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The Last Stop: Vanishing Rest Stops of the American Roadside
The Last Stopdoes far more than capture the remarkable, effective design of our nation's road stops. It preserves a moment in time that is quickly fading, a unique period in the American travel experience when the journey was just as important as the destination. It's clear these modest structures did far more than provide picnic tables, they shaped our collective experience of golden-age car travel across the vast United States.
While driving in 2007 on a solo road trip from California to central Texas, photographer Ryann Ford was struck by a recurring humble, solitary rest stops. A nondescript blur outside the car window to most, the quirky rest stops on Ford's journey seized her attention - mock adobe dwellings in New Mexico, depression-era stone houses in Arizona, faux oil rigs in Texas. What was the story behind these playful pieces of Americana?
After doing some research, Ford was alarmed to learn that these rest areas were currently being closed and demolished all over the country. With countless commercial options at nearly every highway exit, and states needing to cut expenses, many felt that these old rest stops were no longer necessary. Upon learning the news, she immediately felt an urgency to capture as many as she could before they were gone forever.
Ford spent years on the road ducking under fences, stepping over fallen trees, and hiking through snow to reach some of these iconic rest stops; in doing so, she learned that they are so much more than toilets and tables - for the past several decades they have given millions of travelers from around the world rest, relief, hospitality and nostalgia.
States Ryann visited and featured in the book New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada,Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, Mississippi, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota,and Louisiana.
While driving in 2007 on a solo road trip from California to central Texas, photographer Ryann Ford was struck by a recurring humble, solitary rest stops. A nondescript blur outside the car window to most, the quirky rest stops on Ford's journey seized her attention - mock adobe dwellings in New Mexico, depression-era stone houses in Arizona, faux oil rigs in Texas. What was the story behind these playful pieces of Americana?
After doing some research, Ford was alarmed to learn that these rest areas were currently being closed and demolished all over the country. With countless commercial options at nearly every highway exit, and states needing to cut expenses, many felt that these old rest stops were no longer necessary. Upon learning the news, she immediately felt an urgency to capture as many as she could before they were gone forever.
Ford spent years on the road ducking under fences, stepping over fallen trees, and hiking through snow to reach some of these iconic rest stops; in doing so, she learned that they are so much more than toilets and tables - for the past several decades they have given millions of travelers from around the world rest, relief, hospitality and nostalgia.
States Ryann visited and featured in the book New Mexico, Texas, California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada,Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, Mississippi, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota,and Louisiana.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published March 15, 2016
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 18, 2016
This is a clever concept, with great photos and beautiful landscapes for a wonderful book. Highway rest areas are, for the later part of the 20th Century, what diners and motels were for the middle of it. They are (and were) easy to take for granted until they start disappearing -- which is what Ryann Ford noticed and led her to this project. Getting nostalgic about rest areas takes some getting used to, but the ways she frames them in the landscape makes them just as evocative of their era as the Route 66 sites are of theirs. Some of these are as prosaic as can be, but that doesn't diminish their aesthetic impact. And some are really quite interesting as object.
Note that a fine companion to this book book is Christopher Herwig's Soviet Bus Stops.
Note that a fine companion to this book book is Christopher Herwig's Soviet Bus Stops.
February 6, 2017
At one time they were on the side of many roads, a place to stop and have a picnic or catch a quick nap before heading on. But as highway exits started to open up gas stations and places to eat the rest stops stopped being made...a victim of the growth that followed our interstate highways. This glimpse of the 'road side ambassadors' that used to welcome drivers to rest is haunting.
February 8, 2017
Ryann Ford’s photographic treasure, The Last Stop: Vanishing Rest Stops of the American Roadside is a visually stunning celebration of America’s early love affair with touring on the open road. Memories abound in this one-of-a-kind collection. The book was inspired by a road trip Ford took from California to Texas where she discovered the unique, sometimes quirky, and occasionally exotic rest stops that were so much a part of the historic roadside landscape. With her curiosity aroused, she researched the subject and discovered that these iconic bits of Americana were rapidly disappearing.
The Last Stop is the culmination of several years spent locating and photographing these monuments to a bygone era. The pictures are starkly beautiful with the architecture set against desolate landscapes. One of the most striking features is the absence of cars and people at sites that were once a center of road-weary travelers and dusty vehicles. Each image engages the eyes, the mind, and the imagination and though there is reluctance to leave the scene, the reader is compelled to turn the page and discover what next awaits. The text that accompanies each photograph is merely a thumbnail map paired with the name of the location, highway, and latitude and longitude lest it distract from the strong reality of each photograph.
A forward by Joe Ely titled Lord of the Highway sets a thoughtful tone for the book. A Brief History of Rest Stops by cultural historian Joanna M. Dowling, a leading authority on the subject, provides context for the photographs that follow. However, it is Ford’s extraordinary gift for capturing the lonely beauty of her various subjects that is spellbinding.
The Last Stop is the culmination of several years spent locating and photographing these monuments to a bygone era. The pictures are starkly beautiful with the architecture set against desolate landscapes. One of the most striking features is the absence of cars and people at sites that were once a center of road-weary travelers and dusty vehicles. Each image engages the eyes, the mind, and the imagination and though there is reluctance to leave the scene, the reader is compelled to turn the page and discover what next awaits. The text that accompanies each photograph is merely a thumbnail map paired with the name of the location, highway, and latitude and longitude lest it distract from the strong reality of each photograph.
A forward by Joe Ely titled Lord of the Highway sets a thoughtful tone for the book. A Brief History of Rest Stops by cultural historian Joanna M. Dowling, a leading authority on the subject, provides context for the photographs that follow. However, it is Ford’s extraordinary gift for capturing the lonely beauty of her various subjects that is spellbinding.
October 5, 2024
I wish I had done this book. Road trip!
July 3, 2021
As a dedicated road tripper since my youth, I saw this book and had to have it. With a long weekend and some plans coalescing for yet another road trip, I was reminiscing and pulled this book off the shelf to immerse myself in it - that is, more than the casual flip through I had given it when it arrived in the package from the online bookstore. As I read through it, and flipped the pages, I recognized some of the locations while others I felt that I had just whizzed by on some past road trip. I was left with a feeling that I had somehow missed something in those instances looking at these pictures now and how they have been captured. This book is both a reminiscent look at a bygone era and a carefully crafted plea to everyone driving the highways to stop, take a rest and appreciate the culture that is found along the side of the road. For anyone who appreciates road trips for more than just getting from A to B this book will bring back memories and help you to think more deeply about the road trip experience and what it means.
January 29, 2018
As someone who has roadtripped and moved across the country several times, I liked this book -- and even recognized some of the stops from my trips. The photographs of empty rest stops were eerie and a bit post-apocalyptic.
This photoessay does focus heavily on the west and southwest, not venturing much further east than Iowa -- rest stops in Ohio and Pennsylvania (where I travel most now) are always bustling and full of far too many people.
This photoessay does focus heavily on the west and southwest, not venturing much further east than Iowa -- rest stops in Ohio and Pennsylvania (where I travel most now) are always bustling and full of far too many people.
January 21, 2025
I really loved the concept - and the pictures were beautiful. Unfortunately, a lot of the pictures were from the same spots; just different angles. I wish that there were stops from across the whole Unites States, not just a handful of states. This is a coffee table book as well, so it's tough to read with so many interesting articles.
February 23, 2020
Fantastic photography of test stops along Texas highways. Brings lots of nostalgia from all our family road trips growing up.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews