November 29, 2013

AbandonedNY Featured on Weather.com

Haunting Images of Abandoned Resort


Urban explorer and photographer John Walker captured what remains of an old resort that was a summer-haven for garment workers in the early 1900s in his photo series called “The White Pines.”
Walker went to the resort, located on 750 acres of land at the base of the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, after a fellow urban explorer disclosed the location. In order to keep it protected, Walker doesn’t use the resort’s real name. He instead refers to it as “The White Pines.”

The resort was purchased by the Garment Workers’ Union in 1919 as a reasonably priced place for its members to vacation. In 1924, the property was sold to the General Executive Board of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. The union renovated the building and transformed it into a wonderland for the workers, according to Walker.

The resort featured a lake with plenty or watersports, a theater, a library and an abundance of activities to keep guests entertained. Now, the front desk, bar and theater at the resort all lie crumbling and derelict.
Walker’s favorite part of the abandoned resort is the theater. “The theater and main building interested me the most,” he explained to Weather.com. “Just seeing what time and Mother Nature has does to the location since it closed always makes it exciting to see and capture with a camera.”
The photographer, who is based out of New York, says he finds old hotels incredibly "interesting” and has photographed many abandoned summer resorts in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.
When Walker is shooting at an abandoned location, he prefers a little cloud cover to set the scene.
“Cloudy or overcast days I think make outside pictures more interesting to look at … gives them a moody feeling,” said Walker.
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