Located beside highway 8 just west of Steelville Missouri, Snelson-Binkler House is an unassuming property, signposted as the early courthouse of Crawford County it was also an overnight stopping point on the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
The trial of tears is a well known event in american history when forced movement of thousands of native americans resulted in massive numbers of deaths as they were forced to walk a distance of over 800 miles to the new lands they had been allotted (now Oklahoma)
It is perhaps fitting that I came across lizards as I entered the building, native americans on the plains associate lizards with healing and survival and in other tribes they are associated with protection and renewal, kind of fitting really.
It never ceases to amaze me that such locations are left unattended all across america yet they don't suffer the same treatment that they would back home in the UK. There is absolutely no way this building would even be standing back home, it would have been set on fire numerous times after it had been trashed completely by vandals.
It's really kind of sickening to think about, it's not a case of might be spoiled, in the UK it definitely would be spoiled, it really does leave me questioning what the hell is it about UK kids and teens that make them behave this way.
This pristine interior would at the very least be entirely covered in graffiti, not the Banksy style but more of the 'doz' 'baz' and 'spaz' variety, the more I think about it the more it hacks me off.
This pristine interior would at the very least be entirely covered in graffiti, not the Banksy style but more of the 'doz' 'baz' and 'spaz' variety, the more I think about it the more it hacks me off.
The site also includes a barn and storage shed as well as the old familier outhouse, all of which are open and undamaged.
After a good look around I left the place exactly as I found it breaking with the english tradition of trashing a place for no reason at all.
Wouldn't it be great to have such things back home just left open to the public. Truth is that is never going to happen, culturally we have a tile off somewhere and it really pisses me off.
Wouldn't it be great to have such things back home just left open to the public. Truth is that is never going to happen, culturally we have a tile off somewhere and it really pisses me off.