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americanguide:

NOTHING TO SEE HERE – CENTRALIA, PENNSYLVANIA

CENTRALIA, 31.2 m. (1,484 alt., 2,446 pop.), was founded in 1826 and named for its then strategic commercial situation. Wooden buildings occupy the bottom of a hollow that has been invaded by stripping operations; some miners’ shacks are almost surrounded by pits. Many houses have settled because of mining operations under the town itself. 

—Pennsylvania, A Guide To the Keystone State (WPA, 1940)

Imagine a town as you see it here in this first picture, with more than 1000 residents and over 500 homes and businesses. Now imagine it gone—literally wiped off the map. Families relocated. Structures razed and removed. Street signs dismantled and discarded. Zip code revoked. That’s the story of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a former coal town that literally burned itself out.

In 1962, as it had in years past, the town hired volunteer firefighters to clean up the town dump, located in a former strip mine. This entailed setting the landfill on fire and allowing it to burn. Unfortunately, the fire wasn’t fully extinguished and it ultimately found its way into the abandoned coal mines beneath the town.

It wasn’t until 1979 that the town became aware of the enormity of the fire burning beneath them. Eventually sinkholes were opening up, noxious levels of carbon monoxide were escaping and Pennsylvania officials were warning people to leave. In 1984 Congress allocated $42 million in relocation funds and in 1992, Pennsylvania took all properties in the town by eminent domain. A few folks have stood their ground; the population now stands at 10 with six houses remaining.

There is literally not much to see here as almost everything has been removed. Overgrown empty streets allow your imagination to run wild like the landscape itself. The only signs of the fire are the metal gas monitoring pipes installed by the DEP and the occasional wisps of smoke escaping from some cracks in the earth. Route 61 leading into town was closed off in 1992 because of the severe damage the fire caused. That portion is now referred to as Graffiti Highway and the new 61 jogs right onto what used to be an old logging road—now made modern with asphalt.

The only evidence that life still exists in Centralia are the few remaining homes with their tidy lawns and the cemeteries that are still well maintained. If you knew nothing of Centralia, you could almost drive through it without realizing the town had ever existed—it would be just a couple odd bends in the road. But if you know the story of Centralia it’s hard not to stop and take notice of what isn’t there anymore and imagine what it used to be.

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Guide to the Northeast Brett Klein lives in Connecticut and works in New York, but prefers small town life and his homestate of Maine. Any chance to get rural is a mental vacation. Follow Klein on Tumblr at The Coast is Clear. His curatorial collection of Americana, rural life, other artists and ephemera can be seen on Tumblr at Tons of Land.

atlasobscura:

Maunsell Army Sea Forts – Whitstable – England

Part of the Thames Estuary defense network, the anti-aircraft tower-forts were constructed in 1942, with each fort consisting of a cluster of seven stilted buildings surrounding a central command tower. When operational, catwalks connected the buildings. After their successful wartime career, the forts were decommissioned in the 1950s.

In the 1960s and 70s, the remaining abandoned forts were famously taken over as pirate radio stations. The micro nation Principality of SeaLand occupies a nearby Navy fort of a different design known as the Roughs Tower, also by Maunsell. All of the Army Forts are now abandoned.

Wonder what it would be like live in one for a long time? Read about a guy who did. 

Ferrante Guitarworks No. 02 – Two-piece double-bound solid Alder body; Maple neck & Wenge board; Bone nut; 1 11/16” width at nut; 12” fretboard radius; 22 frets & 25” scale; Chunky “C” shape neck; Gotoh tuners; compensated saddles; Heavy Air pickups [“Mumder” vintage*  Tele set]; 4- way switch, with option for N + B either parallel (normal), or series; DPDT Mini toggle phase switch [puts the neck pup out of phase with the bridge pup- works in either series or parallel]; 250K ohm pots w/ .022 tone cap; .01 trebled bleed cap at vol. pot; Electro socket jack cup; 3 color burst [Amber> Red> Black], Nitro; Satin nitro on neck.

Ferrante Guitarworks No. 3 – Two piece solid Alder Body; Maple Neck; Maple fretboard; Bone nut, 1 11/16” width; 12” fretboard radius; 22 frets & 25” scale; Chunky “C” shape neck; Gotoh tuners; Wilky bridge w/ compensated brass saddles; Gretsch Filtertron  pickups; 3-way toggle switch, standard 3-way switching; 500K ohm pots & a .047 tone cap; Electro socket jack cup; Nitrocellulose lacquer; Satin nitro on neck.