13 Abandoned Places Of America Will Change Your Perception Of The Country

In 1856, Congress passed the Guano Islands Act and American ships set out to claim dozens of uninhabited but guano-rich specks in the sea, Guano is the accumulated excrement of seabirds, seals, or cave-dwelling bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to its exceptionally high content of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium: nutrients essential for plant growth mostly found in the Island of Navassa, just off the western edge of Haiti. None of the Guano Islands are officially inhabited, today, still they tell the story of the days gone by when these were mined many still retain the ruins of their mining heydays, including railroads and small ghost towns. Look closely at this photo of the old lighthouse keeper’s residence on Navassa, and you can that some adventurous squatters have set up camp.