places. I expect to put up many road trip posts like this one. I hope they interest you.

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A town has been wiped off the map. In its place are a pair of a strip malls and a colorful biker bar that somehow escaped the bulldozers.

Welcome to Bayard, Florida. Click the photos to see them in full resolution.

Bayard Country (Antique) Store in Bayard, Florida

I wish I had gotten a better picture of this old country store. I shot this in the car as we drove by. It’s too late now–it has been bulldozed. When I heard they were going to tear down the Country Store, I figured all the nearby abandoned places were all shortly going to be history, and I was right. Therefore, in 2004, we went on a short trip down US-1 to get photos of them all. I didn’t know at the time why I was gathering these photos; I just wanted to.

View from across US-1, south of Bayard.

This old house interested me. Way back when, it must have had a front lawn, but before they tore it down, the house literally opened out on US-1. Check it out:

View from sidewalk.

Check out the homemade swingset! I would have loved the ladder, but nowadays, the whole thing would be a safety hazard.

Notice how it's constructed of old pipes.

Off to the left of this picture is another old house, set further off the street. You can see the rest of the above swingset on the right side. I think someone still lived there when I took the picture, so I didn’t get too close.

Just north of the old house, south of Bayard, FL.

Also nearby was an old tourism office.

Old Tourist Office along US-1, south of Bayard

And just down the road aways was this old “motor hotel” or hotel. It’s gone now, too. I suppose it was an eyesore, but someone loved it once.

This old motel used to be south of Bayard, Florida

Bayard technically still exists, and there are some lovely old houses down the side roads, but the “downtown” area of Bayard through US-1 is now all modernized.