

While hiking in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park, hiker Jordan Liles discovered something you probably wouldn’t expect to find in the middle of a nature preserve: an entire town, completely abandoned, and being reclaimed by nature.
The town is, or was, named Elkmont, and is now referred to as being part of the Elkmont Historic District. It’s located on the still-active Elkmont Campground, in the park. Since it was built in the early 20th century, the site has been home to a hotel and resort community, and, before that, to a pioneer community and logging town.
To get there, Liles went about a mile up an old gravel road inside the park and entered the abandoned community. It consists of houses and a large hotel, called the Wonderland Hotel and built in 1912. The hotel, and the surrounding houses, became known as the “Wonderland Club,” and were used as exclusive vacation properties in the 1920s and 30s. When the land became a federal park in the 30s, the owners of the cottages were given lifetime leases, so they could keep enjoying their vacation homes. However, the park officials eventually got tired of dealing with the properties, and the lifetime leases became 20-year leases in 1952. By 1992, the park refused to renew the leases, and the hotel and cottages were slated for removal. However, some people considered the buildings historical, and a debate over their fate would go on for the next fifteen years.
For now, it looks like the Wonderland Club has been spared, though the buildings are falling quickly into disrepair. Restoration efforts would more than likely go into the neighboring Appalachian Club, whose buildings are older as well as more historically significant to the area.
Luckily for us, though, Liles had his camera with him when he rediscovered the Wonderland Club, so even if the buildings deteriorate or are removed, we’ll always have a record of them. Liles compiled his footage into a 22-minute documentary called ‘Tennessee Wonderland,” in which he explores the buildings, including some of the cottages and the Wonderland Annex, which is the standing structure of the hotel. The main hotel collapsed in 2005 after being damaged by a fire a decade earlier, and its remains have been dismantled.
Be sure to watch it until the end, where you can see images of the Wonderland Club throughout the years, including then-and-now comparison photos.
Read more: http://viralnova.com/tennessee-wonderland/
Each day we are distracted by our own lives, too busy to notice what is going on around us. However, most people aren’t disturbed by the chaos. Instead, we only feel fear when there is utter, terrible silence. Stillness is unnerving, not chaos. That’s probably why abandoned buildings, former hotspots of humanity, are so intriguing. It’s addictive to think about the lives that passed through these doors, only to eventually move on and forget.
Life will pass all of us by in just a blink, but the legacies we build on this earth will stay behind us as a monument to our lives. That’s what each of these images are, a testament to what life used to be like for others. It’s something we can only dream about. Source: Reddit Share these beautiful, but strange, pictures with others.
Read more: http://viralnova.com/abandoned-places/
While on a Valentine’s Day road trip, this Reddit user stumbled across a hidden treasure of sorts. Far back from the highway stood a small abandoned house. The only thing nearby were fields, so the little cabin looked lonely… but beautiful. So they decided to wander inside (and we’re so glad they did).
There are many different kinds of beauty in the world, and a decaying house full of memories and remnants of times past? Some may say that it’s very beautiful. Source: Reddit Share this unique place with others, whether you like it yourself or not. It is interesting, after all.
For five years, the Dayton, Ohio residence of Edward Brunton choose go unattended. Dirt, earth, and citation documents covered just what little relating to little blue residence that hadn’t become one utilising the overgrown yard. It absolutely was abandoned, but the moment an adventurous twelve-year-old determined to explore the decrepit domicile, he quickly discovered that who has beenn’t the simple fact. You won’t believe what sort of son or daughter respected.
Precisely what a terrifying and tragic image. If at all possible, the man and Brunton’s household has to be capable continue from harrowing development to see convenience. Might share this post using the option another.
Have more tips: http://viralnova.com/abandoned-house/
New York City is place with a lot of well kept secret places. Probably the best (or at least most interesting) of these places is North Brother Island. The island is located in the East River between Queens and the Bronx. Today, it’s completely abandoned, and nature is slowly reclaiming it.
Via: Sliptalk
This is amazing. How can such a creepy treasure sit under the noses of the millions of people living in New York City without anyone knowing about it? Very cool. I just wish they gave tours of the island.
Read more: http://viralnova.com/north-brother-island-is-new-york-citys-creepy-secret/