I have been going to abandoned places ever since I was little, but these would only be houses and shacks and old barns. Ever since the Summer of 2016 I have been going to the bigger abandoned places. My first journey was a road trip to Akron and I visited Chippewa Lake Amusement Park, Rolling Acres and an abandoned football stadium that used to be home to the Akron Zips known as the Rubberbowl. A friend and I visited all of these places in one day and that was the day I realized how unique these places are and that is where a new hobby was born. After that road trip I was showing my mother the videos I took and I learned that she went to Chippewa Lake and Rolling Acres when she was a kid. She didn't remember much about Chippewa Lake but she remembered a lot about the mall. She said at the time that was really the only place to go and get clothes, she made it clear that at the time she went how it was always busy and loud in that mall was , but it was a different story from when I went. When I went it was so eerily quiet, so quiet you could hear water dripping from all the way down the hall. So quiet that you could hear almost any noise in the whole building. It's kind of sad thinking about it, once a building that held so much life now sits dead. I was very bummed about the lack of photos I took at those three places because I didn't own a camera at the time. So later that year my parents and I split pay for a camera for my birthday. That is when I really made this a hobby. After that I just kept going to new and better places. All of the places on this website I have been to personally, and I've visited many more, but nothing bigger and better than these places on this website. I knew no past knowledge of these places and that is why I did this capstone and I am glad I did that. Researching the history of these places was actually very interesting and I learned a lot of knowledge about these places and answered some questions I had while exploring these places in the past. Researching was a little harder than I thought, some places had a lot of information and some had very little so maybe I can better research these places in the future for the rest of the curious people like me. This capstone has made me even more interested in researching and exploring these places of the past and I plan on trying to make this hobby into something I can pursue as a job in the future.
Reflection of Cory Robinson
Exploring these forgotten wonders with John have probably been some of the most eye opening experiences I've ever had. Although John and I are exploring these places together we are doing them for complete different reasons I enjoy exploring these places to have a chance to have a glance into past to see how the once were and compare how much they've changed, to look at how much time can change not only us but the world around us as well. Exploring these places and researching the history behind them have taught me nothing is for ever and all things will and most come to an end, it's not a coincidence that all these once great buildings with very different backgrounds all end in the same way, broken, old, and lost to many people. These places although lost to some will never be forgotten as long as there are the few who look to the past for answers to help in the future. This is why as we continue to move forward we most not forget what we have left behind and what we have done. We can use the experiences these trails through our history to learn and progress. Most of these buildings had very important roles in their communities while in their prime from entertainment to helping us contain and cure diseases. Sites like the Lima TB hospital and Edwin Shaw helped us prevent devastating diseases to spread but when the diseases were stopped or at least tamed the buildings were not needed as much causing them to be shut down. This is the inevitable fate all things come to while we progress things become obsolete no longer needed. So that helped me understand that even the things around us right now will eventually lose their purpose and will either be destroyed and replaced or be lost in corners of time. With this understanding of things I've learned to enjoy the little things around me more knowing that the won't always be there or at least not the same. So I don't really think I can be thankful enough that John invited me to come with him that day to Edwin Shaw or any adventures that are to come for they have help me grasp the reality of this world, and I really couldn't of asked for a better senior project to learn from while I venture out into the real world.