Tag:

abandoned

Old Sheldon Church Ruins

by Kaylah Stroup December 6, 2016

On the way home from Savannah, the week before last, Jeff and I made a pit stop in Beaufort County, South Carolina to check out some really neat looking church ruins I had found photos of online. Researching any vacation for us includes searching for abandoned spots and really neat old cemeteries in the area. This kind of touches on both! While it’s not actually abandoned by any means, it’s on the National Register of Historic Places, the ruins of this old church are way rad and totally up our alley.

The church was originally built between 1745 and 1755, at the time it was known as Prince William’s Parish Church. It was partially burned by the British during the American Revolution in 1779. The interior and roof were rebuilt in 1826. Then thirty nine years later it was set ablaze yet again, this time by the federal army. It was never repaired. Apparently what wasn’t destroyed in the fire was used to help rebuild homes in the area.

Surrounded by gorgeous old trees, draped in Spanish moss, this spot couldn’t have been more dreamy. I always enjoy checking out the ruins of old buildings but the cemetery was what really excited me about this place. The first photo in this post? Ugh! It doesn’t get any more beautiful than that in my opinion. The fall colors, the sarcophagi, and Spanish moss! Be thankful you weren’t there in person with me, I would not shut up about Spanish moss. I’m honestly surprised I’ve mentioned it so few times on the blog.

Judging by the amount of photos, reviews, and the number of people that showed up at the end of our visit this is a super popular spot. As of October 2015, they no longer allow weddings on the property but they do still have a special Easter service each year. Jeff, and I showed up shortly after sunrise on a Sunday morning, while the sun was still at that perfect spot in the sky. We were the only people there for nearly an hour. I had so much fun roaming the property. Well worth the short detour!

xoxo

Cleveland Rocks!

by Kaylah Stroup October 25, 2016

Welp, that might be the cheesiest post title I’ve ever written (yeah, probably not…) but with the first game of the World Series tonight and our team playing I couldn’t not share something related to the city I love today. I’m not huge on sports but I will always root for Cleveland. I was downtown when the Cavs brought home the championship, and I’m looking forward to being there when Cleveland brings home another big, big win! I digress…

Last weekend was super busy. My nephew’s first birthday party, photoshoots for upcoming posts*, a long exhausting hike at Whipps Ledges, dinner with my brother, and geocaching. I’m certainly not complaining, I love weekends like this. Staying busy is essential this time of the year when the sun sets SO early. I know it’s still early in the season but I am already feeling the blues that come with cooler weather.

Sunday evening ended with a trip to the roof of one of Cleveland’s most popular abandoned buildings. This spot was one of the first Jeff took me when we started dating. It was actually the first place we held hands! Awww! So despite not really having too many new photo opportunities, it holds a special place in my heart. That and it has one of the absolute best skyline views!

sad ugly, sticker, graffiti, cleveland, rooftop

Sunsets never get old for me. I recently read about a scientific study that showed watching the sunset made people feel so full of awe that it slows down their perception of time. I’ve definitely experienced that time and time again. I love them so much, especially when I get to watch them with my friends in this city I love so deeply.
xoxo

*I love how much fancier that sounds than what it really was – Jeff and I struggling to get a nice family photo with all three pets in front of a huge black table cloth. Hilarity ensued, photos to come! 😉

Tip Top Cereal Company – abandoned

by Kaylah Stroup October 18, 2016

There haven’t been many abandoned building in my life this year. The few I have gotten have been pretty darn epic (Knox County Poorhouse and Kings Park Psychiatric Center for example!) but compared to the last two years the number of “smalls”, as my friends and I call them, has been… well, small.

Obviously I love the big stuff! Hospitals definitely rank among my favorite abandoned buildings to explore but there’s something special about the smaller buildings. Abandoned houses, storefronts, and the like are all “smalls.” There isn’t as much ground to cover compared to other buildings, and they tend to get passed over by most people but sometimes they’re even more interesting because of that. The amount of foot traffic in larger, more popular buildings means they probably have more graffiti and less things left inside.

That point is kind of void in the building showcased in this post since except for a few random chairs, #theresalwaysachair, it was empty. The whole idea of explaining that was just to say that sometimes even I don’t give enough credit to these small buildings. I had biked, walked, and driven by this one numerous times and hadn’t given it a second thought. Over the weekend Jeff and I happened to be wandering around the area and without even discussing it kind of just made our way inside.

