Suburban Underground Vadders

Black Bayou School

Above is the school as seen from the main road. I don’t actually know the true name of this school but my story goes as follows: This was my first expedition to an abandoned building outside of Texas by myself. This place totally gave me the creeps more than most other places I’ve been. I was visiting my grandparents in Atlanta, TX and we took a trip to Shreveport Louisiana. On the way we passed a bayou called “The Black Bayou” which is pictured below.

A little further down the road my grandfather pointed out a building to the left that was overgrown with foliage. He told me that just before the Civil Rights movement when “separate but equal” was still going on, the state built a school for black children that at the time was state-of-the-art. The black families in this area, however did not want to go to this school because they wanted to move forward on the desegregation of the schools. The result was a brand new, top-notch school that was never used and was left to the swamp and forest to claim. To some that may seem a waste but it was necessary for the times and left me something new and unique to explore.

A few days later when I was leaving for home I came back to the school so I could actually stop and look around and take some pictures. The weather that day was particularly strange, it was overcast but the sky was bright like the clouds were thin and very close to the ground. This made some of the pictures come out with an almost dream-like look to them. The ominous tree below was in the middle of the field in front of the school and is a good example of this strange weather while adding to the eeriness of the whole place.

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