Abandoned Wiregrass

- Blurb -

Welcome to the Wiregrass, a place where abandoned doesn' t always mean vacant, and vacant doesn' t always mean empty. Nestled between Florida' s sugar-white beaches and the agriculturally rich Black Belt, there exists a land of endless peanut fields and high cotton. This is the deepest of the Deep South, Dixie' s last stand before accents and culture take on a decidedly Northern flavor along the Gulf Coast and Florida Peninsula. Narrow asphalt ribbons wind through this region' s pine forests, passing through small farming communities that are fighting for survival in the global economy. The lingering aftershocks of the 2008 economic crisis and 2018' s Hurricane Michael still reverberate here. These pressures, along with an aging and declining population, have created a region where abandoned buildings are commonplace. These forgotten structures speak of dreams lost; from crumbling sharecropper shacks, to desolate main streets, to modern homes where the owners simply moved on. Take a journey with award-winning author and photographer Brian Braden as he chronicles the slow-motion apocalypse of abandoned homes and businesses of the Wiregrass and also discovers a place of hope and transition, where citizens fight to revitalize their hometowns and preserve a rich cultural heritage.