“O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?“
Pic o’ the Month: Route 539 Painted Rock, NJ
Quote o’ the Month: Francis Scott Key – The Star Spangled Banner
Welcome to the Wanderer, a site about ghost towns, abandoned places, places with little known or forgotten history, roadside curiosities, and the occasional tourist trap. We deal primarily with southern New Jersey and the Pine Barrens, but we are now based in the Poconos and learning our way around Pennsylvania. Over the past few years, we’ve been slowly expanding and covering more area, going as far north as New England and as far west as Indiana.
Feel free to browse the 200+ places I’ve visited and photographed.
July 13, 2010:
Roadside silliness in Wilkes-Barre. Giant mugs and cows!
May 13, 2010:
With the semester over and vacation a week away, I figured I’d finally post a place I’ve been putting off for almost a year – Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia. I went there last August, I believe, but for whatever reason kept delaying posting it.
Heading to NC & SC next week; we’ll hopefully have a few new things from Dixie for next update.
April 16, 2010:
Small and admittedly rushed update. Been fairly busy with the semester and working 2 jobs. Figured 2 1/2 months was long enough without anything new.
Glen Onoko “Turn Hole” Tunnel, PA
Upcoming updates will be more involved. I have some good stuff lined up.
Til next time.
February 1, 2010:
New England Part 2. All Rhode Island:
Block Island Indian Cemetery
Mohegan Bluffs on Block Island
Newport’s Cliff Walk
I’ve noticed the Pennsylvania pages lately have been the most popular. Fret not, more PA stuff will be on the way.
Spring semester is in full force, and I’m also in the process of attempting to get my (hopefully) upcoming book out to publishers, so updates might be slow for a bit. In the meantime, feel free to add the site’s Facebook fan page.
Because lots of fans is a great measure of self-worth.
December 28, 2009:
This is Part 1 of our New England trip. This batch is all from Massachusetts; next time is Rhode Island.
Ghost town of Dogtown
Mayflower II
Plymouth Rock
Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery
November 6, 2009:
And here you are. An update. Really. Not as big as I had planned, but that just means there’ll be more for next month.
Rock Garden of America, NC – hokey roadside stop
And the Old Jail Museum in Jim Thorpe, PA
October 1, 2009:
Well, I was going to try and have an update for September done yesterday, but with midterms, observation hours, and other college goodness, it wasn’t meant to be. Plus I felt an update would have been rushed and half-assed, so I’m just going to hold off until I have more time and not try to stick to imaginary update schedules.
This upcoming week we’re going on vacation, so perhaps after that I’ll have some new things posted.
August 26, 2009:
Back in May, Lizz and I took a 2-day trip to Rhode Island. We toured a mansion in Newport and took the ferry to Block Island, where we both rode a tandem bike for the first time ever. During all that, we came across a few noteworthy places:
Touro Park’s “Viking Tower”
Ocean View Hotel Ruins on Block Island
Old Stone House Ruins in Scarborough State Park
July 10, 2009:
This update is all PA. A ghost town, an abandoned amusement park, and ruins surrounded by local legends this time around:
Rausch Gap
Angela Park
Devil’s Hole Ruins
June 18, 2009:
Got this up quicker than I imagined. Since I have things from as far back as February that still haven’t been posted, I’m posting 3 new places this month:
Duffy’s Cut
Stockton Mine Disaster
Knox Mine Disaster
I’m also posting somewhat of a photo tour of the Seaside Heights boardwalk, pre-Memorial Day. This was kind of a trip down Memory Lane for me as well as proof that one of the most popular Jersey Shore destinations is pretty dead for most of the year.
June 15th, 2009:
Well, here is the site revamp. Took over a month and a half and we had to rebuild every page. Hope everyone likes it and sees it as an improvement; we sure do. So go browse, comment, explore.
Will be posting a few new places later this month; I have quite a bit in queue.
Popularity: 73% [?]
Route 309 Cow
It seems for as long as anyone can remember, this giant cow has been standing along Route 309 in Wilkes-Barre Township. It stands guard in front of an Amish shed shop. It’s a popular landmark and has apparently had a few paint jobs over the years.
As you can see, the cow has its own fenced-in [...]
Giant Coffee Mug of Wilkes-Barre
I’m not really sure how many times I’ve driven by this without giving it too much thought. Recently I heard this building was to be sold, so I figured I’d check it out before it was possibly razed.
Turns out this was, unsurprisingly, supposed to have been a coffee shop. The sign for the business is [...]
Fort Mifflin
Fort Mifflin is a unique and, sadly, little known point of interest in Philadelphia. It’s right on the Delaware River; it’s actually next to the Philly Airport. It is a bit of a pain to find, though. You’re definitely going to want to look this one up first. There is also a small admission fee; [...]
Glen Onoko “Turn Hole” Tunnel
This was an added bonus to an already scenic hike. This tunnel can be found along the trail in the Glen Onoko section of Lehigh Gorge State Park. It’s not very long, maybe a few hundred feet in length. The Central Railroad of New Jersey constructed it in the 1870’s. The tunnel was used until [...]
Newport Cliff Walk
Newport’s Cliff Walk is a 3.5 mile long trail that winds along the shoreline and passes through 64 private properties, many of which are mansions. Most of Newport’s most famous estates, like Rosecliff and The Breakers are along this path (we actually toured Rosecliff in May ‘09 but were not allowed to take photos inside, [...]
Mohegan Bluffs
Photos taken May & October 2009
Simply put, this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Mohegan Bluffs, found on the southern end of Block Island, drop down nearly 200 feet to the beach below. Centuries ago, much of the Mohegan tribe was forced over the cliffs by the Manisee tribe in [...]
Video of the Month
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