MAN CAN MAKE NOTHING THAT NATURE CAN’T DESTROY.
That was what one of the first ever pieces of graffiti on Centralia’s now famed Graffiti Highway said over a decade ago with this wild tourist adventure began.. And now, with a raging pandemic and outrage over thousands of visitors weekly to the site, it’s over. Nature and dirt are once again covering up the roadway.. Nature can destroy anything man makes…
TOURISTS GONE VIRAL
You can tell something was boiling over this past weekend.. For the first time in, people were outraged at the crowds in Centralia at Graffiti Highway.. There were hundreds of people from various states streaming onto the famed former Route 61, now covered with a mile or so worth of graffiti.. Online petitions were formed, online arguments were raised..
COVID-19 was abundantly spreading in most of the states that Graffiti visitors were from.. Connecticut.. New York.. New Jersey.. even plates from Florida. People demanded the police do something! People raised their online pitchforks and demanded to keep the out of staters out!
The trouble is, the visitors are not just out of staters.. Off roaders, Pennsylvanians.. Four wheeler weekend warriors. They all have made Centralia their home now for well over a decade.
But in the modern COVID-19 scare, the ‘ban the out of staters’ call is coming from a number of communities with tourist attractions. This tourist attraction, however, is a strange one.. No entry fee.. Just a stretch of former highway that went into a former town that had former residents.
Twenty-five years ago, PennDOT closed a portion of the road and constructed a new road around the old portion. And for some reason, people began to spray paint portions of where the road was cracking.. the paint became more common and visitors did, too.. The news of this highway was spread around America–and the world.
It became adorned with graffiti art. Some good. Some penile in nature..
Actually a lot of penises..
But messages and pop culture references, too:
There
are some achievements and beauty that have been found over the year.
The amazing and unbelievable part of the popularity: If you’d spray paint your message early in the day, chances are it would be covered by with new graffiti by the end.
In 2018, PennDOT vacated and turned over the .74-mile stretch of Graffiti Highway in Centralia and Conyngham Township to Pitreal Corp, a coal mining company and subsidiary of Pagnotti Enterprises in Wilkes-Barre.
THE HAMMER COMES DOWN
As the members of the Breakfast Club found out, when you mess with the bull you get the horns.
This weekend the bull was put on the spot.. A choice had to be made. Continue to have thousands of people per month stream into this ‘hot spot,’ pun intended, or do something.
News broke early Monday morning: Land owner Pagnotti Enterprises hired Fox Coal Co. Mining to truck 400 loads — between 8,000 to 10,000 tons of dirt — to cover the unofficial popular tourist destination… Trees and grass is rumored to be getting planted next.
State police were actively forcing people away from the scene.. Some lucky news hounds on Facebook got photos, or even live video from the Coal Region site HO BOTT NEWS.
“They got sick of the complaints and the liability,” said Tom Hynoski, the secretary, fire chief and emergency management agency director for Centralia told the DAILY ITEM. “People steal stuff, they spray paint in the cemetery, it’s about time something gets done.”
This became huge news..
SKOOK NEWS was able to get a drone in the air above the highway early.. The site was quoted in Philadelphia papers..
Before long, CNN was reporting this news to the world!
The COAL SPEAKER Facebook page lit up with debate over whether this was good, or bad..
Some valid points on safety were made–the road is slowly caving in.. Others spoke about the nearby cemeteries that started to see an increase in graffiti on fencing, the ground, or even tombstones.. COVID-19 popped up since the Governor’s stay at home order is intended to keep crowds non-existent.. And finally, the most basic fact exists: This land is private property, and that property was overrun every weekend with graffiti artists from around the planet.
The other side of the coin, however… Local restaurants in Ashland and Mt. Carmel benefit from this weekly tradition.. as did the Pioneer Coal Mine in Ashland, even having Graffiti Highway and Centralia take center stage in the educational talks the museum did to train riders..
Yes, the outrage over tourists during a pandemic seemed to be the ultimate thrust that stopped this .. but long term results may be interesting for some businesses who did not even know their sales were dependent on a large base of out of state consumers that traveled here just for a mile of oddity..
# # #
HISTORY HIGHWAY
Before the plans to plant trees …there were trees.
In 1946, construction was actively ripping up land, grading, and forming Route 61 into
Centralia from Ashland.
The highway opened officially on October 3, 1946.
Secretary of Highways Ray Smock was on hand… the Ashland High School Music Band provided music.. And a motor caravan moved from Ashland to Centralia at 4:30..
Decades –and an underground mine fire — later, the highway was forced to be closed. the Associated Press reported this on January 12, 1983:
There is some historical evidence of what Route 61 looked like prior to the closure.
In 1982, there was a PBS special narrated by Martin Sheen about Centralia. The old video featured some shots of what the town looked like before the 1980s destruction..
This screen shot shows steam billowing out with St. Ignatius school in the upper right corner:
This view shows the scene that greeted Route 61 travelers as they entered Centralia:
Also the oft-referenced on this site 1980s movie MADE IN USA with Christopher Penn. The first six minutes show 1988 Centralia, with ruins and the closed highway still billowing with smoke and steam:
And the rest was history. And now is.
Over the years, I attempted to gather a collection of the best of Graffiti Highway.. Some include me and family.. others just photos I took on my various walks down the corridor .. and some I swiped from others.
Presented for your review and historical posterity, Centralia’s now former Graffiti Highway.. (Note some images have almost no graffiti.. they were taken back in 2009-2011 when the highway had yet to gain a huge following)
A slideshow in random order:
It’s all water under the bridge.
History in a vaccum.
Smoke and steam rising into oblivion!
Trees will return to where they once lived.
Home sweet home.