While, like I mentioned above, there wasn’t too much to see inside I’m still super excited about my photos. The last few times I’ve been somewhere abandoned I felt like I wasn’t shooting as well as I knew I could which is super frustrating. This time though, I felt like a creepy old man photographing a beautiful woman while shouting “Yesss, baby! Work it! You’re looking so hot right now!” Please tell me know exactly the sort of image I’m describing. I felt like I was shooting really good photos aaaand upon editing them, I don’t feel any differently. I know to most people all the photos of these places with peeling paint and water damaged walls probably start to look the same but I definitely feel like these are some of my best. Thanks for putting up with me, you guys! 😉 I’ve been feeling a little blue lately so to get photos that I’m really happy with feels nice and is super encouraging.

exiting through a window since a door slammed downstairs. Thanks for the adventure, WIND!

I’d presume most people at one point or another daydream about things they’d do if they were super rich. One of my favorite “If I were rich…” topics to ramble about to anyone who will listen is which abandoned building I’d buy and renovate. My answer changes between a few different ones depending on what day you ask me, and which one of my favorites I’ve most recently visited. While we were inside this one I couldn’t stop thinking about what an awesome house it would make. It just had such a cozy layout, and lots of interesting views. I grew quite fond of this little place. Its had an interesting past in it’s ninety-one years, supposedly at one point it was even a bar downstairs and a cathouse on the second level! Shame it probably won’t last much longer.
xoxo

Achor Valley Cemetery

by Kaylah Stroup October 17, 2016

Last Friday I woke up really late. I guess 9am by most people’s standards isn’t too late but that’s a day killer for me. I’m not really an early bird but, without a doubt, I’m most productive first thing in the morning and late at night. I knew if I just tried to start my day as normal I’d end up doing nothing so I figured it was the perfect time to take a day trip. I always try to keep a running list of places I’d like to hit on days like this. Try being the key word there. Frequently when I dedicate any time to researching places for this list I end up feeling defeated and like I’ve seen everything interesting within a days drive – which simply cannot be true.

I searched “haunted cemetery ohio” hoping it’d lead me somewhere new. Most of the results were websites I’ve already pored over time and time again. I did end up finding some ghost hunting blog that I had never seen before. Their “orb” photos were less than convincing but the post I was reading mentioned something about how if you liked old headstones this particular cemetery was a great spot to check out. I knew if I kept searching for other places I’d never leave the house Kind of like when you browse Netflix, you search for the perfect thing, find a few decent looking movies, and then end up watching nothing. Without looking for any more information on the cemetery, I packed my camera bag and hit the road.

It was an easy, breezy two hour drive. After crossing a one way bridge, which somehow seems perfectly appropriate on the way to a creepy old cemetery, I pulled into the driveway to find there was also an abandoned church on the property. SCORE! I was over the moon. From my car I could see that the church looked pretty boarded up. I may crawl through windows on a fairly regular basis but I will never damage property to gain entry to a building. I figured I would walk around the entire cemetery first, getting all my shots, before even checking to see if the church was accessible. I didn’t want any possible disappointment to ruin the high of this find, I was excited just to have it in the background of my shots.

Even if there hadn’t been an abandoned church on the property, the cemetery was worth the drive! There was a mix of old and new headstones, 1800s through 2000s! I’m not crazy about new ones but the old ones were to die for. Hah! Whoops!

After I got all the photos I wanted of headstones I walked around the church to see if I could get a peek inside. I was so pumped to find that all of the pews were still there! I’ve been in a handful of abandoned churches and this is only the second with pews. Without them, and the stained glass windows it doesn’t feel so much like a church. It’s just another empty building, ya know? It was just a single open room with a large mural at the front but an awesome find nonetheless. As much as I’m pro-graffiti it’s always a bit exciting to find something like this that isn’t completely covered in spray paint.

Achor Valley Cemetery, abandoned, church

I couldn’t find much information on this cemetery or why the church was abandoned. The grounds were fairly well maintained, and while I was leaving a car pulled in with a family inside who got out and laid flowers on a grave. I also found a handful of ghost blogs who regularly hunt here so it seems like a rather popular spot. Because of that I assumed it’d have some interesting backstory but I guess not. I did see that one ghost hunter said “the spirits there are gentle and have a great sense of humor” I still don’t believe in ghosts, but I’d love to be proven wrong especially by funny ghosts! *

I still can’t believe what an awesome find this was. Every time I think I’ve seen all the cool cemeteries in Ohio I find something new! Guess this is a sign I need take more spur of the moment trips.
xoxo

*Speaking of ghost stuff! My freshly charged camera battery completely died in this cemetery. Super weird considering the fact my batteries never die. I rarely have to charge them despite how often I use my camera. People always say that ghosts drain batteries… You know, because they’re battery powered or something. 😜

abandoned in the desert 2016

by Kaylah Stroup September 28, 2016

I’ve basically blogged about nothing this month other than my little road trip out west. You’ll have to excuse me, I’m still soaking it all in. My pal, Allie (who has a blog you’d probably love if you’re reading mine), recently said that a third of the fun of taking trips for her is looking back on everything she did aaaand I feel exactly the same way. I like planning trips, and getting all hyped up about them. Obviously I love traveling, seeing new things, and just doing things that aren’t part of my everyday life but I also reeeeally love sitting down with a cup of coffee and sorting through all my photos – over and over. I guess it’s just that it can be hard to take it in and really appreciate everything that’s happening while it’s actually happening, ya know?

Anyway, I had a handful of photos that didn’t really fit into my other posts from the trip yet still resonated with me enough I wanted to share them. Have you ever felt homesick for a place that isn’t home? That’s what looking at these photos makes me feel. (Yeah, I know it sounds weird. It’s a bunch of random abandoned buildings…) But the way it feels driving through the middle of the desert where it seems like there’s no one else around for miles and miles. Spotting the crisp, sun baked, ruins of buildings that haven’t been used in ages, and stopping to poke around those places. Just being somewhere that is complete opposite of home! Those are some of my favorite things. I don’t know that I would ever want to actually live out there. Well, maybe a large Arizona city would be nice. That miiiight be my favorite state. Regardless, these places still hold a very special place in my heart. These are the things that draw me back to the desert year after year.

In an abandoned gift shop I found the photo below. I really love that they thought it would be a cute idea to leave this. They look so happy, and I enjoy seeing evidence that others are having just as much fun as Jeff and I while checking out these random places.

I, obviously, tried searching on social media for them but came up with nothing. If by some super strange coincidence you know them, let them know they made at least two people smile with that photo! Also, please check out that dust bunny on my finger. I wanted to photoshop it out at first but it honestly made me laugh too much to get rid of. Sooo gross.

Until next time, desert!
xoxo

If you’d like to check out more photos from this trip – Roswell, NM, Rehoboth Mission Cemetery, Two Guns + The Apache Death Cave, + instant film from out west 2016.

Or if you just want more desert abandonment – 2014 + 2015.

Kings Park Psychiatric Center

by Kaylah Stroup September 26, 2016

Jumping back to August – the very last stop of our New England road trip* was Kings Park Psychiatric Center, an abandoned hospital complex which closed its doors back in 1996. My big stop of the trip was Dead Horse Bay, and this was Jeff’s. I hadn’t done any research on the area, and was generally pretty pessimistic about it. There was no way we’d be able to get in, I thought. With so many huge abandoned buildings in one place it has to be teeming with police, right? It was only fair we went though and no matter what it’s always fun to see the outside of these places.

I did a tiny bit of research right before we got there and gathered that maybe, just maybe, this would actually be possible to explore. I’m obviously not promoting trespassing, because it’s dangerous you guys, seriously, but let’s just say this was probably one of the easiest spots we’ve ever gotten. I couldn’t believe it.

It felt too easy though. We went in one of the largest buildings on the property, a patient ward built in 1939. My legs shook the whole time. I just couldn’t calm down. Maybe it’s because I’m out of practice or maybe it was the spirits that haunt this place. You know I’m joking, right!? We haven’t been doing much of this lately but I just had a bad feeling I couldn’t shake. Jeff could tell I was unnerved and said it was more than okay if we finished up after a few shots.

We made our way back to the car, cooled down in the air, and drove around the rest of the property scoping everything out. Jeff spotted a second building he wanted to explore. After how nervous I was in the first I was thiiiis close to offering to drop him off and just sit in the car while he did his thing. I knew I’d regret it though so I put on a brave face. I was cool as a cucumber inside the second building. This is only my second hospital (see number one here!) so they’re still very very exciting to me, unlike factory buildings.

It was extremely hot when we visited so knowing we had a bit of a trek back to the car Jeff suggested we start to head back before we were both completely drained. This is the part where we got lost in an abandoned hospital, you guys. We made our way down to the level we thought the exit was on and wandered around hoping to find where we came in. You realize you’re lost when you start passing the same graffiti turn after turn. For me it was a tag that just said “Steph Curry” I saw about six times. After about forty-five mins of this, Jeff eventually say “You know what, just go out that window. It doesn’t matter what direction we’re facing, we’ll find our way to the car.” While he was packing up his camera equipment, he encouraged me to go first. It was a bit of a drop and by “a bit” I mean second story window. I rode a skinny tree to the ground like a fire pole. As soon as I got to the bottom and looked up to Jeff for approval like “Did you see how awesome that was?!” I could see something was wrong, his face said it all. He muttered “Don’t freak out but you’re in the courtyard.” which meant I was completely trapped between walls. I went out that window for nothing. I had to climb back in… somehow. I had a brief moment of “I’ll just live here. No biggie.” before the adrenaline started to pump. Back up against the tree, and feet on the bricks, I wiggled my way up to the window where Jeff helped pull me back in. Your body can do some crazy stuff when it needs too!

Once back inside we wandered around in circles for a bit longer before
peeking out a window where I was able to recognize a structure I spotted
near the entrance when we originally went in. After looking for it a
bit more we realized we were on the wrong floor the whole time. Whoops! Five more minutes and we were outside at last.

I’ve seen numerous horror movies where people are stuck in abandoned buildings and I think “go out the window, you dummy!” but I guess that might lead you to being stuck in the courtyard. As someone with a pretty great sense of direction, it’s really amusing how confusing hospitals can be. Everything looks the same after a while. Floor after floor is the same, and each of the wings on those floors are normally laid out exactly the same too.

I don’t think there could have been a more perfect way to end this trip. The drive home was extremely boring, I-80 might be the most boring road ever, but we talked about the hospital nearly the whole way back. The amount of history in these places hold is incredible. I’ve spent so much time since our visit there researching KPPC and I just keep finding new things that intrigue me. This hospital, despite clearly being a very well visited spot which would normally knock a spot down a few pegs for me, just might be one of my favorites!
xoxo

*For more posts about my visit to New England check out these posts; On the cutting room floor – road trip edition, Old Bennington Cemetery, Acadia National Park, Pemaquid Point, Giant’s Stairs, Maple Grove Cemetery, Granary Burying Ground + Dead Horse Bay.

Two Guns + The Apache Death Cave

by Kaylah Stroup September 19, 2016

I originally found Two Guns on Roadside America back in 2014. It was right on the way to where we were heading except we were majorly crunched for time. We had reservations and had to check into our wigwam before the front office closed for the night. But Two Guns!!!! It looked amazing. We had to stop, there was no two ways about it. Jeff and I agreed we’d only spend ten minutes there so we both got out of the car and literally ran from building to building snapping photos like crazy. The ten minutes was up in no time at all. We got back to the car gasping for breath and full of adrenaline. My pictures weren’t that great but it’s honestly one of my favorite memories from that whole trip.

To this day, we still talk about that visit all the time. I’ve even exclaimed that I want to get married there someday. They’re just some silly abandoned buildings but they became something special because our brief visit was so fun.

Each trip out west Jeff and I try to take a different route so that we aren’t just doing the exact same thing over and over. So far, other than the airport we fly into, we’ve done a pretty great job at this. A few days before we left for this year’s trip Jeff text me to say he had just realized we’d be near Two Guns. Swinging by this year would only add seven minutes to our drive so obviously it was a necessity to stop and actually take our time there.

stickers, street art, denture sticker, arrested development

When I first got into geocaching at the beginning of this year I was blown away by the fact that there are basically geocaches everywhere. One of my first thoughts was “I wonder if there was a geocache at Two Guns!” Sure enough there is but it’s WAY cooler than I could have ever imagined. Since the second we read the description, Jeff and I have been basically frothing at the mouth to get this thing. The cache isn’t near the abandoned buildings, instead it’s underground… in the Apache Death Cave. I won’t go into it but the cave has a crazy interesting history, as made quite obvious by the name. You can read more about it here. There’s even more insanity not listed in that article if you still feel like digging around!

We wandered around the abandoned stuff for a while, getting all the shots we weren’t able to take on our first visit then it came time to find the cache. We took the short hike over to where we thought the cave might be and sure enough there she was. The photo below shows where you climb down. In older photos I found on google it appears that those logs used to have boards going across so the walk down was fairly easy but these days you choose a log and hope your balance is good enough. Jeff took this really cute photo of me walking up the logs!

You guys, I love adventure. I like exploring new places, and I like a bit of danger. I love when my adrenaline is pumping and I talk a big game but when it comes right down to it, sometimes I’m a giant weenie. I was terrified in this cave. Not because of bats, or the dark but because I was afraid rocks would fall and we’d be trapped. I was afraid the cave, which is said to be cursed, would end up being our one final adventure.

Jeff, on the other hand, basically had the time of his life in this cave. He even said “I think I can retire from geocaching now.” because seriously, how could a cache be in a cooler spot than this one?! Despite being afraid, I was definitely enjoying myself. It was a true adventure! How many people can say they explored a real cave in the middle of the desert? Not somewhere you have to pay an admission fee, and have a guide. But a reeeeal cave. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

After making it out of the cave alive, wahooo, we poked around the property a bit more checking out the ruins of buildings. We didn’t get a chance to see this area last year so it was all new to us. Then when I started researching the cave after leaving I realized we missed a few more buildings that hold fairly significant history here. Guess that just means we have to go back again…

Until next time, Two Guns!!
xoxo

To see more posts from this trip + others, check out the “travel” tag.

3rd annual road trip out west

by Kaylah Stroup September 12, 2016

Hotel Encanto, New Mexico, travel, orange sky

sunrise from our hotel in Las Cruces.

I’ve barely finished rambling about my last little road trip (I actually still have one more post to share from that one!) and already I have a whole new trip to begin writing about! At the beginning of the year Jeff got a new full time job which I was pretty sure would make travel this summer impossible yet we managed to squeeze in two vacations that were basically back to back. I’m feeling a little bit like the luckiest girl ever, and a lot like I need to make this my every day life. I love traveling so much. It doesn’t matter where, I just enjoy seeing new things. The desert certainly holds a special place in my heart though. This is actually our third annual trip out west. It was never supposed to become a trip we’d repeat but we just can’t seem to stay away from the desert.

The first Saturday in September we boarded a plane and flew to Phoenix, Arizona. We were hoping to fly in somewhere else, simply because PHX is where we landed last year but for the weekend we needed to travel, it was the cheapest. After landing we immediately grabbed our rental car, which was a complete piece of crap, and started the five and a half hour drive to Las Cruces.

Our first trip out west we didn’t book any hotel rooms ahead of time. We slept in the car most nights, and booked two hotels when we were absolutely exhausted and filthy. The second year we did the same thing, booking the day of when we needed it. This year, for the first time, we booked everything before we left which had it’s ups and downs. Anyway, that’s why we drove late into the night to Las Cruces. We stayed at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. It was beautiful. I’m actually a little bummed we didn’t have more time to poke around the property (+swim!) before we headed out bright and early the next morning. I did find a tiny bit of time while Jeff was on the phone with the rental car company to take some photos of their lovely cactus! Seeing real, live cactus in the wild never gets old to me. I came home with so many random cactus photos.

It wasn’t long after leaving the hotel that we stumbled upon some good old desert abandonment. We passed right by this and had to turn around to get some photos. There’s something special about abandoned buildings in the desert. They’re just so much different from what we have around here. I’ve even talked about this in the past. It was a short stop but good one!

sandwitches, you guys. SAND WITCHES!

view from a rest area on the way to White Sands.

The big stop of our first full day of on the road was White Sands National Monument. Can I be real here? Yeah? Okay, well, I didn’t have fun at White Sands. I actually cried at White Sands. Let me back up a little bit though… So, I mentioned earlier in this post that our rental car was crappy aaaand it was. About twenty minutes after leaving the rental place we hear this noise. It sounded just like a flat tire. We pulled over on the highway, I hopped out to look at the front right tire only to find there was nothing wrong at all. I got back in, told Jeff, he got out to look at his side and we end up coming to the conclusion that it must have just been the wind. Sometimes my car makes funny noises if the wind hits it just right, so that what this must have been too. No big deal. We take off again, no noise at all. Maybe forty five minutes later we stop to grab coffee and when we turn the car just makes this AWFUL noise. After investigation we realize that a piece of plastic from the wheel well has fallen and is scraping. The noise continues every time we turn or slow down so in the morning, from our hotel parking lot, he calls Hertz who offer no real solution. Ya know, aside from drive to Texas to exchange it. Hmmm. Nope. So we pressed on with our crappy loud car, taking turns at each stop to push the piece back into place.

When we pulled into White Sands the car was probably at peak loudness which in a parking lot full of people is really quite embarrassing. I asked what we were doing pulling into the welcome center, as opposed to simply driving straight into the park. Hey, I didn’t want to be around people with our noisy car! I apparently asked “what are we doing?!” one too many times and Jeff finally snapped at me “we always go to the welcome center!” I managed to hold it together until we got into the park itself before the torrential downpour of tears came. Probably the most water the desert has seen in a while… Looking back, it easy to say we were both just overly tired, and embarrassed about being looked at by strangers. It’s almost kind of funny now. Almost…

So, White Sands was absolutely beautiful but it certainly wasn’t the experience I was hoping for. Before the trip I was thinking about all the photos I would have when I got back and how they’d probably break down into blog posts. White Sands, I’d definitely have tons of photos from there, and it’d get a whole post to itself but when it came right down to it I only managed to squeeze in a few photos. Travel isn’t always fun. Sometimes there are tears, sometimes there are stupid arguments, and sometimes there are crappy rental cars but you just gotta go with the flow. White Sands, Jeff and I will come back someday in the future and enjoy you properly. No tears next time, I promise!

children’s sand rake = cute little cactus!

I’ll be back later this week with more desert goodness from our trip! I have instant photos to share as well as my favorite abandoned spot, and one heck of an awesome cemetery.
xoxo

On The Cutting Room Floor

by Kaylah Stroup July 14, 2016

Last weekend was a good weekend.

I’m still struggling with the whole “too hot to function, oh no I’m overwhelmed!” thing but Jeff and I were on a roll last weekend. I honestly don’t remember the last time I had such a productive weekend. Not productive on the internet, my inbox is still a mess and I should certainly be a little bit more ahead on my scheduled posts, but I took lots of photos, and got lots of exercise. Saturday I have two whole posts from so more on that next week. Sunday though…

Sunday I…
▴ woke up early and explored an abandoned church! Jeff and I had been scoping out this church for a while now. I haven’t been in any significant abandoned buildings in a while so I feel kind of out of the game. I was a little shaky, and a man screaming about something outside was quite unnerving. I didn’t shoot anything worth writing home about but I’m pleased we got inside. It was a great start to the morning!
▴ ate my way through Taste of Tremont! Figuring there wouldn’t be any parking available, Jeff and I walked from his house which was super fun. It was waaaarm but I’m always pleased to do “city stuff” like that. I feel like a greater part of the neighborhood by being able to walk somewhere. Stupidly, I didn’t take any photos of what we ate but rest assured, it was deeeelicious. Pulled pork, blueberry lemonade, kettle corn, and finally some chocolates from Lily Chocolates. They have this one truffle right now called Strawberry Fields. It’s white chocolate, basil, and strawberry. It’s literally the best chocolate I have ever eaten! Another Taste of Tremont highlight was all the dogs. SO MANY PUPS!
▴ met up with friends and admired our new public square. Cleveland is on the up and up, man! Our newly renovated public square was recently opened, and boy, it is pretty! After checking out the square we walked for around the city for a few miles. At the end of the night we were treated to the most beautiful sunset. I love this city.

Here’s to making more days like this happen! Clearly, nothing too exciting happened but spending time with my friends, and getting lots of exercise is always great. I’m like a puppy, I need to use up all my energy or I start to go a little crazy.
xoxo

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