Low Church

Our walk in Easo culminated with arriving at what the villagers call the “low church”.  There was another church sitting high upon a bluff that was, of course, called the “high church”, but that walk (and climb!) was a bit too much in the very humid temps, so I was happy to visit this church instead.  Per a villager standing nearby, this is a Catholic church.  It doesn’t appear to be used, as it was a Sunday morning when we visited, and it was clearly not open for Mass.  But, it did seem to be cared for.

The church tower was very impressive for a not very large church.  Altho it was a pale grey in color, begin exposed to the elements over the years, aged it to a lovely patina.  The cornerstone above the front door indicated it was built in 1898, so I’m sure it’s faced its fair share of tropical storms, sunny days and wind.

The tower windows were impressive as well.  There were large stones which seemed to serve as the casing for the windows.  These were on the tower of the church, perhaps on the way up to ring the church bell when the church was still in use.

Here’s another view of the windows.  It seems to confirm my thought that the windows were more for air circulation in the tower than to look out of them.  Notice the way the sort of levers in the window are facing – downward.  One can’t see out of them very well, but they would let in light and air.

On the other side of the church was an old cemetery.  Many of the headstones seemed to be made from the same type of stone that built the church.  The cross sort of leaning into the headstone spoke of the age of the cemetery as well.

Enjoy!

Deserted History

There was one building that caught my eye as we walked down Main Beach Rd. in Apia.  It was a deserted building, which, of course, are some of my favorite photo subjects.  But, there was something different about this building.  I had some true history to attach to it, and didn’t have to use my imagination.

Samoa became an independent country in 1962.  Before that, it was under the control of Germany from 1899 – 1914, and then New Zealand from 1914 – 1962.  In the above photo you can see the celebration of its independence which occurred right in front of the old courthouse, this building!

Today, tho, the windows are mostly covered and intact, altho a few have the panes gone.  Interestingly, they weren’t broken out in a jagged fashion – just seemingly removed.

And, altho the driveway to the main entrance is blocked off by rocks, there are still some native flowers growing along the front walk around sort of porch of the building.

I’m not certain the balcony would be safe to stand on any longer, but I did use my imagination for this image, and pictured politicians making speeches announcing the formal declaration of independence.

And, finally, I took one last look at this historic deserted building.  Notice, no graffiti artists have “decorated” the walls or anything.  It’s almost as if the people of Apia still respect the history of this building, even tho it’s deserted.

Enjoy!

Castolon – On Ross Maxwell Road

The village of Castolon, on Ross Maxwell Road, has an interesting history, and I thought was worth its own blog posting.  It is located toward the formal end of Ross Maxwell Road, just before it turns into Old Maverick Road.

Old Window in Castolon

The location of Castolon was first settled in 1901 by Cipriano Hernandez, who farmed the area, and who built the original Castolon Store, which is now known as the Alvino House.  The above image is of one of the windows in that house.

Old Post Office in Castolon

The Castolon area was on the site of a US Army encampment, to house units patrolling the US-Mexican border.  This area was attracting Mexicans fleeing Mexico during the Mexican Revolution of 1910.  However, by the time the camp was completed, the revolution was over and the area quiet.  The Army never occupied the buildings.  So, instead of housing Army units, the buildings were used for a trading post and a base for farming cotton.  This old post office is in what is now the general store in Castolon. 

Oldest House in Castolon

The images shown above and below are both of what is the oldest building in Castolon, and is located below the buildings that the Army built.  This old building held both an old store and café/residence.  It’s hard to tell which is which, but I believe the image below, may be from the residence, and is a yard where perhaps their burro may have been kept.

Adobe Yard

Enjoy!

Mariscal Mine

We followed River Road as far as Mariscal Mine.  The road beyond the mine became extremely rough and our off-road abilities probably wouldn’t hold up to the extreme conditions of the road as it continued.  But, luckily, the road was in good enough condition to allow us to see this very cool deserted mine area.  Altho this mine is known as the Mariscal Mine today, in the past, it was also known as the Lindsey Mine, Ellis Mine and Vivianna Mine.

Mariscal Mine Operations

This was a good view of the overall mine operations, at least as they exist today.  Cinnabar ore (used to make mercury) was discovered in the mountain that the mine is situated on back in the early 1900s.  This mine was responsible for the production of about one quarter of all the mercury produced in the US between 1900 and 1943.  The area where I was standing when I took this image was the location of the homes that the miners lived in (not visible in this image).  They were very plain and square, and I’m guessing belonged to the lowest level worker. 

Kiln

As I headed up the path toward the main mine operations, I noticed a round structure off on the left of the path.  As I photographed it, I wondered if it were some sort of catchment area.  However, I noticed that the inside of the structure wasn’t smooth and non-porous enough to hold any sort of liquid, like water.  As it turns out, this was an old brick kiln.  As we’ll see in just a bit, this kiln was most likely used to fire bricks used to build a furnace that processed the ore to extract the mercury.  As I walked further down the path, I did come across stacks of bricks in the area, mostly broken at this point.

Window

As I continued up the path, I came across some stone buildings, in various stages of falling apart.  I was taken by the view thru this window, up closer to the actual mining operations.  I do love this old building ruins, and couldn’t resist capturing a few images of them.

Two Windows

Here’s another view of another of the deserted stone buildings.  I found out that these stone buildings, built by the Vivianna Mine owners, perhaps built as homes for some of the managers and supervisors of the mine, were never occupied.  The time the mine was known as the Vivianna Mine was toward the very end of its functional existence.

Mine up the Hill

I was beginning to get a better view of the mine shafts that still stand as I moved up the path.  I always find it interesting how nature tends to reclaim her territory once man tires of using her environment and moves on.  The prickly pear cacti seem very happy in their reclaimed space.

Condensers

I was very curious about these 4 circular formations in the slab of concrete.  It appears there were once 6, but these 4 are all that’s left.  I believe these are the remains of condensers.  I think the ore was processed here to extract the mercury from the ore that was mined.

Scott Furnace

Here are the remains of the Scott furnace, and the mine shafts in the background.  And, I can now see what the kiln was used for.  The broken bricks that I mentioned above were all just below the remains of this furnace. 

Fossil at the Mine

On the way back down the path, returning to our Jeep, a fellow explorer spotted this wonderful fossil in the stones on the path.  I don’t know what it’s a fossil of, but love the texture in the piece.  I like to think of it as a piece of art in this relic of past industry.

Enjoy!