I didn’t appreciate what a boon the high country climate is to old structures in Colorado. Back home in the Midwest, the humidity turns old wood to pulp within a generation. But here, intense sunlight combined with the thin, arid, atmosphere combine to merely dessicate abandoments, while leaving them intact and standing. Thus, remnants of … Continue reading Urbex, Colorado Style
Seen on a map, this old home would seem to be obvious to everyone around. Yet, owing to the wooded, rolling topography of Tennessee, it’s mostly unseen. It is also a unique hike to get to. This makes for a great “aha!” moment when it finally comes into view. It looks to be roughly a … Continue reading The Mansion in the Hollow
In four parts, namely: The old boarding house, a Jimmy Carter era motel, this humble abode, and, lastly, the manor in the woods. Continue reading Empire State Gothic
Last summer, I went to jail. Voluntarily. Did I mention the jail had been abandoned? That’s probably obvious, if you have any familiarity with this blog. Nevertheless, on a hot, steamy day during last July’s trip out to the East Coast, we headed to a well known former county lockup. I had never been to … Continue reading Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200
I found out only recently that there a few nuclear power plants around the country which were abandoned mid-construction. And you can go to some of them! Strictly speaking, you’re not allowed to go to them, but we are really splitting hairs. So it was that a clear winter’s morning found us traipsing through some … Continue reading Atomic Tourism
It’s not exactly common for a major urban cemetery to become abandoned and fall into disrepair, but that’s exactly what happened to Mount Moriah, which straddles the southwest city limits of Philadelphia. Its story is similar to that of countless other abandoned places and buildings: changing socioeconomic factors slowly eroded the graveyard’s relevance until it … Continue reading Mount Moriah Cemetery
Theater opulence reached its zenith in the early part of the last century. The boom in motion pictures, which quickly became the prime form of entertainment for the masses, coupled with the trend of studios owning their own theaters which they strove to make as lavish as possible in order to attract patrons, created this … Continue reading American Palaces
Out in the woods of rural Pennsylvania sits an old house, overgrown with weeds and thistles. Slashing our way through the dense shrubbery, and getting sucked into calf-deep mire, we felt more like Stanleys searching for Dr. Livingstone than urbexers. But once inside, the old cabin would yield some interesting finds. The home had belonged … Continue reading Rural Time Capsule
“Live in the moment” is a phrase I struggle with. The idea behind it seems to be that, if one’s consciousness could stop engaging in various forms of fretting and recalling involuntary memories, it could focus all of its faculties on the Now, which would be a purer, “truer” lived experience. It may be better to … Continue reading In Search of Lost Time
Some scenes culled from a recent deep dive into years of photographs. All from around Chicago, all of places to which you go precisely because you shouldn’t. Continue reading That Toddlin’ Town
T A B U L A R A S A photography 