Today we were going to right that wrong with a trip to Centralia. Centralia sits in a coal-rich area of Pennsylvania and this caused its population to swell to about 2,700 in the 1890s. Ironically, the coal seams in the area not only gave the town its heyday, but also its downfall.
In 1962, a deliberate burn of a trash heap unexpectedly ignited one of the coal seams. Several attempts and proposed attempts were made to extinguish the underground fire, but none were successful. The fire was simply left to burn.
Centralia gained national interest in 1981 when a 12-year-old resident fell into a sink hole that suddenly opened up in his back yard. Luckily he was dragged out of the hole, but this triggered the beginning of the end for the town. Residents were bitterly divided as to whether to stay or leave, but government buyouts of the properties and land resulted in the population dwindling to just 7 as of 2013.
One of the cool things I wanted to see was a section of PA Route 61. After several attempts to repair the damage caused as a result of the fire, it was officially condemned in 1994 and has since been dubbed "Graffiti Highway" due to the vast amount of graffiti that has been daubed upon it.
I had done quite a bit of research on visiting the condemned section of the highway, and read conflicting views on the legality of doing so. However, we had made the journey here and the walking route we took onto the highway had no visible signs telling you not to, so we went ahead. There were a few other people wandering up and down. No-one seemed to be doing anything bad - just taking a few photos and soaking up the eeriness of the surroundings, just like us.
I didn't want to hang around too long, however, so we quickly made our way back to Fin and had a drive down what used to be the main street through the town. We saw intersections and plots where we could imagine houses, shops and businesses once standing, but nature was slowly reclaiming the land. I was so glad we made the trip here and ventured onto the closed highway. We didn't see any smoke from the fire, but estimates suggest it will continue to burn away underground for another 250 years!
We were soon getting peckish, and stumbled across a recommendation we had been given by my boss Wyndham about a year earlier. Sheetz is a chain of convenience store/fast food restaurant/gas station combos that can be found all over the central-east area of the US. Given that we needed both gas and food, this seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. After filling Fin, we headed over to the touchscreens to order some fast food. Despite Sam's not looking that appetizing, the food was tasty.
Tummies and tanks filled, we headed to our next Pennsylvania attraction - Roadside America. Built in 1953, this is the "World's Greatest Indoor Miniature Village and Railroad" so a visit was a no-brainer really. Arriving at the venue we were worried it was closed, as the car park was virtually empty. Venturing inside, the staff were delighted to see us and chuffed that a couple from the UK had made a special effort to see their attraction.
It was pretty impressive, as you will see from the video. We were also given a little treasure hunt whereby we had to find the 13 Halloween characters (such as Jason from Friday the 13th, Count Dracula and Pinhead) that had been hidden in the scenes. I think we got all but one. It was a lot of fun actually, and seeing daytime turn into night when all the streetlights came on, and then back into dawn, was pretty cool.
We had done a fair bit of driving today, so decided to head back to the hotel in Hershey for a bit of a freshen up, and then into town for some food. Options were a little bit limited, but we decided to head for a Grill that had been recommended - The Chocolate Avenue Grill. Being a grill meant there was only really one choice on the menu for me... check out the video to see what I went for :)
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