Do you have a favorite ruin or abandoned place in Pennsylvania that you can legally explore and wasnt on this list? Springwater still runs through this building, creating one of the most unique abandoned places in PA. Thanks, Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, PA is an eerie abandoned place to explore. It was always so interesting. When I left PA about 40 years ago, there were still a few houses left, and some ruins. While you cant go into the furnaces, an elevated walkway allows visitors to get a close up look at these blast furnaces and peer inside their rusty confines. The Bayless Paper Mill was rebuilt after the flood in 1911, but ultimately succumbed to a massive fire in 1944 and was abandoned after that. Some of them have been, in more recent times, repurposed for new uses. Rausch Gap is another abandoned Pennsylvania town that got its start as a coal mining community. Visit it often. The Abandoned Cresson State Prison in Cambria County began as atuberculosis sanatoriumwhen it opened in1913and morphed over the years into a state hospital and finally a state prison. Orviston was once a booming brickyard. . Check out Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly, Carrie Furnace in Pittsburgh, and the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike in Central PA. Jim Cheney is the creator of UncoveringPA.com. Located in southwestern Pennsylvania, Linn Run State Park is home to the beautiful ruins of a hunting lodge. Now almost entirely derelict, Slawson says many remaining locals avoid driving this depressing route, peppered with the what President Trump referred to as Rusted-out factories, scattered like tombstones, in his bleak inauguration speech. This former mining community has been abandoned for many decades and while much of it has been lost to the woodland, pieces remain, including several concrete structures and an old rail line. Today, the ruins of the community can be found in St. Anthonys Wilderness along a great rail trail. This ingeniously constructed camp has survived in part because two of the four walls are actually massive boulders that were incorporated into the camp structure itself. I have not. Ive never heard anything about this place since. Located just a few miles from Centralia, Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine is a once-abandoned mine in the heart of Pennsylvanias coal region. He has also traveled to more than 30 different countries around the world. Of all the places on this list, Yellow Dog Village might be the most like what you think of when you think of ghost towns. Are President Trump's promises realistic? Used to be some bits and pieces left behind Nay Aug Park. Please do not trespass. You used to be able to access it via the Hawkins Hollow road, but that was closed to the public 15 years ago or so. Today, it sits abandoned in the woods just waiting for people to come and explore it. As a kid I had family that lived there so I was there quite often, my aunt used to own the only store in the town which has unfortunately been turned into a hunting camp after she sold it, so theres now no stores, there used to be a post office/motel as well which has now also been turned into residential apartments. While access to the kilns is limited by a fence, its still fun to walk around them and look at these beautiful ruins. In I believe it is either Prospect park or Ridly in PA. is a hidden town. Sadly, the homes were left abandoned for over a decade and are now in a state of disrepair. By 1924, the community was abandoned. The round bunkers alone are something to see as some of them are opened and you can walk inside. You can walk around campus in the daytime: https://pennhurstasylum.ticketleap.com/daytime-photography-tour/details. Gilson Ridge Cemetery in Hydetown Pa. Pretty massive and interesting. BethEnergy coal mining was discontinued in 1991, the railroad car industry was left in 1993, and shipbuilding was discontinued in 1997 in an effort to preserve steel production. Looking for more abandoned places to visit? [2] Fricks Locks is considered a modern ghost town and, although private property, attracts visitors. It would have been torn down then, but the concrete used to build the homes ended up being too difficult for even dynamite to destroy. Her parents buried Redstone Cem where we go A remnant of the legendary U.S. Steel Homestead Steel Works, the Carrie Blast Furnaces are a vestige of Pittsburgh's 20th-century domination of the steel industry. What about black diamond in schuylkill county. Easy access from white Haven. The plant became the leading manufacturer of sheet piling and steel rails. Once the second biggest steel manufacturer in the United States, Bethlehem Steel was one of the world's largest shipbuilders, provider of the steel that fueled the skyscraper boom, and a proud . You missed the Rockland tunnel right by the Rockland Furnace. The tunnel is roughly260 feet long, and other than the eastern portal, is completely unlined. It is a short walk along the tracks through the woods. Mill 19 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hosts the country's largest long-span rooftop solar array. This 1930s-era roadside attraction now sits abandoned in North Park in Allegheny County, but was once a public source of water (and dreams of eternal youth) until that water was deemed unfit for human consumption in 1955. Would visit family, with my Grandmom.Up in mountains.Stream in front house Railroad. Also Orvistan which I believe was once a lumbering community as well. BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: STRIKING pictures have revealed the abandoned shell of a building that once housed a prominent steel mill. Pennsylvania has dozens of historic iron furnaces. At the end of the tunnel, youll find a spectacular view overlooking the Lehigh River. The remains of this abandoned theme park in Monroe Township will be revived for a one-night Halloween event. The town was flooded when they built a dam. Today, visitors can walk through the surrounding park, marvel at the size of Austin Dam and its crumbling ruins, and pay their respects to those killed here. Today the Abandoned PA Turnpike is a non-maintained hiking/biking trail, but how long it remains a viable destination for those activities is anyones guess. Bernat lost his job recently, but remembers a boom time in the 90s when if you lost your job just after sunrise, youd find a new one before sunset. They are currently doing mine reclimation in the area. However, by 1873, the town was essentially abandoned. There are many haunted houses in the area. He was born in Saint Michael in 1917. When it was completed in 1882, the Kinzua Bridge was the largest and tallest bridge in the world. Now it takes only 650. For each destination below, be sure to click on the blue text link to view detailed directions and in-depth information about it. Bethlehem Steel. There is an abandon tunnel left from the East Broadtop Railroad along Rt 994 not far from Saltillo / Three Springs. Seeing this piece of history is well worth the cost of