Centralia
Memorial Day 2006
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Dino Vervitsiotis sends in the
following pictures he took on over the Memorial Day
weekend of 2006.
Even though I've been a resident of PA
my entire life and I grew up in coal country
(Lackawanna County) I'd never even though of visiting
Centralia until visiting your site a few months ago. I
finally got a chance to go for Memorial Day weekend
this year and I snapped a few pictures mostly of the
closed section of Rt. 61 and the hillside near the
cemeteries. It was pretty hot so there wasn't much
visible smoke, but I did manage to get a shot of one
of the residents painting the Centralia benches! He
was very friendly and he agreed to chat with me for a
few minutes and let me snap a picture of him at work.
The complete set is
here and you are more than welcome to use any
pictures you like on your site. Thanks for
the inspiration and information! - Dino
| Residents of Centralia go about their daily
lives. I spoke briefly with this man who was
kind enough to let me photograph him putting a
new coat of paint on one of the few benches
around town |
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| Warning sign just south of the closed
section of Rt 61 (you can see the large mound of
dirt and a small bit of the section in the lower
left of the picture) |
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Mines are not playgrounds!
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Looking south towards the mound of dirt that
blocks off this section of Rt. 61. You can
see the glint of my car windshield in the
center right.
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| Standing at the base of the dirt mound
looking north down the closed section of Rt. 61.
If you didn't know what was further ahead you
might wonder why the road is closed. |
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| Your first indication that something isn't
quite right. |
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| It might not look so bad, but the road
surface on the right side of the picture is
about 3 ft lower than on the left. |
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| As the ground collapses below the road these
cracks form. This section was repaired in the
90s before the road was finally closed |
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Looking south on the closed section of Rt 61
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Close up of one of the bigger cracks
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| Smoke, barely visible, still bellows up from
the cracks in the road. |
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| Another, closer shot of the cracks in the
southbound lanes of the closed section of Rt 61. |
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| Another deceptively large crack in the road,
this one in the northbound lanes. |
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More smoke coming from the hillside opposite
the closed section of Rt 61
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More smoke and discolored ground
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| A tree that has been bleached white by the
heat and foul smelling chemical vapors given off
by the coal burning under the hillside |
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| Looking down on the empty, overgrown street
grid of the town that was Centralia |
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Smoke is barely visible in this closer shot
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Pure white trees and discolored ground near
an opening in the ground. The fire burning
through the coal seam under this hillside
may continue burning for 250 years and
eventually threaten the town of Ashland, 2
miles to the south.
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Not even grass grows over the hot spots on
the hill above town
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| Empty streets, the top of a house and barely
visible on the right is the municipal building |
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One of the few remaining houses in Centralia
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| 2 of the approximately 10 houses left. The
brick columns are needed to reinforce the house
because it used to be part of a row |
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| An empty street grid is all that's left of
the main part of town |
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| The Municipal Building/Police Station/Fire
House, still occupied and in use |
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| A basketball hoop with a seemingly brand new
net on one of the abandoned streets in town |
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