With more than 43,000 followers and posts dating back to March 2015, @abandonednashville is among Nashville’s most rewarding Instagram follows. The account is run by urban explorers Bristow M. Church and Jeremy Abbott, who post somewhere in the neighborhood of two or three images per month. Each shot is ghostly — these are beautiful photographs of long-forgotten locales haunted by the memories of their former purpose.
The objects in the images are striking and evocative: a massive concrete nuclear cooling tower; the rusted-out bed in a cinder-block prison cell; a solar-system model left to languish in an empty classroom. Church and Abbott don’t like to share the locations they explore and shoot (although keen-eyed locals probably won’t have much trouble identifying, oh, for instance, a certain neglected minor league baseball stadium). But the duo was kind enough to share some of their favorite photos with us, and answer some of the Scene’s questions about urban exploration (or “urbex”). See Abandoned Nashville’s responses below.
How did you get into urban exploration? Is it something you’ve done for a long time, and do you ever do it without photographing, or do the two go hand in hand?
Abbott: I’ve been exploring abandoned buildings since I was a kid. Curiosity, combined with an incessant need for stimulation, is something that has both plagued me and brought great reward. Only recently has photography come into the picture (no pun intended). In fact, I discovered a love for photography through documenting abandoned buildings. It was a total accidental love, and it happened quite naturally. I do quite a bit of exploring without bringing photo equipment along, because the main motivator is adventure over anything else. But I do often find myself wishing I had my camera when I find something worth documenting.
Church: Urbex gives me the opportunity to live other lives which have never been afforded to me. A millionaire. A chemist. A death row inmate seeing the execution room for the first time. A psychiatric surgeon exploring the exciting possibilities of the newly developed lobotomy procedure. I’ve been all of these people. In the real world, I work in the medical field. Many people watch TV shows to experience the life-and-death situations that I face daily. Urbex is my television, and this is why I explore.
Are Nashville and the greater Nashville area particularly good for urban exploration? What makes a specific locale good for exploring and photographing?
Abbott: Nashville is total goldmine for urban exploration. Our city is undergoing a massive transition, with new real estate seemingly popping up overnight. With that, you’re guaranteed to find plenty of great abandoned places to explore. It seems like the name of the game is finding these spots before they are demolished and replaced with the new. … To me, a great location varies from place to place, but they all have one thing in common — character. Whether it be the architecture, the story behind it, the challenge of finding it or even something simple like a charming window frame.
What are the risks involved with exploring spaces like these? Any stories of close calls you’ve had checking out abandoned spaces?
Abbott: There can be several risks involved with exploring abandoned buildings. Understanding the construction of the building is crucial before waltzing through the hallways and into various rooms where floors are potentially rotting. We always look where the support beams in the floors are before we walk around. Sometimes it feels like a game of hopscotch. Like the scene in Indiana Jones where he has to choose the correct floor tiles to walk on or else fall to his death.
I’ve had several close calls during explorations. I’ve fallen through the floor twice. I’ve been stung by wasps (seriously, a major fear of mine). I’ve cut myself on glass. I’ve fallen down a shallow elevator shaft once. We’ve also been followed by a suspecting neighbor convinced we were up to no good.
What’s one of the most interesting and photogenic spots you’ve ever explored in Nashville?
Church: My favorite location will always be the most recent one we’ve found.
Any advice for folks getting into exploring and photographing abandoned areas? What are some of the challenges?
Abbott: There’s plenty of advice I could give, but one thing sticks out the most — respect the locations and leave no footprint. I can’t stress it enough. Even though these places are man-made, nature is reclaiming them, and they should be treated as such. It’s a shame to find a building left untouched by man for decades and then returning later to find all the windows busted out and the building completely vandalized.
The No. 1 complaint people have about Abandoned Nashville is the fact that we don’t give out the location of the places we explore. The quickest way to destroy an abandoned building is to tell people where it’s at. We don’t mean to offend anyone. We just simply can’t give out the locations. Other than that, respect the local laws and the people who own the property.
