In an undisclosed location in Fairfax County there exists an abandoned land. At one point it was a home to a family and a thriving business. But because of ignorance or contempt for zoning laws the family and business were forced to move. What was left behind has become much more interesting for me. I’ve always been interested in abandoned houses and buildings. I’ve spent many hours online looking through pictures of old hotels, houses, and hospitals that were left, for one reason or another, to rot. I find it interesting when nature reclaims its’ land.  Here are some of the galleries I’ve bookmarked on delicious, I tagged them Abandonia.

On this plot of land there are 2 houses and one large office/garage area. The houses were once in pretty good shape but are now succumbing to the forces of rain, snow, and teenage aggression. The office building is another story, it’s pretty industrial so there’s not much to fall apart anyway. I went back there last week and took some pictures of graffiti left there by what I can only assume are local teenagers. It’s such a strange mix of things, Nature wearing down on the roofs and then teenagers helping it along by breaking all the windows and smashing the walls. It’s also an interesting mix of symbols on the wall. Clearly drug fueled, they have hippie flowers, mixed with rap lyrics and money signs. I find it hard to believe that these two groups run in the same circles, but they apparently shop at the same spray paint section.

There are some strange sights. The wood floor from the entry of one of the houses has been carried from the house and laid out on the floor of the garage, in a pattern that was clearly intentional. Somebody must have been really really high.

I found this dollar bill attached to the pole in the middle of the room in what is clearly some sort of trap for bourgeouis capitalists. That’ll show em!

It’s semi unsettling atmosphere. It’s not unlike coming in to a house after a party the night before and wondering what has gone on here. it’s interesting to me to imagine what it was like. I know it seems silly to read this much into a bunch of stupid drawings by some stoned teenagers. But I think we can learn from anything. When archaeologists look back at ruins they are mostly looking at the broken pottery and trash left behind. What were they thinking when they wrote, imagine… shit.

What was once clearly a thriving business has become a party zone for stoned teenagers.

Picture gallery after the break.