The Motor City, after decades of neglect and gross mismanagement, is on the rebound. Downtown, Midtown, Corktown, and New Center are thriving. Really, they are.
Then there is Brightmoor in northwest Detroit, or what some folks call Blightmoor. Or Blight More. If you want to experience a rural setting in a major city, then Brightmoor is for you. Detroit, unlike Chicago, doesn't have set neighborhood boundaries, but Wikipedia says it is "generally bordered by Evergreen Road, Telegraph Road, Puritan Road, and Interstate 96." The same source says 12,000 people lived there in 2010, according to the US Census.
On the 14100 block of Braile Street, what appears to have been a silver maple, is resting on this cottage.
Always, always, plant silver maples very far from your house.
I only saw a few of these banners.
We are only temporary residents of this world. As are our creations. But the Bible phrases is more poetically.
"And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Matthew 19:29.
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:2.
According to Wikipedia, Brightmoor began in 1922 as a planned community of inexpensive homes for Appalachian whites who migrated north for auto industry jobs. It was annexed by Detroit four years later.
Most of Brightmoor's houses are one-story units with "Michigan basements," that is, dirt crawl spaces beneath them.
Stick with me on this one, my friends. What's so unusual about this abandoned home? There's a pole in front of it. And? So? What? Well, it's all that is left of a chain link fence that scrappers have stolen. A few minutes after I took this photograph I almost destroyed my left shoe--and nearly injured my foot--when I stumbled over a sharp stump of a scavenged fence post.
A few blocks later I found this message: Scrappers will be shot! But will there be a warning shot first?
Here is Charlie Brown's home, on the northwest corner of Brightmoor.
Many Blightmoor homes have been tarted up.
"Rejoice," it says.
The only cloud I saw that day was painted on this home. It was a glorious day for photography.
This part of the neighborhood has gone from Brightmoor to Blightmoor to No-More-Blight. Do you want wide open skies and spaces? You can find them in some parts of Detroit.
Oh, those two houses are occupied.
I did promise you a rural setting, right?
The weeds are eating my house!
Despite the Douglas firs, eyes will gravitate to the trash. Yes, there are a few two story houses in Brightmoor.
So many Detroit homes have been torched. Insurance fraud? Vandalism? Boredom? Hatred?
Johnny, a neighborhood denizen, told me that white-tailed deer are common in western Brightmoor, which is adjacent to River Rouge.
Finally, all over Detroit I saw gray squirrels with black fur, in fact a majority of the squirrels in Detroit are black. I see them all of the time in Morton Grove. The Chicago Tribune's Mary Schmich saw a black squirrel once--and she reacted as if she discovered Bigfoot. She has a Pulitzer Prize and I don't.
Warning: Urban exploration is a dangerous hobby. Most urbanex spots are in high crime areas. If you choose to follow my lead, please exercise extreme caution.
Next: Part two.
UPDATE: Part two is here
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