Long Island Farm Colony
Kings Park State Hospital
Building 29, The Power Plant 🏭

With some errands on Long Island, I would of course make the most of my trip. A quick return to the grounds of the Nassau County Sanitorium in Plainview first. I explored the grounds 5 years ago and had many folks comment on the post–family of staff, family of patients. It seems there wasn’t much evidence of its history and so my humble blog rose to the top of the almighty Google Search. Recently, visits have sky rocketed. The post is now third place in the list of most heavily trafficked v.v. entries. Upon arriving at its old location, I understand why. The grounds are now rows of condominiums and several clusters of box stores, sparkling clean. The history, wiped away.

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But we remember. How rich and complex a life land holds. I love to capture the stills of its life, its gradual decay. Abandoned sites hold a mesmerizing degree of information, emotion, statement, interpretation. A cluster of box stores? Nope.

Disappointed, I moved on to my next quest. The Potter’s Field of The Kings Park State Hospital ruins. Though I had been to the grounds of the farm colony in Kings Park, within the Nissequoge State Park, twice before, I’ve yet to explore its grounds exhaustively. My first visit was short; my second visit was more extensive but mostly consisted of staff quarters. Each time I said, like the Terminator, “I’ll be back.”

Without knowing if there would be time spent exploring the Nassau County Sanitorium, I’d only put the coordinates of the Kings Park State Hospital Cemetery on my list… but maybe I’d nosy around some other buildings if there was an opportunity. But the cemetery was a bust too as I would need a bushwacker to access… and last time I acted as bushwacker, I came home with a tick. Leaving me plenty of time to more thoroughly explore the many buildings, thriving in exquisite states of decay. This post is first in a series. It focuses on Building 29, the Power Plant. It contains images from the book to the left there, which I happen to catch used on Amazon in 2016 when it was far less than $70 bucks! And this map of the grounds I grabbed from another blog’s report on the fantastic Kings Park sprawl…

When I came upon Building 29, wandering down from the back of the Storehouse (That’ll be another post.), there was a worker in a construction vehicle dumping cut tree limbs and brush in a pile in the open asphalt near the building. He spotted me as I walked the entire vacant asphalt clearing towards the front of the building (below) and wasn’t all too concerned. Without its stacks, I wasn’t sure what the building’s purpose was initially.

But a caged door on the side of the building had slots big enough for my camera, allowing me to explore it’s contents. The colorful machinery was exciting, looking like the Willie Wonka factory to me. And the arc created by the location of my camera framed it so nicely. Pleased as punch I was!

I was here for several minutes crouching at different heights to expand the capture of the room. If this was the only picture I got, I’d go home more than satisfied. But two young urban explorers stopped as they past, alerting me to the building’s entry point. They were sweet and so happy to chat with me about masks, asbestos and the cops.

In I go.. just briefly because… it’s impossible to get a P100 mask in the current state of the world.

Some wonderful stuff in here…

This was like 10 minutes of exploring. I have to get back soon for a more extensive stay. But I’ll need a mask… but not more than a front line worker, that’s for sure.

And a quick sneak peek of the adjacent Workshop building. Also on my list for next time.