A Moose locked up in PA

On Saturday I met up with Emily, Margie and Andrew to drive up to Tyrone, PA for a day's urbexing. We were meeting a few other DCUE members at the Moose Lodge, a building now closed down and ready for urbexers like us to photograph. The Moose Fraternity started in 1888 in Louisville, Kentucky, as a social club that raised funds for charities, and spread across the U.S. This lodge was built in 1927 and strikes an imposing presence on the street, tall walls of red brick with detailed moose heads on two sides.

The door was open when we arrived, others from our group already inside, the sound of their shutters snapping away. The hallway was dark and cool, the instantly recognizable odor of mold wafting across to greet us. We pulled our cameras from our bags and without a word spread apart, walking in to different rooms to get down to business. Greetings were sent out and received within the dark rooms from friends I hadn't seen for a while as I tiptoed through the puddles on the floor.

The lodge was shut down 11 years ago. Membership had been declining and the manager had become involved with local kids selling drugs. Charlie, our host, who is the president of the borough council, said the town, like many others in the U.S. had a drug problem, but he was firm in voicing that the town was sorting it out. The decay had set in fast throughout the building. There was water on the floor in many of the rooms and in one were huge fluffy globs of black mold clinging to floor tiles and broken furniture. I didn't stay in there. Many of the gang were collected in the bar area, taking photos of a stuffed moose, opening ledgers to photograph historic details. or carefully arranging dusty dull glassware on the bar top for an atmospheric capture. The ceiling looked like it had once been padded and held up at intervals with huge studs, once upon a time looking like huge cushions with a button in the middle. Now the plastic hung down like huge flaps of skin. This feature was drawing a lot of interest from the group so I headed for upstairs which would be less crowded.

Only a few others had made their way up here and I settled down, getting back into the business of taking photos. It felt like eons since I'd last been urbexing and used my Sony camera. Most of my recent activities have warranted only using my compact camera so it felt good to size up my shots using the viewfinder rather than looking at a screen. I walked slowly across the floor, in some places dusty and yet only a few feet further were shallow puddles of collected rainwater from recent storms. The windows reflected in the puddles fascinated me, this would be my best photo of the day. Wooden floorboards had buckled and twisted, reminding me of the floors at Lebow Clothing Factory, from many moons ago when I was an urbexing novice. The intricate plaster cornices still clung to the edges of the ceiling and I wondered if they would be saved during the renovation. I was amazed to find battered cobwebs still clinging to the old wooden gavel and admired the huge painted ceiling roses that added beauty to the broken decay around us.

The kitchen was open to the elements on one side, old rusty food tins piled up by the sink, but the gorgeous wooden cupboards held my attention. Still filled with unbroken and neatly stacked china, much of which bore a Moose insignia. Later as some of us waited outside when we were done, others had exited holding plates in their arms. Charlie had very kindly allowed us to take some souvenirs. So I went back into the dark, walking slowly as my eyes adjusted from the bright sunshine. I picked up a teacup and saucer and a couple of small plates.

We all lined up out front for a group photo by Liz Roll. It had been an interesting shoot and looks like there will be future trips, judging by the wait list for today's event, a lot of folks had been unable to attend due to the day being capped at 20, which had actually been the perfect number for attendance, any more and it would have been crowded.
The large upper windows at the front had all been bricked in, a result of local kids throwing rocks and breaking the glass. Charlie told us the building will be renovated and transformed into a military museum. He's already received about 500 uniforms from other branches, some from WWI, even one from the Army Air Force. He's optimistic that the museum will be open within two years. He came across as a very determined gentleman. When one of our group asked about the building next door, Charlie explained that the YMCA had been a beautiful building but was torn down. The owner had not got the funds to renovate it and was told he had to demolish it or receive a daily fine of $1000 while it stood. Charlie informed us that the town rules had been changed since then. Looking about the quiet streets I noticed how clean it was and Charlie spoke proudly of the strong community spirit. I believed him, and will look forward to the development of the new museum.

After lunch our next stop was Bedford where Eric had set up a visit to explore the old county jail. Built in 1895 it was a jail for more than a century but is now a weaving business on the ground level, beautiful yarns in balls or hanging in loops from the walls. The owner wasn't able to let us stay long as she had a sick lamb to care for, so a quick half hour was all we had, we all sympathized with her, and secretly I wished I could have given up my time at the prison to go visit the lamb instead.

