Ashland

The Rebirth of Pennsylvania’s Infamous Burning Town

“There’s not much there anymore, it’s pretty much just a crossroads.” I read the posts online telling me not to bother, but I wanted to go anyway. Certainly I could feel something as we got close: the sense of desperation, of ruin and abandon. So I drove with a small group of friends deep into eastern Pennsylvania—coal country—through towns with names like Frackville, Pottsville, Ashland. Many…