Thursday, June 9, 2016

Around Stuttgart

On Memorial Day, I headed out to get a few more pictures from the Delta.  I drove out towards the town of Stuttgart, which is only about 45 miles away from Little Rock.  Along the way I found some interesting old buildings, so I pulled over for a few pictures as a huge thunderstorm was looming off in the distance.

IMG_8056

Down the road was this building. The paint has faded, but the sign reads “Why Buy Japanese – They Won’t Buy Our Rice.” It’s been awhile since that was painted, but hopefully whoever did it wasn’t around to see the Japanese engine in my car.

IMG_8064

Further down the road was this old church, which doesn’t look like it has too much longer before the walls lose the battle with gravity.

IMG_8098

And driving a bit more, I passed by this old building. I’m not sure exactly what it is used for, but it was by far the tallest building in the flat lands of the Delta that surrounded it.

IMG_8105

IMG_8139-2

The large thunderstorm that had been looming in the distance finally caught up with me, and it began raining when I drove into Stuttgart.

IMG_8175

Stuttgart was founded by German immigrants in the late 1800s, and is one of the two county seats for Arkansas County. The soil around Stuttgart is perfect for growing rice, and the town is dominated by huge facilities that store and process rice. Riceland Foods, the world's largest rice miller and marketer, is based out of Stuttgart. Besides the massive Riceland buildings, there are several elevators like this one across the city.

IMG_8185

It started pouring down rain, and I stayed in the car since I didn't want the camera to get too wet. The storm dumped a lot of rain on Stuttgart, and I drove around in the rain trying to find something to get a picture of. I eventually ended up visiting the same old elevator again, and got a shot just after dusk. This is actually the same old building that is in the two pictures above, but from another angle. I tried to get a few pictures and then made the drive back home.

IMG_8257

***And sorry if the pictures aren't showing - Flickr is being weird about hosting images right now***

No comments: