I like to explore abandoned, dying, and generally just off the beaten path places mainly on the east coast of the US. Join me for some interesting adventures!
That K-Mark is gonna be gone by 2025. There's nothing good or appealing about this store. Nobody is in the huge store. They're practically liquidating their stock. I never liked K-Mart, Walmart, Target, etc. I've shopped there, mainly because I've been forced to basically. But I don't like stores in general. Basic needs and necessities should be free to all US citizens.
I believe that Brownsville also has a Colonial era history as Redstone Old Fort. It was a settlement by the time of the French and Indian War, 1757-1763.
I love Target because they have no music or annoying announcements over the PA system - at least at the two Targets that I shop. I hate loud music in public places. I would imagine that this location that you show, the local summer residents send their personal assistants to do the shopping. A little further east and it is the real moneyed classes. Anyone remember when K-Mart had an in store restaurant/grill?
Talk about no future position..working at a KMart at this point. Im surprised how organized and clean it is. But the prices dont seem that great, certainly not better than Wal Mart.
I have not been in a K-mart in over 40 years. What I do see is a seemingly neat and tidy store. Saying that, the merchandise appears to be the same old same old stuff from China that everyone else sells. As a kid, K-Mart simply was not the sort of place that my mother would shop often and in those days department stores had a great selection of the items that we needed. Play clothes and stuff for summer camp did come from K-Mart. So many stores now have the same things mainly due to a lot of it comes from China. While not the best or the worst thing, it all looks the same, the furniture that you show, can be found elsewhere. I am not discussing price differences - will let someone else in tune with dollars and cents chime in on that.
I don't know why supermarkets in the US try so hard to be department stores. Here in Mexico you'd only buy clothes, shoes, furniture or appliances in a supermarket if you were looking for the cheapest prices (and the lowest quality). Anything more expensive or fancier than that, you know you have to go to a department store that of course looks way nicer than this.
Moved to Cumberland, MD 6 weeks ago. I work remotely and this town is full of great architecture and really seems to be working at coming back. Bought a huge old house that's in pretty good shape and we have at least 8 active churches within just a few blocks. The "house" behind us on the other side of our alley apparently used to be some sort of church but now is vacant.
Well, it has the old HVAC diffusers in the ceiling, so it “kinda” feels like Kmart! Shout out to all my East Brunswick, NJ Kmart shoppers! If you remember the days of the true old cafe with burgers and fries in the back of the store… and the old brown floor tiles in the entrance that made your shopping cart rattle like it was about to fall apart, let me know! 🎉🎉🎉😂
It’s mind boggling that this LI location got to make it to the end being soooo far out on the island. We all know the Eddie Lampert story by now, but if anyone could have just consolidated the locations to maybe 25 in one region of the country that made the most sense for population, household income, shipping logistics and costs, it could have worked out! 😢
The only reason i am missing kmart is that it's part of some memories of my childhood. My friends and i would hang out at the Packer stadium on our bike and after i would bike to kmart near by to get a few thing before heading home. That was back when the stadium was just a structure of sheet metal. That whole area doesn't even resemble what it once was. I forget how old i am some times. 😅
The art drawn by the patient is in the basement of building 93. The paintings were done by a famous cartoonist named Percy Crosby whose comic strip character Skippy was very popular from the mid nineteen twenties thru the mid forties. The vandals destroyed his work. Sad but true.
Thank you for this video. Recently moved to Florida but for decades I visited this place weekly living on Long Island. You are correct about the building behind 93 being a “support” building, as this was the Laundry building for the complex. Awesome video, Ian. 🎸
I grew up just on the other side of the Brownsville tunnel so we went into town a lot. I practically lived in the library including volunteering there as a kid. There was an incredible Italian restaurant in lower Brownsville that we always went to for family birthdays. There was also an arts center where my sister and I went for their art and drama summer camps. And I went on so many tours of Nemacolin Castle (pronounced with an e like in egg) that I practically had the whole tour memorized. I remember when everyone started talking about the guy buying up everything and at first people were so excited. I was confused why he wanted a riverboat casino there since it was already a pretty empty and slow town but I figured I was a kid and the grown-ups knew what they were talking about. I also didn't know just how much of the town he had bought. Then I graduated and moved to Pittsburgh. Any time I would go back the place just looked sadder and sadder. So many gorgeous historical homes falling apart. There was one my mom and I called "our house" because we loved it so much and desperately wanted to fix it up. I hope they can figure out a way to revitalize it.
Sad what this place and most of Baltimore City has turned into.....a couple of buildings between the Pawn shop and Nevermore (used to be Kaufman's department store) were definitely torn down and all the globe lamp post that were everywhere down the strip
I don’t give a damn what anybody says soon as they started electing these liberal Democrat mayors from up north RALEIGH started going downhill. It’s pitiful to see what is going on. I lived in Raleigh from 1989 to 2005 in the city was booming. The northerners moved to Raleigh with their liberal ideologies and just completely the city. Take your asses back up north do us a favor, the bullshit is happening in the Charlotte area
You missed out on that hospital man as a teenager we used to run through there crazy and they say it was haunted. I never saw or heard anything but people say it’s was haunted.
