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all photos and unattributed text copyright © 2005-2009 by abandonedamerica.org
and may not be used or reproduced without prior written consent. all rights reserved.
site overview
abandonedamerica.org was started as a project to capture the mesmerizing beauty and
lost history of the various derelict buildings dotting our country's landscape. it has
proven to be a massive undertaking, but in the past few years it has grown significantly
and been refined countless times in an attempt to create the most streamlined and
engaging experience possible.

first and foremost, this site is an attempt to retain the history and essence of neglected
sites before (and after) they are gone forever. as our industrial sector sags and many of
the social institutions that once were the pride of our country now lie in ruins, it is vital
that we remember our heritage and our achievements. abandonedamerica.org is
committed to partnering with historical preservation organizations, site owners, and
communities to ensure that even when it is impossible to retain an historic structure, its
unique characteristics, stories, and social impact are not forgotten and can be shared
with the world at large. while sites are still intact abandonedamerica.org advocates for
rehabilitation and reuse by emphasizing the cultural importance of preservation. through
gallery showings, public presentations, and published articles it is my hope to reach out
to those who might originally have seen an abandoned site as an eyesore and encourage
them to rethink their estimations and strive to foster civic pride and partnership in these
vestiges of bygone eras - thus looking forward to a future where we can build on our past
rather than erasing it.

we live in a time where every spare plot of land is being developed and redeveloped, a
time when cookie-cutter, prefabricated homes and businesses are the general rule. the
failures of the past are being ignored and repeated, and many valuable pieces of our
common past are falling to the wrecking ball every year. this process may be inevitable
but it speaks of a certain carelessness and wastefulness on our part not to acknowledge
and explore these fragments together while we still can. there is also a responsibility i
feel we all share to confront the horrors some of these sites are witness to. while we
teach and reteach certain historical atrocities like the holocaust (and rightfully so), most
people are completely ignorant that asylums and institutions on our own soil came close
to being as horrific and lethal to those inside. likewise, every factory complex that is
demolished erases a valuable part of the heritage of the community it helped create, and
an opportunity to understand the sometimes brutal working conditions, class struggles,
and the economic devastation created by its closing is gone forever. while i love
archaeology, i am dismayed at the prevailing blindness in scholastic circles that prizes a
handful of nails or pottery fragments from an early colonial settlement but ignores sites
that are still above ground and critical to preserving the accounts of accomplishments
and missteps over the last century.

beyond that, there is an undeniably artistic element to decay, and an immense number of
social, theological, and philosophical questions they pose. my aim encompasses not only
the historical and photographic cataloging of such sites, but also on a larger scale a
eulogy for the lost ways of life they represent, a statement of their emotional, spiritual,
and metaphoric relevance to our everyday lives, and a sense of the visceral experience
of entering a parallel universe of silence, rust, and peeling paint. as such, you will find
quotes, poetry, prose, and bits of the sites' past among the photographs, and it is my
sincerest wish that as you browse through the site you will gain a greater understanding
for why i treasure such places above almost everything else, and why i have chosen to
spend such an enormous amount of time creating this website. i do not intend to lead you
along a clear path from start to finish, instead i hope you will do as i have and chart your
own way and draw your own conclusions from the debris i have scattered. who knows,
maybe you'll even find yourself moved to contribute in some way to continuing the
cause. i hope you enjoy your time on my site and come back frequently. as with the
buildings themselves, there is always more to discover. you have only to look.