Yellow Dog Village

September 29, 2023 -- I started following a Facebook page called Abandoned Places in Pennsylvania. That's where I learned about Yellow Dog Village, a "ghost town" in Western PA. The Hagerstown Photography Club sponsored a trip there. I traveled on my own, but our group (only a few showed up) was given exclusive access to the abandoned town. Yellow Dog Village promotes itself as a great place to take pictures. I guess the photography club agreed.

Along the street

Wonder who lived in the pink house?

White houses

Yellow Dog Village is a privately owned collection of houses. There are 26 buildings in total. What was once a busy mining company town now sits abandoned, left to time and the elements. Most of the buildings were built in the early 1910's by the Pittsburgh Liming Company as a way to keep miners from unionizing. Union miners called residents of the town Yellow Dogs, hence the name of the town. The last Yellow Dog resident moved out in 2011, due to contaminated water.  

Empty and gutted

Okay, so I staged this shot.

Visit at your own risk.

I experiment with colors on these two images.

So what was my impression of Yellow Dog Village?  I spent $50 and a day visiting a "dump." I suppose it was okay for taking pictures, but it was less a ghost town than a pile of rubble. It hadn't been that long since the last residents moved out. Things weren't very old; they were just junky. When I returned home, I contacted the managers of the property, as I observed sheep that were in dire need of shearing. I never knew if my advice was taken. I should have followed up.

We had a TV like this one growing up.

Through the window

Sheep needs sheared                          Old Glory             

The real name of the village was Shadyside Village.

The cat I saw at Yellow Dog Village looked fat and happy. In fact, there was some sort of cat rescue being operated out of Yellow Dog Village. Seemed to me like Yellow Dog Village would be a great location for a feral cat colony, since it's not fit for humans to live. Might need to bring in water for the kitties. Don't want them drinking contaminated water either. No chance they'd unionize.

Yellow Dog cat