Abandoned Airfield, Resort, All in One!
DISCLAIMER: Please do not enter any private property if not legally authorized to do so. If you are unsure about a property’s legal status, please consult with the owner(s) before entering.
Deep in the dark, murky swamps of east Texas, lies a lost world. A place of folklore and mystique. A treasure trove of lost historical relics and artifacts. One of these locations is a unique, abandoned and overgrown airport located near the appropriately named town of Uncertain, Texas. Welcome to the abandoned “Fly‘n Fish” airport, restaurant and lodge, the “Airfield of Broken Dreams.”
The Fly’n Fish Lodge at Uncertain, Texas, was once a quite popular business back in the early 1950′s, when it started up. Owned and run by a wealthy local businessman known as “Beer” Smith, the airport had a 4000-foot hard-surfaced runway, as well as hangar space available for the guests who would fly in. The central building you see here, which recently burned down, was part of a 20 room motel that was quite luxurious for its day, and even included an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Inside the building, there was a restaurant on the first floor, while the second floor contained a ballroom with a stage and a well-stocked bar.
But this airfield contained much more than just a restaurant and motel. Across from the airport, Smith built a huge pier for guests to go fishing. Thus, pilots could come to the airport in their plane, tuck it safely away inside the hangar, and then spend a few days fishing, hunting, eating, dancing, swimming, and drinking to their heart’s content.
Unfortunately, this one-of-a-kind attraction was not to last. It’s not very clear what caused its demise, or when, exactly, the business closed down. But for one reason or another, the place gradually went downhill, and now sits abandoned, crumbling, and overgrown. The battered runway is almost completely covered in vegetation in some areas, and the wildlife seems to have made itself at home on the property.
As mentioned earlier, many of the original buildings were destroyed by a fire just a few years ago, but we can still appreciate the runway, some hangars, a few buildings, the remains of a tennis court, and the fishing pier, as well as some of the original private roads, now cracked and overgrown.
The loss of this unique attraction was certainly a sad and tragic event. However, in its own special way, visiting and exploring this place made me happy. There was something beatuiful about the quiet, soothing solitude of this place, interrupted only by the chirping of the birds, and the rustling of the leaves. There was no more laughing, talking, or partying. And yet, even after the death of this business, the property itself speaks in silence. Indeed, the cracking runway, crumbling buildings, and overgrown roadways bear a silent witness to the broken dreams of their founder, telling the chronicle of a man who, at the very least, dared to try something different.
Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure. Please don’t forget to like this video, and subscribe to Xplore RC if you’re enjoying my content, as well as clicking on the notification bell to be notified of any future videos that I produce. I’ll see you on the next one!
Music: Heading to Dreamland
Artist: Juan Sanchez
Artist Info:
Juan Sánchez - Heading To Dreamland" is under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 3.0) license
https://juansanchezmusic.info
Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://bit.ly/b-heading
Sources:
https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2002/may/threedays/
http://caddolakedata.us/media/8011/Small_Towns_History_Name_Uncertain_TP_8.16.12.pdf
https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1992/february/uncertain-times/
https://texashighways.com/travel-news/absolutely-uncertain/
https://tourintexas.tumblr.com/post/177013896559/the-fly-n-fish-lodge-in-uncertain-texas-was
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWanSO8icTw
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