A while back I had the opportunity to take a nice road trip with my mom, and I used it to introduce her to a photographic feature I’ve visited many times: the Gray house in Sims, a ghost town southwest of New Salem.

One of the first things I noticed is that a large section of brick is starting to fall away from one of the walls. This is sad, because the brick is not only part of this house’s history, but integral to this history of Sims itself.

Since it wasn’t apparent in the last photo, I thought I’d give you a better look. Here it’s pertty obvious that this wall of brick is pulling away from the rest of the house, and it’ll be scattered on the prairie grass pretty soon.

It’s really obvious in this close-up. Photogenic now, certainly remarkable when it eventually peels loose all the way. It’s sad to see this happening, as I’m among the myriad photography buffs who have paid repeated visits to this house over the years and hate to see it deteriorating further.

Of course, this has played out constantly over the past several years. Looking at the house from the southwest, it’s hard to tell that the brick exterior of the house even existed without looking closely.

If you look around the house, however, the evidence is there. The brick from this house has pulverized all around its foundation over the years.

There’s still a little bit of brick atop this little alcove, and the blocks which are tucked in safely under the eaves look like they’ll be there for quite some time. I can’t imagine how cool this house looked when it was intact.

The chimney looks like it’s seen better day,s too. That’s unfortunate. It was much taller when it was when it was in pristine condition, according to photos in this PDF.

I took plenty more photos of this house, which I’ll include in another post. It was fantastic to get out; I hadn’t wielded my cameras since November! 2022 was a miserable year for recreation, as was 2023. Hopefully 2024, as much of a roller-coaster ride as it’s been so far, will provide more opportunities.