Here’s a great series of videos of the cleanup day in Centralia Pennsylvania. These were shot on October 25, 2014 and graciously provided by Thomas Conniff, who volunteered at the event.
Conniff’s videos show the cleanup effort in Centralia PA that were organized by Joe Sapienza II and Bobby Hughes of Eastern PA Coalition for Abandon Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR).
In this video, volunteers can be seen removing debris such as old tires from the woods around Centralia. Nearly 200 discarded tires were pulled out of the forest during the cleanup. One, however, could not be recovered as a tree had actually grown around it!
The cleanup team located large amounts of junk and garbage in the borough. It’s both amazing and sad to see how people have treated what’s left of the town over the last few decades.
In this video, volunteers at the cleanup day are seen walking north on Trautwine Street towards Route 61/West Center Street. Notice how they are passing one of the last remaining houses in the town of Centralia Pennsylvania.
Thomas Conniff is seen walking along the Graffiti Highway. This is actually the one mile abandoned section of Route 61. It was rerouted in the early 90s to avoid areas damaged by the Centralia mine fire. Conniff gets a few shots of a group with ATVs on the road.
Some footage looking north on Route 61/Locust Avenue. You can see cars parked near the Centralia Municipal Building as well as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in the distance.
For more videos, you can explore a YouTube playlist of Conniff’s videos from the Centralia PA Cleanup Day. Many thanks to him for documenting the day!
