March 28, 2020
I had a list of decaying sites to hit on Staten Island, which is steadily becoming one of my favorite places to explore. It’s really close but feels so far away; it’s car friendly; and I pretty much never have to encounter anyone while there. Sure, that’s a skewed view Read more…
March 23, 2020
The first of many urbex missions I’m going to embark on as we’re cautioned to partake in solitary activities, this stop occurred before even gatherings of two were too much. I am happy to report I am listening to Cuomo now. The movie will begin in five momentsThe mindless voice Read more…
Sitting on the shoreline of Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways is a decaying old hospital, the Neponsit Health Center… previously known as the The Nesponsit Beach Hospital for Children. It was a project of muckraker Jacob Riis who had exposed squalid living conditions in the tenements of New York Read more…
March 14, 2020
Whisking myself away for an abandoned mission in Queens, I wouldn’t have to worry about… other people. But I’d need a safe solo exploration–very easy at Fort Totten in Bayside, Queens. The grounds have a security booth since it contains a U.S. Coast Guard base, an active Army Reserve building, Read more…
With this year’s Pi π Day not falling on a school day, this middle school math teacher was not motivated to make a pie, my least favorite sweet treat to eat. It also took an alarm and early morning door bust to manage to grab one of the last things Read more…
February 29, 2020
The entirety of the Pilgrim State Farm Colony was powered by its own power plant, generating electricity through the burning of coal in a transfer of energy: from chemical to thermal to mechanical to, finally, electrical energy. Massive carbon emitters, the use of this kind of electricity has been phased Read more…
I said I’d be back. But this time, I brought reinforcement. Today’s photographic missions were all about entrance, chasing the light as it streamed within the decaying structures of both Kings Park State Hospital and Pilgrim State. First, Kings Park State Hospital. We explored the doctors’ cottages because of the Read more…
February 19, 2020
I came across this vacant gas station in my daytime exploration of Borrego Springs and stayed for a bit. It was squeaky clean with a positive energy that was far less alluring to capture. Perhaps because someone had sponge painted a lot of the interior walls. I did enjoy the Read more…
February 17, 2020
Back in the 1930’s an elaborate compound was constructed within Rustic Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. Its purpose, to sustain and thrive inside the political chaos amidst the aftermath of Nazi Germans fulfilling their political and military goals. You see, the 4-million dollar investment was built by Nazi sympathizers Read more…
February 3, 2020
Letchworth Village‘s cemetery, like that of many state-run institutions, marks its graves with nothing but a number. No dates, no names. The state policy adopted by the Office of Mental Health is to keep burial records for state mental hospitals confidential. But this practice is dated and marked with indignity, Read more…
Letchworth Village, established 1911 in Rockland County, New York, is a decaying farm colony that was once a progressive solution to caring for the physically and mentally disabled. And like Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School, the hospital’s treatment of its most vulnerable patients –children– prompted major legislative reforms in the Read more…
February 2, 2020
I hatched a scheme to take myself on another abandoned photography mission in light of a Sunday that would surely have lighter traffic. And it turned out to be perfect timing, with sunshine for my early start and heavy foreboding clouds behind the many decaying structures I’d meet with enthusiasm. Read more…
January 31, 2020
When I was scanning satellite maps around the former grounds of The Central Islip State Hospital, I couldn’t happen but notice this: And I knew exactly what it was. The old patient cemetery or the Potter’s Field as almost all of the buried remains are marked only with a small Read more…
My report on Long Island’s Farm Colonies continues with an introductory visit to the former grounds of The Central Islip State Hospital. Like Kings Park State Hospital, Pilgrim State Hospital, and Edgewater State Hospital (not yet explored though mostly demolished and captured on video), the sprawling colony was intended to Read more…
January 20, 2020
With water-repellant pants and some tall rubber boots, I return to the marshes off Arthur Kill in Rossville to see more of the rusting marine refuse. I first explored the distant ships in 2018, but was ill-equipped to venture near them. With a cold, partially frozen ground and said uniform, Read more…
Back in Staten Island? Well, my list of places to see and things to eat grew quickly. Very, very quickly. With a full day of exploration, it’d take three different posts to house the highlights. Starting with the abandoned parts of the active Bayley Seton Hospital in Stapleton. The campus Read more…
January 7, 2020
First, embrace that you need to have some level of idiocy and foolishness to embark upon many a fruitful and rewarding venture. And understand just how unbecoming trying to appear unfoolish is, you–but a peon in this massive Universe. I mean really now. We’re all fools fiddling about– isn’t that Read more…
January 5, 2020
There were only a couple of things on my list I didn’t accomplish during the holiday break from school. Visiting Fairfield State Hospital in Newtown, Connecticut, a lead from a nice person I met while exploring the Seaside Sanatorium, was one of those “to-do”s. I was told the grounds were Read more…
December 22, 2019
There are tons of cemeteries adjacent to each other in Queens in an area called the Cemetery Belt. There are so many cemeteries in this vicinity that my visit today barely scratched the surface! My mission was to try out my new camera and familiarize myself with the area for Read more…
November 24, 2019
Established in 1885, the Kings Park Asylum–like all of the Long Island Farm Colonies–helped alleviate the overcrowding in The City’s asylums. I found myself on its grounds with only a couple of hours to spare and was overwhelmed with how many structures there were, easily accessible as they sat decaying Read more…
November 14, 2019
Years ago I started compiling pictures from my very first and all-time favorite abandoned place to photograph, Pilgrim State Hospital–now the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. Growing up on Long Island, the sprawling decay of the state-owned farm colony was always a fascinating place. With a dark and sorted past, the local Read more…
October 22, 2019
{It’s My Party 🎉, Part 5} I was really hoping to see some of the abandoned Chippewa Lake Park in Chippewa Lake, Ohio… but the Universe had me encountering a selection of townspeople, kind of like a video game, instead. {I swear I was hearing Castlevania Simon’s Quest music in my Read more…
September 29, 2019
Buffalo and Niagara Falls City are great places for urban exploration. Reminders of both cities’ hey days still linger just outside of the tourist centers. And for me, they’re a huge draw. These parts capture history powerfully, mark eras tainted by economic inequity and the harsh shifts of commerce. Here Read more…
August 20, 2019
A shelling excursion on a remote island only accessible by boat? Just: Yes. A quick drive to Marco Island would have me within the most beautiful hues of green and blue… and more shells. But also dolphins and an abandoned dome-shaped home. First I had some errands at the campsite. Read more…
August 11, 2019
Holy Land USA in Waterbury, CT is on the up and up! Which, yeah sure, is great… but not when you specifically visit to take pictures of a decaying theme park. Yes, since my last visit 3 years ago, things have changed quite a bit. It seems they are getting Read more…
Warning: I’m on a mission to post all of my blog drafts in a very short period of time. If ever there was a time to “unsubscribe” or set boundaries on your V.V. screen time, it would be now. But I am quite excited for the ‘draft purge’ as it Read more…