The Huffington Post ran an article yesterday about Detroit’s decline. Wow, what a sad and beautiful place! It looks like the set from that Will Smith movie “I Am Legend”. Wild packs of dogs roam the streets and foliage has grown where sidewalks used to be. And dogs aren’t the only things roaming around. Real wildlife is claiming parts of the city as well.

As an historic building enthusiast, I’d like to see these structures saved. As an environmentalist, I say  let nature take it back. We’re always tearing down trees and destroying natural habitats. Well, let the city become a forest. It’s been abandoned anyway.

It sure has some nice architecture though.

See also: Detroit Blog

The post The Ruins of Detroit appeared first on reclaimedhome.com.

This must be the place. The place that I see across the water when traveling up the FDR. I’ve always wondered what it was. It looks like some kind of abandoned hospital and that’s exactly what North Brother Island is.

Oh, the history is rich, kids. The General Slocum, a steamship that burned on June 15, 1904 killing over 1,000 people, beached at the island. Typhoid Mary died there in 1938 after 20 years in quarantine.

The Kingston Lounge is displaying some friggin awesome photographs from the site. Be sure to check out their blog for other historic structures in decay.

Via Neatorama

The post North Brother Island appeared first on reclaimedhome.com.

A friend turned me on to this fabulous Vanishing Catskills site. Visual artist Raymon Elozua photographed the abandoned bungalow colonies and hotels around Sullivan and Ulster Counties. The site is easily navigated by type of structure or map.

From the site: “The desire for a new improved lifestyle, assimilation into the American melting pot, and the aging of an older immigrant population were underlying factors coupled with a time when air travel became cheaper and newer chic resorts and communities were springing up elsewhere spelled the end of the Catskills by the 70’s.”

That’s when my family started going there. From the mid 70’s to early 80’s, my parents rented a bungalow in a colony where all the other cousins stayed. The destinations changed every few years…there was Greenview in Spring Glen, Jan’s in Ellenville and Rosenblum’s in Spring Glen from what I recall. Some of the places (like Greenview) had already started to decay. But we had fun anyway.

My fascination with abandoned dwellings coupled with my history in the area has put Vanishing Catskills near the top of my obsession list this week. And the memories these photos triggered! OMG, I recognize that Homowack bowling alley! OMG, I helped my Grandma cook in kitchens exactly like that! (And see that pink and white chair? I have that set in yucky brown!)

Too bad my Grandma is rolling over in her grave whenever she sees me “cook” now.

Related:

Catskills Past

Borscht Belt. Then and Now

The post Vanishing Catskills appeared first on reclaimedhome.com.