I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post. I have not written ANYthing about being in Maine yet! It feels rather rude that my first post be about something negative, but I really like these photos and wanted to share them with you. Plus, a photo-style essay is a lot quicker to whip out! 😉 But first, a little background:
Ruin Porn
For those unfamiliar with the phrase, “Ruin Porn” is pretty common in large cities like Detroit. The phrase describes the preoccupation with exploring and documenting images of decaying, decrepit factories, institutions, hotels and other buildings.
Urban explorers regularly break into these shuttered buildings to take video and photographs of their exploits. There are photography courses taught on the subject, and coffee table books full of images of stately homes and turn-of-the-century buildings now moldering away.
My own preference, by far, would be to see buildings rehabilitated and in active use for the betterment of society. I hate to see buildings, vehicles, and cemeteries left to crumble and decay.
When I see an RV or bus sitting in a field, rotting away, I die a little inside. That said, I do have a morbid fascination with abandoned buildings. With any
historicold item/building, I try to imagine the people whose lives it has touched, and the impact they each left upon the item.
If I could re-do my college career, I likely would have focused on finding a way to combine architecture, engineering (whoops, nope, bad math skills), sociology, business and urban planning to aid cities with adaptive reuse, to keep these landmarks — and sometimes, just ordinary homes — from falling into disrepair.
Heading to Lubec & Campobello
So. Last weekend we traveled from Bangor to Lubec, Maine, which claims to be the farthest eastern town in the U.S.A. I’ve now been to the geographic center of the contiguous U.S. (Belle Fourche, South Dakota), the southernmost point (Key West), and now the easternmost point. Two more to go!
Part of the attraction of going to Lubec was to continue east into New Brunswick, to Campobello Island and the beautiful, historic Roosevelt Campobello International Park (RCIP). The RCIP is dedicated to President Frederick Delano Roosevelt, and encompasses about 1/6 of the island. The remainder includes a provincial park and private land. I’ll write more about the RCIP soon.
Before heading east, I read a couple of magazine articles online that described some of the struggles of the locals in the area. Lubec was once a boomtown, and Campobello was obviously a playground for the rich. Both areas have been through boom and bust, and tourism now seems to be the primary source of income, aside from fishing.
The focus of one article is the inability of the (usually elderly) island residents to maintain some of their former homes and businesses, coupled with a litter and dumping problem in certain areas. With a small tax base and legal issues, the towns cannot afford to step in and are seeking provincial and federal aid in some cases.
We definitely saw evidence of littering on the main island roads. Despite hand-lettered “Please don’t litter” signs, we spotted dozens of empty beer cans and boxes along the sides of the roads on the island. Bud Light was definitely the favorite. (The RCIP, of course, was immaculate).
We stumbled on two sites that had me pulling out my camera. There is a set of buildings – an old cannery, most likely — on a wharf that is crumbling. The wharf is still active, and we drove out onto it to catch this view.
In addition to the wharf, there are a couple of coves that apparently act as burial grounds for abandoned fishing boats. When we spotted one of these, I had to take time to clop around on the rocky, overgrown beach and take some photos.
I wish that the day had been less hazy and given me a blue sky to work with, but oh well. Someday I may also learn how to correct the bleached-out color in a software program.
What do you feel when you look at these images? Do you imagine the storms they must have weathered? The hauls of herring or sardines they may have pulled aboard? Sunny skies and calm seas? The archetypical sea captain in a yellow mackinaw, pipe in his mouth, yelling “Hard aport!” while spinning the wheel?
40 Foot House 
Wonder if some got caught by Sandy? Cannot afford to rebuild and problems with insurance. Sad state😞
My gut feel is that boats have been piling up here since before Sandy. But I don’t have the definitive answer. It is sad.
Great photos, but they make me feel sad. Anything abandoned leaves one feeling sorry for what’s left behind. Maybe someone will pass by one day and see the beauty, and bring one of them back to life.
Agreed, Leslie, it is sad. I never posted the daily photos and videos I took of the CassTech demolition, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to remind others of what was. These boats are beyond repair, but I have hope for some of the buildings in the area.
Interesting post. As we wander around the US, I have been attracted to and sometimes try photographing, the parts of America left behind- most is just vacant or slightly run down- empty stores on Main St kind of thing. Not yet “ruin porn”- but sad never the less. Unfortunately there are many parts of the country headed that way as people leave for lack of work or opportunity, many times brought about by new technology. I think this is something most Americans who dont travel by RV to places other than typical tourist spots have any idea about.
Hi Alan. Thanks for reading & commenting.
It’s fascinating to track the migration patterns of humans and compare those with the economic and industrial progress of the country. Urbanization has definitely decimated some of the smaller towns that depended on family farms and certain industrial products, like mills and factories. That sort of “downtown death” was hastened by the growth of WalMart and the interstates.
There are some smaller towns that have managed — through skill, hard work, and luck — to continue to grow and thrive. Those pockets are growing; hopefully other towns will learn and apply those same lessons before they depopulate completely.
Great photos! I love the discoveries we’ve made as we travel around the U.S. We’ve come across quite a few towns who have let their core fall into disrepair and seem neglected. It is so sad, but often a sign of the ever-evolving progress of our nation. Towns that grew into being because of silver or gold have played out that scenario and must, of necessity, move on to the next chapter. One can only hope that a new generation will embrace what is good about small-town living – and we have seen signs of this happening in other towns. It’s kind of like the circle of life, and we get to be an integral part of seeing it unfold in so many different ways. Stopping to overnight in a small town, exploring and finding an excellent restaurant in a downtown area that is making a comeback is a serendipity that is never forgotten – and makes us a small part of the revitalization of an area. Never stop exploring! We, in our own way, are making a difference in THEIR circle of life.
So true. Most of our experience so far is more of the manufacturing rust belt, but I’m starting to see the former mining towns now that we’re out west. We do try to patronize the small independently-owned businesses when we can, and spread the news about good finds with reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp!, Google, and so on. (But I’m behind on those, too!)