Blog: Abandoned 2019 By: John Heisz

This marks the fourth year that my brother Don and I have taken a day to drive around and look for interesting abandoned places. I wrote about the first year in this blog shortly after we went out for the second year, and I covered last year, probably our most “productive” outing, in this entry.

Although not abandoned, the first stop we made was at this small lake. There was the sunrise, the mist on the water and a flock of geese in flight make it very picturesque:

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Like last year, we picked out an area and brought a map along to avoid backtracking. However, some of it we had been through before in the first year out. So it was not entirely a surprise when we found one of the more memorable houses from that trip:


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A bit more growth and deterioration, but basically unchanged four years later. After leaving this the first time, we thought it would be next to impossible to find it again since we hadn’t kept track of where we were. This house is featured in the short video I made with Don (he wrote the story and did the narration):

Next, this barn:


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Nothing spectacular, but what made it worth a visit was the windmill nearby:


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These are becoming more rare and maybe that’s a good thing. Like the one from last year, this made a sound when turning that rates high on the irritation scale. Luckily, the wind wasn’t blowing hard.

Inside the barn, Don is taking some photos with the film cameras he uses:


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Including this one of me:


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And this kettle with bullet holes:

The barn was still in good shape, although clearly unused for several years.

The next stop was a genuine abandoned house hidden from view from the road, but a driveway that’s overgrown without a mailbox always warrants a closer look:


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Again, nothing spectacular, but we weren’t finding much and getting out for a walk and stretch was welcome. From the back:


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We didn’t enter, but the damage inside was clearly visible. One notable detail about the majority of these places is the lack of vandalism. All of the deterioration is the result of time and the elements.

I thought this made for an interesting picture:


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There was also a more modern looking shed in the field behind it that’s probably still in use:

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And a variety of antique farm equipment laying about, slowly being absorbed by nature:


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What turned out to be the last stop was a house that looked fairly normal from the front, but completely collapsed at the back. I’m actually standing on what used to be the back wall to take this picture:


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I had to wrestle my way through some thick brush to get there.

Don was on the side to the right of me:


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Interesting how this house was built, with brick and mortar between the studs of the exterior walls and you can see some of that in this shot:


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There was also a small shed on the property that was keeling over, but not in a way that made it special.

We weren’t there long before someone arrived and politely asked us to leave, which we did promptly. While it’s obvious that these places are private property, normally if the owner (if they are still around…) has an issue with wanting people to stay out, they put up a gate or chain to block access. That doesn’t excuse our trespass, but our intentions were not nefarious – we only wanted pictures and never disturb anything.

Overall, it was an interesting trip. We found less than we did last year, but also with each passing year and the high value of property these days, there will ultimately be less of these to see.