the tour. It does look like a graveyard, says Slawson, whos president of the Local 506 Union. The paved main street (complete with yellow pavement paint) can still be seen, along with several foundations and the remnants of the town cemetery including some old grave stones left behind. Tunnel is over 900 feet long so take a flashlight along. Abandoned when the quarry closed in 1952, the Dinkey Shed has since been incorporated into the 1000 Steps, part of the Standing Stone Trail and one of the most popular hikes in central Pennsylvania. I think that a lot of the local leaders have not been doing their part. The Gallagher family has lived in Erie, Pennsylvania, for generations and have seen the local economy decimated by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Its part of the deadmans hollow trail and the town has a great set up with a park sports fields and boat drop in area. Some of these sites were abandoned due to technological shifts that left them obsolete. I lived there summer of 1970. This sprawling collection of trolleys, trains, and buses is tucked away on a dead-end street (fittingly) in the PA Laurel Highlands. Can President Trump deliver on his jobs promise? Philadelphias Mount Moriah Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the country and the final resting place of up to 300,000 people. Built in 1883 by Sicilian stone masons for a railroad that was never completed, the abandoned South Penn Railroad Aqueduct can be found in the present-day Buchanan State Forest. Today, both bike riders and hikers can check out the base of this tower to learn more about the railroading industry in the area. I recall knowing folks from Helvetia heard they took it off the map a few decades ago. 2023 Rusty Glessner Photography, LLC / PA Bucket List. Then theres one on top of a mountain near Ralston, PA. Abandoned as a railroad bridge in the mid-Seventies, the Salisbury Viaduct has in more recent times been reborn as part of the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail in western PA. Explorers can hike or bike across this 101 foot-high, 1,908 foot-long former railroad bridge and experience exceptional views of the surrounding countryside. It took us about an hour . Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Unfortunately, this spot is surrounded by a chainlink fence, so youll have to view it from a distance, but its still a really neat spot to visit. Theabandoned nuclear jet engine testing bunkersin theQuehanna Wild Areaare a fascinating Cold War-era remnant of Pennsylvania history, now slowly being reabsorbed by the surrounding forest of Cameron County. 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Fortunately, a group of local residents decided to open this abandoned mine to tours in 1962. Others were abandoned after natural disasters. Known as Pine Grove Furnace Prisoner of War Interrogation Camp, German and Japanese officers were brought here after being captured and interrogated. How could I get permission from the owner of Yellow Dog to visit>. When visiting, make sure to be respectful as this is a historic site and attempts are being made to preserve it. Been inside the bunkers. Fricks Locks Historic District or more simply Fricks Lock is an abandoned village, along the also abandoned Schuylkill Canal, in the northeast portion of East Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The village on about 18 acres of land were listed as a historic district by the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Pitholes history was short-lived, however. In Lebanon county there is a park and boat ride on the Union Canal in West Lebanon. Unlike many so-called ghost towns that amount to little more than a sign and the remnants of a few foundations, Yellow Dog Village isa collection of26 buildings and a parkwhere people lived and played for nearly 100 years. As the vegetation dies back and the waters of Raystown Lake are drawn down each winter, this allows for a glimpse at some magnificent hidden ruins not normally visible the rest of the year. Hi Ginnie, I used to live in that area (1977-1992). 6153. By 1960 the project was scrapped, and all that remains today are the nuclear jet engine testing bunkers themselves large boxes of concrete and steel with tiny slit windows once covered by thick layers of blast-resistant glass, where engineers and technicians would have monitored the engines undergoing testing. Eldora Park between Donora and Monongahela in Carroll Township. Concrete City is an abandoned town in PAs Luzerne County. Yellow Dog Village isa former mining company town dating back to the early 1900s that now serves as a time capsule and tourist attractionin Armstrong County, PA. I now live in Nevada, but I worked at Pithole as a tour guide when I was in high school many years ago. Residents from eight of the demolished homes chose to relocate permanently. I lived in PA most of my early years and some of my adult life, never heard about the ghost towns. The place has a haunted vibe. The goal of the work done at this once-secretive site was to developnuclear-powered jet enginesfor the United States Air Force, so that fighter planes and bombers could stay airborne indefinitely, without refueling. These bunkers were used to test nuclear-powered jet engines as part of the governments Atoms for Peace program. Masten, Pa. I just decided not to include it since there really isnt anything from the town left there, minus the cemetery. You could find a job here, but Id be making less than people who work at Walmart. Barcly MTN had a old coal town the cemetery is still there, Landrus, pa between arnot and morris run pa. In 1979 U.S. Steel abandoned its historic Central Furnaces plant, established by the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. in 1881 for the production of pig iron. But in the late 1800s, the company town ofScotia, built by one of the richest men in the world at the time, served as home to employees of Andrew CarnegiesScotia Mines and Iron Works. Thanks for your help. Ralph Yarl replaying the shooting over and over again, mom says, Russian court rejects appeal by U.S. reporter held on spying charges, High-stakes showdown between Dominion and Fox News set to begin in Delaware court, Supreme Court to weigh case of postal worker who refused to work on Sundays, Russia says Putin has paid another visit to occupied ground in Ukraine, U.S. diplomatic convoy fired on in Sudan as intense fighting continues, Mexico president slams U.S. "spying" after 28 cartel members charged, FDA clears second bivalent COVID boosters for some Americans, Renowned climber Noel Hanna dies on Nepal's treacherous Annapurna, CBS Reports presents America: Manufacturing Hope. Today, visitors can walk or bike this section of roadway, passing through the two mile-long tunnels and exploring this post-apocalyptic site that is one of my favorite abandoned places in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania town that got its start as a tour guide when I was in high school many ago... 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