It was certainly intriguing to investigate the old prison area. It was just a short corridor with cells on either side, and then on the far side of the cells were narrow corridors again so the inmates didn't have direct access to the windows. The walls were daubed with crude artwork and written phrases. the others spent a while photographing these, capturing every wall, but they held little interest for me. The shadows cast on the old payphone were more appealing and I loved the old floor. I was glad we couldn't stay long, I'd taken all the shots I wanted within 15 minutes.

We climbed stairs to a stifling floor where once the probation officers had resided. When used as a jail only the sheriff's office had A.C, the cell block had one solitary fan to waft down the prisoner hallway. The rest of the building likely felt as it did today, hot with air so humid, it was difficult to breathe. Down in the basement is a huge domed brick oven, once used to bake the break for the inmates. There was once a Pittsburg mafia inmate kept here for his own protection, no doubt receiving better treatment than his peers, and likely a better diet than bread and water.
The Old Bedford prison is up for sale, now reduced to $399,000. so anyone interested in using this as a residence would be able to party like a jailbird, free crayons thrown in to decorate the walls!

Eric Brown took another group shot of us outside the building and then we drove to a couple of interesting attractions nearby in the town.

Dunkle's Gulf gas station, just down the road, dates back to 1933 and is beautifully decorated in the art deco style. Still functioning as a gas station, it is obviously meticulously maintained and was a gem to see up close, all the tiles looking like brand new. It's still operational as a gas station, the only place to gas up along the Lincoln Highway.

The Coffee Pot, was just around the corner. Although this was a wonderful oddity to see perched up on the hill, it was disappointing inside. We peered through the door window expecting to see tiny tables with colored or checkered tablecloths and a cute counter with coffee machines and lots of quaint artwork with historic photos, but no. Just an old pasting table was set up, a boring empty counter was on one side, and it certainly wasn't selling coffee any more. but at least it's been restored on the outside, it's certainly eye-catching!
Our little group parted from the others who were going to start on their way home. We decided to meander through rural roads to see if we could discover any other abandonments or wonderful sightings. We laughed at Margie who we briefly dropped off at a thrift store and then came back to find her rummaging in what looked like old battered boxes with equally suspect material inside. We chuckled as she walked to the car clutching a few pieces of clothing but then our jaws dropped in amazement as she casually announced the directions to a local chemical plant that was abandoned. She'd been chatting to the owner of the store who had readily given up this information and supplied what seemed to be detailed directions. Unfortunately, either all 4 of us weren't paying adequate attention or Margie had somehow not remembered all of the information but we didn't find the location. but that didn't really matter, the best part was how Margie had come up trumps while we were all sniggering.

A few miles down twisty windy roads Andrew spotted an old truck nestling low in tall grass on a hill. We climbed a dusty track, furrowed by past rains and discovered a small fleet of relics quietly rusting away. I regretted not wearing long trousers as I trudged through the vegetation, sharp brambles and thorns scratching my legs, and no doubt I was getting bitten too.A handsome Ebony Jewelwing dragonfly settled on large green leaves, showing off his splendor and allowing me close enough to take a photo. His brilliance was magnificent, so unfair that his lifespan as a flying adult is only about two weeks.

The sun was beginning to dip as we drove along Rte 30. Just as I slowed to stop for an old abandoned house, Andrew yelled out, pointing, excited to finally be able to stop and photograph the old building after years of driving past it. I thought it had once been a restaurant but after stepping inside it was apparent that it had been a residence. The floors were rotten towards the back but the stairs were fairly solid. Traffic was whizzing noisily past outside as we explored the hot, dusty bare rooms, but when this was first built the now busy road must have been just a quiet, narrow horse lane that passed by. The views out the back were outstanding, looking through the trees at a vast valley with mountains in the background, now in pastels of pink, peach and blue. We took photos in the golden light and stood, just admiring the scenery and trying to imagine how wonderful it must have been to eat dinner or enjoy a beverage while having such a stunning landscape outside the huge windows.

Further down the road we stopped at an old Shell service station in Mercersburg, PA.

 I was shocked to see the scene above which I captured from Google Street View. The historic renovation could only have been done in very recent years. what a transformation!
While searching online for information on the building I came across this poignant article of a resident who'd been asked to write about his childhood in the town during the 40's and 50's. I got lost in it for a while, very well written.

My last photo of the day was of another old empty house on the way home. The neighbors next door were having an outdoor function but took no notice of us as we wandered  around the outside looking for a way in. But peering through the windows revealed an uninteresting interior so we took our last shots as the light faded, enjoying the coolness of the tall grass and fragrant creeping charlie as we crouched down for our photos, Fireflies slowly began to dance around us and began to sparkle and flicker a farewell as we left for the final leg home.