Life in The Jungle #14180

The Story

Long abandoned, this old overgrown gas pump has developed a noticeable lean and lost some of its metal panels which let the mechanical innards show. But above all, the most unique feature of this fossil fuel relic is the small bush growing right up through and out the top! Mother Nature wasn’t content to simply surround this old gas pump, she decided to weave herself into the workings. Overgrown, yet very ingrown at the same time.

It’s unique. I’ve never seen another vintage gas pump like this one.

At one time this vintage gas pump had a lit glass globe on top as many of them did back in the day. Needless to say, most of those glass globes were broken or went missing long ago. The disappearance of the globe and a long abandonment time gave this plant a chance to take over and thrive.  As you can see, it truly has.

Over time, the paint has faded nearly completely away into some sort of yellow-orange patina. There’s no telling what the original gasoline company was and all the metal access panels are long gone. Long ago, someone thought it was a good idea to put a few bullet holes right through the head of this old rusty machine from the age of fossil fuel. You can see them if you look closely. Those exposed small wheels and numbers frozen by rust will never turn another liquid calculation again. It would seem math isn’t needed at all in the evermore of junk.

Not many visitors come to this remote unused farm that lies far off a two-lane hard road. From the road, it’s almost a mile walk down a closed farm lane without a single soul around for miles. The place was once a working farm and the building behind the old gas pump was a garage or large equipment shed. That’s an unhinged sliding door leaning in the background. Once in a while, a federal park ranger will come to check on the place as nowadays it sits on federal land in the Delaware Water Gap.

I like this view with the early fall foliage around the pump. But there is another barren winter view of this old overgrown gas pump with all the leaves gone called Zombie Gas Pump #14121. It’s even weirder. Yep, that surely means I was crazy enough to make the trip back in there twice in different seasons…but rustic and rural nostalgia is often found in the way-back lands.

Have a look at my entire Gas Pumps and Gas Stations gallery for a little interesting vintage gas pump tour…

Picture location: in the Delaware Water Gap, Pike County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks