Category:

abandoned

ghost town – Silver City, UT

by Kaylah Stroup November 29, 2017

Shortly after leaving Eureka Cemetery, Jeff and I stumbled upon Silver City. Despite having mapped out a great deal of the ghost towns in the areas we’d planned on being in the state, I somehow had never seen or heard of this one. According to Wikipedia, ‘there is nothing left other than a few holes where mines were, and a number of tailings piles.’ And now I see why Wikipedia isn’t a reputable source…

Silver City ranks pretty high on the “Boy, I’m glad we slammed on the breaks and turned around for that one” list. From the road we were able to see a building or two but it wasn’t until we got out of the car and started exploring that we saw just how much remained of this silver mining town. What was supposed to be a super quick stop for a photo or two turned into us wandering around until we were too hungry to go on. Each time we’d thought we’d seen it all we’d stumble upon another building or neat little hole in the ground. It was an incredible find!

silver city, ghost town

Below are my souvenirs from Silver City. I brought a bunch of land camera film (which you can find here) on the trip but this was the location I shot the most. It captured so beautifully. I have so many photos from this location I could easily write a second post just to share my film photos. The film photo displayed below was my favorite, perhaps even of the whole trip. We found that area of Silver City last. We were both starving and ready to leave but there was a building I could see off in the distance that I wanted to shoot real quick before hopping back in the car. I ran over to grab my shot and stopped in awe of that little layout. It just looked so ancient. Something about it just really struck my fancy.

Around Silver City in a few places were little piles of gathered items. First was a pile of pretty rocks. (I shared a photo of that here.) A few minutes later I stumbled upon another pile which included some rocks, pieces of metal, and this nail. I just couldn’t seem to leave it behind. I wanted to bring my own little piece of Silver City home since it stole a piece of my heart. Too cheesy for you? I thought so too but I’m only half joking. I don’t feel like I could ever accurately describe how much these trips, and random stops just like this one mean to me. Silver City may not be your average tourist destination but we couldn’t have loved it more! Unplanned surprises like this are exactly what I love so much about roadtrippin’!!

utah, ghost town Silver City, Ghost Town, Utah

abandoned hospital

by Kaylah Stroup June 13, 2017

Over the weekend my buds and I made plans to wake up early and explore an abandoned hospital. Waking up at 4:45 am is never really all that fun but I can definitely make exceptions when it comes to this stuff. Jeff and I had actually checked out the hospital a week or two prior, popping inside briefly to take some photos. We spent less than an hour and left feeling like we hadn’t seen even a portion of the building. It’s certainly not the largest abandoned hospital I’ve been in. Most of the equipment, furniture, and other odds and ends from inside have already been removed. Still, there is so much to see.

On my second trip there, I shot haphazardly never once actually setting up my tripod. For some reason I wasn’t feeling it. I guess I just didn’t see anything that was begging to be photographed despite the fact I had wanted so badly to get back to this hospital.

It was kind of a surprise when I got home, sorted my photos and ended up finding so many that I really really liked. The only problem was that my normal editing process, which is extremely simple and quick, wasn’t working. The shots were great but my editing wasn’t doing them justice.

I decided to just throw caution to the wind. I began fooling around with different looks and eventually ended up with what you see here. These are so far from my regular editing style yet I’m completely in love. This building is absolutely wrecked. It’s soggy. Scrappers have stolen any and everything of value. There’s no saving it now, especially in the neighborhood its in. I feel like these photos really convey that. They definitely give you a glimpse of just how grimy it is inside.

sunny abandoned building, curtains, broken window abandoned hospital

If you haven’t gotten your fill of dilapidated buildings – check out the tag “abandoned” for more posts!

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abandoned trailer park

by Kaylah Stroup May 3, 2017

The abandoned trailer park is easily one of my most blogged about places. Since discovering it back in March of 2015 its made its way on to the blog a total of five times previous to this. All those posts are linked at the bottom of this one. Normally I’d hesitate to post yet another photo set from here but once again my excuse is that I feel like the photos are completely different than the previous times. Also, I got FOUR ticks on this little excursion so you’re going to look at my darn photos. Okay? Okay!

On Easter I saw on Allie from The Only Living Girl in New York was in town. I was bummed out that she hadn’t contacted me and wrongly assumed she probably hated me. Totally logical, right? With a little encouragement from Jeff I reached out to see if she was free the next day. I wasn’t really expecting to get to see her because I know how family holiday plans can be super crazy. So when she responded yes with an abundance of exclamation points I was super stoked… and super nervous.

We planned out an awesome day starting at one of my favorite little hole in the wall breakfast spots. The rest of the day from there was a series of let downs. I have a huge list of abandoned buildings around the area so I was positive I’d be able to show Allie and her friend, Jean-Marie, lots really interesting spots. We got shot down at every single place in a seriously bizarre number of ways. We covered a lot of ground that morning with absolutely zero luck.

We were just about to call it quits but luckily a solid lunch saved that day. After eating we came to the decision that driving to the trailer park could possibly redeem the whole day. Spoiler alert: it did.

green trailer, abandoned, overgrown

faces everywhere,

Do you see the face in the photo above?

abandoned books,

I was too nervous to go into this cabin when I discovered it on our last visit because I just got the weird vibe that someone lived there. It was arranged a bit differently on this most recent visit, and didn’t hold that same energy. Such a funny little set up.

abandoned, urbex, trailers, abandoned trailer park

yellow kitchen, abandoned, abandonedment

Despite my numerous previous visits I still found new things to photograph. If anything, I think I saw more this time to shoot than ever before. The first few cabins we entered were just full of personal items. Things always make a location so much more interesting, and relatable. I was particularly taken by the dusty old books shown above. They were so filthy. I’ve seriously never seen anything like it. When I showed Jeff my photos from the day he commented that they look like something from the set of a movie of an ‘abandoned’ location, not something you’d actually see in an abandoned home. I couldn’t agree more.

I didn’t really notice the titles of the books while I was shooting a thousand photos of them but while I was editing I spotted the title Hearse Class Male, which made me giggle. I was curious what it might be about so I looked it up. Amazon oddly enough didn’t have a description but they do have a photo of the cover. The quote on the cover reads “The blonde smiled at Liddell. ‘I’ll do anything I can to help you, Johnny. You know – the intimate touch.'” Maybe I’m really just a ten year old boy or maybe I think it’s funny because it sounds like something very, very naive would say but “the intimate touch” almost made coffee come out my nose.

trailer park paparazzi

The day didn’t turn out exactly as planned but it did give us lots of silly little stories, and we got to hang out the whole day which is way more than I ever expected. I’m really, really looking forward to hanging out with Allie again! To be able to connect with people through blogging like this is seriously the coolest. Consider this post encouragement to reach out and contact that person you follow that seems like they’d be a ton of fun. If us two shy gals can do it, you can too!

Until next time, trailer park.
xoxo

Check out past posts from this location – March 2015, March on film, June 2015, May 2016, and March 2017.

abandoned china factory

by Kaylah Stroup April 13, 2017

dishes in abandoned china factory

I’ve been holding on to these photos for way too long. It’s one of those sets of photos I just knew I couldn’t possibly describe correctly and wanted to keep all to myself. I like them too much to never share though…

A month or so ago Jeff, Jake, and I spent the day exploring. We had a decent sized list of places we at least wanted to cruise by. Some we knew were do-able, others were a bit of a long shot. We eventually ended up about fifteen minutes away from this place, an abandoned china factory. The spot that had led us close by ended up being a bust so we decided to just keep driving. Jeff had been here a few years earlier but Jake and I had never been. Despite really digging the photos I had seen of it, I was always under the impression it was further away from home than it really is so it was never really a huge priority to me but from the second we walked in I was in awe. Dishes upon dishes. Many of them unbroken, and still stacked. In regard to things left behind, this might be one of the coolest places I’ve ever been. (Another favorite would definitely be the rubber duck factory, of course!)

I thought the dishes would be the clear highlight of the factory. I couldn’t imagine what else would be as interesting… then we got upstairs. I found a sheet of decals on the floor that Jake and I were like “Oh! Look these must be how they decorate the plates and mugs. How neat.” We took turns shooting the single sheet. What we didn’t realize was that the whole room in front of us was FILLED with them! Drawers upon drawers of decals for diners, for special events, with flowers, with maps, with intricate designs. They littered the floor yet most of the drawers were still filled. I guess I’ve never really thought about how plates or mugs get the designs they have on them but here were thousands of them!

Between all of the remaining buildings on the property, I saw molds, decals, silkscreens, blank dishes, finished products, kilns, and more. It was incredibly interesting to me to be able to see so many steps of the process. I’ve been in my fair share of factories but none with as much of a story left behind. After the factory closed there was an auction to clear out inventory so its a little bit strange to me that there is still so much left. Even today there is a ton that could still be salvaged. Doesn’t it just break your heart to see those beautiful drawers left to rot?

plates in abandoned china factory

Two more interesting things – one significantly more interesting than the other.

X-rays! There was a pile of them on the floor still in their original envelopes, labeled with names and dates. They were of employee’s lungs. Judging by the box of unused x-ray film found nearby it seems this might have been an in-house operation checking to make sure the employees weren’t dealing with any adverse effects from production. It’s so wild to me that when this place closed up no one thought to dispose of these medical records properly.
One of my favorite things to find in abandoned factories – newspaper articles attached to the wall. This sort of thing makes it so much easier to imagine that people really did work here at one point. To me, it’s just an empty factory but this was previously a place where people spent a good portion of their life.

This factory turned out to be one of my favorite adventures to date. I can’t believe after all these years of being abandoned that there aren’t more broken dishes. I’m thankful the people before me didn’t make too much of a mess and hopeful the people after me won’t end up ruining it for everyone else.

Check out the abandoned tag for more grime.

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abandoned rubber factory

by Kaylah Stroup March 14, 2017

After a seriously inactive 2016, Jeff and I have been doing our best to get out and take more photos this year. I have to say, we’re kind of kicking butt. For the last solid month, possibly longer, we’ve been getting out at least once per week to search for abandoned places that we haven’t been to or at least haven’t been to a while. Because we’ve been so active I actually have a small backlog of rad photos that I still need to share from our recent adventures. It feels so darn good!

When we go on vacation, Klaus goes to my parents. Our New Orleans trip a few weeks ago was from Monday until Friday. Instead of heading straight to pick up Klaus after getting back we tried to make the most of the fact that we had a dog-sitter still and a weekend with no plans. We decided to head to a town nearby that is chock-full of abandonment. We went hoping to find brand new spots to explore but knew that there was a rubber factory that was essentially a sure thing in case everywhere else fell through.

Jeff had been here many years before and didn’t necessarily talk it up to be anything special. We had also tried on one previous occasion to explore it but shortly after exiting the car a cop drove by… and then another. We took it as a bad omen and called it quits before even starting. That little peek didn’t really leave me too interested. From the road it just looked like a shell of a factory – cool to snap a photo of but not really worth the effort or risk of trespassing. Oh how wrong I was…

Just like the Rubber Bowl, an abandoned stadium I had known about for a while but failed to make much effort to visit, this factory and it’s many buildings turned out to be pretty darn rad. While there wasn’t too much left inside there were still lots of interesting sights to behold. I was particularly smitten with the shoes dangling from the ceiling. Seriously, why are there always so many shoes in abandoned buildings? Shoes here, shoes there.

What I thought would be a quick stop of us just dipping onto the property, snapping a few photos, and leaving quickly turned into a couple of hours. This factory complex closed twenty seven long years ago. Multiple buildings still stand but a vast majority have been demolished, at least their upper levels have been. The property is littered with holes, both large and small, giving you a peek as to whats down below. Definitely a place you have to watch your step, lest you end up breaking an ankle or worse!

The photo below was taken from inside one the aforementioned holes. Jeff loves all things underground, and I do too… with some hesitation. While he raced to the opening with access to a small underground room, I poked around at the opening feeling a little bit too sketched out to want to spend anytime underneath the surface. Behind me were stairs, well, stairs covered in pieces of brick and overgrown with weeds. To my right was solid wall, and to the left was a drop down. I eventually went underground but ended up liking this photo better than anything I took down there. I think it’s a really neat shot.

So, note to self, stop avoiding all the things in life you thinks are easy and therefore not worth it because they’re actually probably pretty darn rad.
xoxo

If you haven’t gotten your grime fix, be sure to browse my “abandoned” tag!

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abandoned in New York

by Kaylah Stroup February 22, 2017

For Valentine’s Day Jeff and I took a spur of the moment trip to Rochester, New York. On Friday morning he sent me a text asking me to ask my mom, who was at our apartment, if she’d be willing to take Klaus home with her when she left. I knew that meant we were taking a weekend trip so I asked “Where are we running away to?” He responded with a screenshot of a hotel reservation in Rochester. That’s my kind of Valentine’s Day present!

Since we met we’ve been taking annual trips up to Rochester. Each time previous had been with friends, and only for the day. Last year we weren’t able to find a time when everyone was able to go and subsequently missed the opportunity. We’re both fairly smitten with Rochester. Jeff, especially, had been itching to get back as soon as possible. It’s very reminiscent of Cleveland so it’s kind of like being at home but with lots of new things to explore. We left without a plan but armed with cameras – the way any good trip starts.

Saturday was spent aimlessly wandering around the city on foot. We woke up fairly early Sunday with hopes of getting the abandoned subway again, and finding some abandoned buildings to shoot. I felt a little uncomfortable with the subway since for the first time it was actually fenced off, and seemed to be under construction. We opted to hit one building we had found during our last visit and then hit the road since the weather was icky. On our way home we stopped in Buffalo, a city filled with abandoned buildings that for some reason we never have any luck getting into. Well, the Buffalo curse was finally broken.

Despite getting two spots that weekend, one of which was a maaajor highlight for both of us, I didn’t end up with very many photos that I absolutely loved. The ones I am happy with I couldn’t bare to just tuck away in a folder so what you get is a mix of photos from the two buildings.

abandoned rochester, abandoned, new york,

xoxo

10 favorite abandoned spots of 2016

by Kaylah Stroup December 28, 2016

Although I didn’t go inside, this was one of my favorite exteriors. Don’t try to deny the fact it looks like a puppy!

The past two years I’ve made lists of my favorite abandoned places I visited over the course of the year. Despite the fact this year’s numbers are low, I think I actually only blogged about just over ten spots, I still wanted to make this list. Because I really love making lists, and because a lot of the places I explored this year hold some sort of special value to me. From the Knox County Poorhouse where I showed up on demolition day by accident but ended up getting a personal tour from the owner to the Rubber Bowl where my mom had seen the Rolling Stones many years before or Two Guns which I consider “our spot” since Jeff and I have such fun memories there. My numbers weren’t huge but the adventures were great.

Knox County Poorhouse.

Salton Sea of the Midwest.

Abandoned in the desert 2016.

Abandoned houses.

Anchor Valley Cemetery.

Two Guns + The Apache Death Cave.

Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

Abandoned Rubber Bowl.

Tip Top Cereal Company.

Cleveland Rocks!

Bonus spot – not abandoned at all but it still kind of fits in the same category. This was one of my favorite nights, and I’m still excited about those photos.

Hopefully 2017 will include more abandoned buildings. I certainly miss it. Here’s to another year of great adventures!

xoxo

Check out previous year’s favorite abandoned places here – 2014 + 2015.

You can find the rest of my posts on abandoned places under the “abandoned” tag.

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

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.

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Other posts from this trip…

If you haven’t gotten your fill of dilapidated buildings – check out the tag “abandoned” for more posts!

Do you see the face in the photo above?

I was too nervous to go into this cabin when I discovered it on our last visit because I just got the weird vibe that someone lived there. It was arranged a bit differently on this most recent visit, and didn’t hold that same energy. Such a funny little set up.

trailer park paparazzi

Check out past posts from this location – March 2015, March on film, June 2015, May 2016, and March 2017.