Erie

Reconstruction of the Erie railroad station, Salamanca, N.Y.

I made a quick trip to my home town over the weekend to see my folks. On a whim, I swung by the old Erie railroad station.

It's been sad to watch it fall to pieces over the last 40 years. I remember I actually took a train out of there when I was a kid. 

But the town faded after  the railroad left, and the furniture factory closed. The station just sits, open to delinquents and vandals. 

If it had been in another, more prosperous location, it would now be a quality restaurant, or a collection of boutiques or at least an antique mall. But like in so many communities, especially those in northern Appalachia, that won't happen.