THE ARCHITECTURE WHICH DEFINES OUR LANDSCAPE IS A TANGIBLE PART OF OUR COLLECTIVE HISTORY. WHEN HISTORIC STRUCTURES ARE DEMOLISHED, A PART OF OURSELVES IS RELEGATED TO MEMORY AND CONDEMNED TO BE FORGOTTEN. IN THE REDISCOVERY OF OUR ABANDONED, OFF-LIMITS, OR OTHERWISE HIDDEN ENVIRONMENTS, I DOCUMENT THEIR EXISTENCE AS WELL AS OUR OWN THROUGH THE PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE ADVENTURES PRESENTED HERE
I went camping this weekend and was surprised to find this abandoned outdoor theater at Injun Joe's Campground. This may have been called Mark Twain Outdoor Theater at one time. The seats are on one side of the lake and the stage is on the opposite side, thus utilizing the geography as a natural amphitheater. Apparently there used to be several prop buildings on the stage side and even a riverboat.
Labels: abandoned, campground, outdoors, rural exploration, sublunar, theater, urbex
This blog is dedicated to the pursuit of adventure and features urban exploration in Saint Louis, Missouri and beyond.
1. With the exception of historical photos, all of the photographs here are copyrighted and not to be used for any purpose without my consent. The historical imagery is courtesy of the Historical Society or as otherwise noted.
2. "Don't try this at home." I absolutely will not be held responsible for anyone else's stupidity. I do not recommend anyone try visiting any of these locations. Sometimes I am granted access to the things you see here and attempting to follow in my footsteps may get you arrested, hurt or killed.
3. I do not condone or tolerate: vandalism, theft, littering or any other disrespectful activity in any of these locations. I have the utmost respect for the history of these locations and for the history of my city, Saint Louis. "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints."
4. Do not ask me for (or post) specific location information. If identifying information is not provided in the post, there's usually a good reason for that. Any information will be provided either at the time of posting, or updated years later, at my discretion.
5. Any reference to "I/me, we/us" anywhere on this blog is probably just a metaphor. Metaphors are oten employed to simplify complex technical details when storytelling. As such, they can never be considered as admission, nor proof, of guilt; They do not provide sufficient evidence as to who (or what) actually took any of the photos shown here. I/we may or may not actually exist.
I think there was actually a "riverboat" that sat on the far side of the lake. Any sign of it?
As far as the rest of the campground, on my last visit: the go kart track was totally overgrown and I don't think the mini golf was in operation either. The batting cages were only semi-operational and the bathrooms were filthy. If you'd rather, I could return and photograph the rest of the property and let viewers decide for themselves?
I'll stand by my "kind of run down" comment because I'm not the only one who thinks this as evidenced by most of the reviews online. Campgrounds don't get off the hook just because their owners are too busy.. If your family owns it and you are concerned about people like me calling it run down, then it is up to you to help turn things around and I hope you guys can do just that.