
Florida’s Ghost Highway: The Old Red Brick Road - rmason
http://floridatraveler.com/florida-ghost-highway/
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adregan
I have such fond memories of wasting hours driving down the old Dixie Highway.

That area of Florida is predominately potato farms (chip potatoes), and in
another life—before I was a programmer and after I was grad student studying
poetry—I found myself selling crop insurance in a town nearby when I suddenly
had to take over my father's business.

Any chance I got to take a drive down that old brick road, I would. There were
quicker routes to the farmers I was visiting, but none as pleasant. It was
truly the best part of a fairly awful period in my life, and I've never been
sure if I should recommend the drive to others as it's really out of the way.
But if you want to see some "old Florida," it's one of the nicest ways to do
so.

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Nav_Panel
Ahh, this is lovely :)

In Upstate NY, we have some similar old forgotten roads, except with yellow
bricks instead of red ones. Here was one near where I grew up:
[http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2009/09/01/the-yellow-
brick...](http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2009/09/01/the-yellow-brick-road)

From one of the comments:

> _Yellow bricks were manufactured in many local places like Mechanicville and
> Ravena._

> _The creator of the Wizard of Oz was manufactured around here, too! L. Frank
> Baum grew up in Chittenango NY and appeared on stage a few times in Troy
> during his failed career as an actor. So the Yellow Brick Road in the Wizard
> of Oz was more likely inspired by the yellow brick roads in the Hudson
> Valley...not the other way around._

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wahern
Here's another red brick road in Florida.

    
    
      http://filmnorthflorida.com/photos/location/Milton:-Red-Brick-Road
      http://www.aaroads.com/guide.php?page=ostfl
    

When I ran track and cross country at Milton High School our coaches liked to
bus us to this road. It was easy for the coach to follow us in the bus because
of the adjacent side roads. And it was nice for the students because it was a
straight shot--no running a circuit--without cross traffic.

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awqrre
Google Street view (poor quality):
[https://www.google.com/maps/@29.6422288,-81.3742022,3a,75y,3...](https://www.google.com/maps/@29.6422288,-81.3742022,3a,75y,350.55h,59.52t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1s_Ns0bS252MLLIVJooKciDA!2e0!7i3328!8i1664!9m2!1b1!2i39)

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macintux
Vaguely related: I lament the ongoing work to pave gravel and dirt roads.

Leave the slow roads alone for those who enjoy the less-travelled route. We
have enough highways.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Lobby your local departments of transportation please (EDIT: really, please
please please).

Iowa is coming around to letting underutilized roads return to gravel as a
cost savings measure [1]; expect other government bodies to follow suit.

[1] [https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/7/6/iowa-dot-
chief-...](https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/7/6/iowa-dot-chief-the-
system-is-going-to-shrink)

EDIT 2: If you've already gotten this far in my comment, do take the 2-3
minutes reading the above citation/link; its eye-opening.

~~~
FireBeyond
One of my fathers friend's used to drive a grader on the Stuart Highway
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Highway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Highway)),
from Adelaide to Darwin in Australia, through the desert. 1700 miles through
some pretty inhospitable country, in stifling heat (pre AC days, too, I
believe this was late 60s, early 70s). He'd get to the other end, have five
days off, and drive back.

I simply can't imagine that.

~~~
dawnerd
There's a show on Netflix called Outback Truckers that shows some of these
remote roads. It's amazing the work it takes to get basic supplies to some of
the remote outposts.

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euroclydon
Bricks made in Birmingham in the 20's, turpentine plantations... Reminds me of
the forced labor chronicled in _Slavery by Another Name_ , which is a great
read that I highly recommend.

[https://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-
Enslavement-A...](https://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-
Americans/dp/0385722702)

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vtbassmatt
The old Yellowstone Trail [1] roadbed is still visible in Redmond, WA [2].

[1]: [http://yellowstonetrail.org/](http://yellowstonetrail.org/) [2]:
[http://www.historylink.org/File/2363](http://www.historylink.org/File/2363)

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paulcole
Wow, I grew up an hour from there and never heard of it before. Neat!

