The little hamlet of Adair, in eastern Adair County, is a textbook example of the shrinking of the rural population of Missouri. What little remains, however, is striking. The beautiful church, while looking a little bedraggled in the rain, still graces the hill above the town.
Across the street, a small store sits, slowly decaying.
Update: the church is apparently St. Mary’s Church, built in 1904, abandoned since at least 1974, and on the National Register. I visited again in November 2012.
Interesting post. I have always found Adair to be interesting — sort of rusticly scenic the way it is nestled in the lush rolling hills east of Kirksville, but also kind of eerie for its vacantness. A good example of Missouri’s answer to a western ghost town. There are still a few (mostly elderly) people hanging around, and a few buildings are still standing, but it is more of a relic than a living town.