We have a place across the river in California Pa my mother used to shop in Brownsville as a kid in the 50s. The fiddler's diner and the town was the location they shot a Netflix show I am not ok with that. People said the Brownsville mural was added when they shot the show, I thought it was previously there. I spent a few months a year in the area and I have noticed it getting revamped slowly. I did not know the Legget story nice to know. Nice video too.
Thank you for that tour. We lived in Surry from 1985 to 1990. I worked at the Surrey House from ‘85 to ‘87. The owners, the Gwaltneys, lived in the house at the back of the restaurant when they owned it.
I always stop at JABS Fireworks whenever I run down to Florida. It doesn’t look like much has changed since I was a kid given that the only income for people in that part of South Carolina is from travelers and Firework sales. It’s a very very poor region of the state
the mural seen around 19:00 was done by a few members of Pittsburgh's IATSE union, it was painted for the short lived Netflix show I Am Not Okay With This from 2020
I got a terrible speeding ticket in Brownsville on my way to my reserve unit just outside of town. That cop hit me with everything he could. No fond memories of Brownsville sorry. Thankfully the guys from my reserve unit helped me out by squaring me away with some money so I did not take a total loss for the weekend. Not nice of them to target Soldiers on their way to drill on the weekends.
The Redstone Castle predates Nemicolen's Castle buy many hundreds maybe thousands of years. It had stone ramparts made of huge boulders of red stone Redstone Creek is named for. Although the stines were destroyed by settlers, the pentagonal earthen rampart that it sat in is still under the train tracks that cross said creek at its mouth into the Monongahela at Brownsville. At this place is now an edie that prevents a large whirlpool. This is the lair of Mishipeshu, the underwater panther. When tou see a petroglyph of this entity near water is like a modern sign alwrting you the swimming is risky here. I have heard there was once a big one there. I could go on about the ancient history of Brownsville it has always been a special place. I have many friends there and many fond memories. I never knew the Brownsville curse was because of a creepy investor. Thats a lesson for sure.
Thanks for visiting Brownsville. You summed up the history wonderfully. I pastor two of the churches in Brownsville. That is one thing that is still strong in the little area, the ministerial association is vibrant and active. Meaning although the churches you spotted are mostly small congregation wise, they are alive and kicking. We do work together to serve the community with food banks, community events, benevolent funds. While depressed the people do care for their own. If you ever come back into the area and wish to explore the churches please let me know. I’d be happy to help make that happen. Also all the flags were put up by the local rotary club which is also incredibly active. They go up for veterans, Memorial Day, the 4th and a few other national holidays.
Will miss that mall. Just moved back to PA just in time for it to close. Went there in 80s, 90s, 2000s. Along with covid its land grabs by investors buying up the land then not caring about the buildings on it and high rent, same reason Red Lobster going under.
My ancestor, Col. James Burd, was the engineer who designed Fort Redstone, aka Fort Burd (where "the Castle" is now) atop the hill in Brownsville .. He was also instrumental in the design of Fort Ligonier, during the French and Indian War (1750s), when the French controlled Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) George Washington, accompanying Gen Braddock, and Col. Burd, crossed the Monongahela River here on their first attempt to attack Fort Duquesne, but were ambushed by the Indians, & French that were hidden in the forest on high ground .. They severely defeated the English forces, with Gen. Braddock being killed ... On the retreat east, on the Nemacolin Trail, later "The National Road" (old Rt 40), they buried Braddock's body in the middle of the road to keep his corpse from being desecrated by the enemy (they returned later and reburyed him) Later, under Gen. Forbes, with Ft Necessity, Ft Redstone, and Ft Ligonier, established.. They were able to drive the French from Fort Duquesne .. Then establishing their own fort on the site by the English as Fort Pitt at the Forks of the Ohio, now Pittsburgh "Old Fort Redstone" was thought to be an ancient early Indian Fort, surrounded by natural red sandstone bluffs .. It was more likely to have been a permanent paleo Indian village, hundreds of years before the establishment of the circa 1750s Fort Redstone, aka Fort Burd, designed by my ancestor, Col James Burd
There are so many dying small towns in western Pennsylvania. My husband was from that area and one of the problems I felt is that the area was not very welcoming to outsiders. I talked with city leaders in his town and encouraged them to look into becoming telecommuting centers. With home prices being so reasonable, it's a great place for that. However, they all rejected any movement toward inviting outsiders in. So for now, their economy depends on social services and caring for the elderly population.
" Depressive nostalgia " ... Wow, what an apt term! I am old enough to remember when S.O.B. was a busy place. Funny, even back in the late 70's and early 80''s, it had that exact same vibe you just described. It was just a lot busier... I grew up in MD with grandparents in FL who would meet us halfway right there every trip, twice a year. 💯
I really enjoyed this, Ian. I wanted to add that many different churches allowed immigrants to maintain their cultural and religious beliefs. You walked among Byzantine, Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches near the old hospital. It was important for people to stay connected to their roots.
