Abandoned Pennsylvania: Ruins of the Family Dream

The stories that abandoned homes tell captivate Robyn and Michael. Over the past six years of traveling the northeast and exploring hundreds of abandoned locations, they have learned there is not one reason people vacate their homes. Some have relinquished their homes after foreclosure. Other homes are abandoned because people have died and have left estates unsettled, and their family members have squabbled over the assets. The authors have discovered many vacant houses exist because owners have needed assistance funding long-term care in a nursing facility, and the state has seized the property as repayment for Medicaid. Then, there are the historical properties, mansions from the Colonial Era to the Victorian Era, still rich with ornate architectural splendor forsaken to decay until cutthroat developers bypass their historical significance and gain permission from local municipalities to demolish them. Whatever the story, it is usually sad. Robyn and Michael pay homage to the lost lives and the lost dreams that these homes represent with their photographs.