The historic Hotel Belvedere in Apollo, Pennsylvania burned to the ground shortly after midnight on July 24, 2019.
The Rust Belt defines a vast declining industrial corridor of the United States roughly between Chicago and Albany, New York, and dominating many of those once-bustling communities are churches. Many were built as domestic steel mills were being constructed across the country in the early 20th century, and many were closed with the collapse of the steel industry.
The former Belvedere Hotel in Apollo, Pennsylvania was a hoarder’s paradise.
At 2,500 feet in elevation, exploring the former Allegheny Tuberculosis Sanatorium was a delight. With heavy fog blanketing the campus in the early mornings, perpetual overcast days, and cooler temperatures even in the dead of summer, its location along the Allegheny Mountain front in Pennsylvania was ideal.
Driving home to upstate New York on a cold, blustery evening, I stopped to visit a childhood memory: the everlasting tourist attraction, Roadside America, but I arrived too late, and the kitschy gift shop and model railroad exhibit was closed for the day. Determined to make the best of the waning evening, I stopped by next door to visit the ruined Suwannee Belle.
Or singles day. Whatever.
There is nothing like coming across a wayside junkyard nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains while traveling in Pennsylvania. Following up on the incredible Volkswagen graveyard, this junkyard is far smaller with only a handful of vehicles but every bit as photogenic.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. After driving for many miles in lake effect snow, I came upon Old Hickory in Coudersport, Pennsylvania. Work has started to restore this long-neglected landmark into a bed-and-breakfast.
The end of 2016 is fast approaching with over 9,000 photographs snapped, 35,000 miles traveled, and 200 new locations explored and documented. Here are the top 35 images of 2016.
I recently ventured to the remains of Universal Atlas Cement in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania. The cement factory opened in 1906.
America is not unique in having desolate shopping malls, but the sheer number of underperforming, closed, and abandoned malls should give cause for alarm—including the mammoth Century III Mall near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
An outstanding residence in the center of Coudersport, Pennsylvania, Old Hickory, has been abandoned for nearly 30 years.
The decrepit Monsour Medical Center in Jeannette, Pennsylvania was demolished last month.
Photography is not a crime.
The industrial heart of the Rust Belt is western Pennsylvania as once-mighty steel mills, coke plans, and machine shops, scattered alongside railroads, rivers, and highways, have downsized and closed. A globalized economy and increased automation led many jobs overseas; what remained was a shell, unable to be self-sustaining without government intervention.
Eric Frein, charged with killing two officers outside a state police barrack in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania, may be hiding out in an abandoned resort.
I’ve been sworn to secrecy about the location of these vintage electric streetcars. But I cannot resist my excitement about these old trolleys that were once transportation staples in the United States and elsewhere.
The Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church is located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was host to a Slovak Catholic congregation. Designed by F.W. Wilson of McKeesport in the Gothic Revival architectural style, the building’s stance on the side of a hill, with its 150-foot tower, was to evoke a commanding presence over the Monongahela River valley.
The Penn-Lincoln Hotel is an abandoned hotel in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. After years of decline, the Penn-Lincoln was abandoned and left open to the elements. Due to renovation costs that make redevelopment prohibitive, the hotel will be demolished.