Orphan Wells

Photographs by Meghan L.E. Kirkwood. Text by Daegan Miller.

A photographer examines derelict oil industry infrastructure in northwest Louisiana, where unprofitable but still productive wells have been abandoned to the public’s care, and trees and vines and grasses are taking over.

Pumpjacks rusting in the woods. Derelict storage tanks. Pipes, wires, cables, weeds. In northwest Louisiana, thousands of oil wells have been abandoned, but remain ruinously polluting.

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  • Sandy Isenstadt
  • Naomi Stead

Gabrielle Esperdy

Gabrielle Esperdy is a professor of architecture at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a columnist for Places.

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David Heymann

David Heymann is a columnist for Places. He is an architect, and the Harwell Hamilton Harris Regents Professor in Architecture at the University of Texas, Austin.

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Sandy Isenstadt

Sandy Isenstadt is a professor of architectural history at the University of Delaware, and a columnist for Places.

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Naomi Stead

Naomi Stead is a columnist for Places. She is an architecture critic and Head of Architecture at Monash University.

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The Inequality Chronicles

The Inequality Chronicles features detailed explorations of racial, economic, and social inequities — from historical roots to contemporary effects — in major U.S. cities.

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