Abandoned Places

I have a fascination with tunnels. Unfortunately I live in an area that is short on appreciable underground/tunnel locations. I found the next best thing at the largely demolished Laurens Mill in Laurens SC. An underground storage room remained in an area that seems to have been the mechanical section of the building. A boiler and pressure vessels are nearby. The really amazing thing about this room is that there are still metal bits and pieces on the shelves and hanging on the walls. It makes one wonder what other things were bulldozed under in the two adjacent storage rooms. One of them did have one of the original windows, bricked over at some point in the past and now revealed in ruins of the building. Neat stuff...

Looking Out of the Equipment 'Cave' Room

Looking into Equipment 'Cave' Room

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( More Pictures of the Room... )

Located at the corner of Easley Bridge Road and Traction Street, this abandoned factory has been partially demolished and stands as a mute reminder of the area's industrial past. I've researched the property on the internet and could not find the name of the company previously at the location. Sometimes this is the frustration of using the internet. Recent news is a the tips of one's fingers, but historical information is often lacking on this modern information service.

Metal Stairs, Sans all the Steps!

Original Factory Windows

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( More Pictures from the Traction Street Industrial Site.... )

Desolate. Disheartened.
I wrap up myself with jazzy things but nothing is worth.
Bitch-Red sadomasochistic shoes to high myself to your levels.
I don't draw the attention. You don't cover me with any attention.
In the vicious circle of yourself.
I send messages into the void. They come back with no answer.
Nor a slight sign of understanding.
State of emotional dissociation.
Emotional (anal) dissociation.
I want you but you're not there.
I hide myself in the hollow. A dump or a nuthouse would be satisfying.
I'd raise the standards, 5 Stars Model alike.
Would I bring up again anything else?
I watch myself, reflected mirror into nothing.
I look for, but i can't find myself, like I'm playing hide and seek with this hairy burden I'm dragging along.
I'm ball and chain of myself.
Trapped, I scream asking for help.
But no voice is coming out of my mouth, or you just don't rise up the volume to listen to me.

Foreword written by Mauro Santucci. Illustrations by Cristian Girotto

Background pictures by Oleg aka Xtraboy (Me)

Continue viewing ‘The Bearder Line’ at my Blog (Other 6 Pictures)

Given that southern California used to be a major oil producing region and there are many wells still operating here, I found it ironic to see a 60+ acre gasoline refinery completely decommissioned. The site was eerily quiet and surreal. Here’s the remainder of the site. Sorry for the delay, but getting ready to move is taking a large amount of time and planning.

The Refinery



( Industrial decay [13 behind the cut] )

Given that southern California used to be a major oil producing region and there are many wells still operating here, I found it ironic to see a 60+ acre gasoline refinery completely decommissioned. The site was eerily quiet and surreal. I’m breaking the refinery pictures into two sets merely for size of the download.

The Refinery



( Industrial decay [21 behind the cut] )

This are equirectangular projected photos that have the full 360° x 180° view (2:1 ratio).



2) Check out the 360° Interactive Panorama Quicktime Version (Requires Apple Quicktime free download if it's not already installed on your computer.)

Press Shift to zoom in & Ctrl to zoom out.



2) Check out the 360° Interactive Panorama Quicktime Version (Requires Apple Quicktime free download if it's not already installed on your computer.)

Press Shift to zoom in & Ctrl to zoom out.

I'm making my own Blog, Please Visit and comment my First Entry: Abandoned Still Mill “Lucchini”, Turin (Italy)

Thanx a lot! Enjoy my stuff. Oleg.

I found this steel drum in an old train yard.

An exploratory journey down SC HWY 93 brought wulfwalker and I to the town of Central. There we found the abandoned Central Roller Mills. This grist mill is documented to exist in 1919 edition of 'Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina". A small sign indicated that the building had either been an antique store or housed the belongings of an antique store. The doors were secure so the pictures we took are of the exterior. This bit of industrial history did have treats for the eye.

All 74 pictures of the Central Roller Mills are in this flickr set.

Top:Front of Central Roller Mills Bottom: Original Brick Building Face and Sign

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( More pictures from Central Rollers Mill... )

On 1/27/08 my mate and I revisited Laurens Mill. Some old areas were explored and new areas were discovered. This blog entry focuses on an underground parts room that has survived the massive razing of the structure. There were at least two other similar rooms that had been collapsed, burying their industrial treasures underneath bricks and debris.

All 228 pictures of the revisited Laurens Mill are in this flickr set.

Top: General Area Around Underground Room. Bottom: Entrance to Underground Room

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( Views of the underground room... )

This blog features an abandoned cotton gin in Gray Court SC. The incredible number of exposed belts would make an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) inspector blanch with terror. The most amazing part of the plant is that a single motor drives the majority of the mechanics. While I'm not an expert, it appears that the raw cotton goes through the separators and the clean stuff is sent to the balers. An examination of the very small office building revealed an 1982 phone book. Equipment manuals dated to 1952. This is all a bit of history for now decimated textile industry in the South.

All 72 pictures of these locations are in this flickr set.

Top: Exterior of Cook's Gin in Gray Court SC. Bottom: Cotton Bale Presses

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( Pictures of Cook's (Cotton) Gin... )

This blog focuses on the very historical ruins of Pelham Mills in Greer SC. From http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/greenville/S10817723037/index.htm :

The archaeological significance of the site of the twentieth century Pelham Mills factory and its nineteenth century precedents is that this resource embodies physical evidence of the birth and growth of the piedmont textile industry, which has been one of the major shapers of South Carolina’s present economic, social, demographic, and landscape character. The ruins of Pelham Mills was listed in the National Register November 19, 1987.

All 123 pictures of the Pelham office,dam ruins, and the dam are in this flickr set.

View of brick pilings which supported the water turbine-driven shaft(s) that powered the mill’s spinning machinery; the foundation enclosed turbine area and corner wall of the mill’s main powerhouse.  On the far left is the stone foundation.  The brush is being burned off around the ruins.  This picture was taken from the top of the dam.

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( More pictures of mill ruins... )

Relocated Pelham Mill office is adjacent to the historical stonework dam built in the 19th century. Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority took an active role in preserving a historical landmark in the Upstate. On September 11, 2002, historic Pelham Mill office building was moved onto land leased by Western Carolina to the County Recreation District for only $1 a year. This one-story brick building was believed to be built around 1870 and was used as the Pelham Mill’s office until the textile plant closed in 1930. The building became a Pelham Post Office until its closing in 1996. Since the building was never placed on the historical register, it would have been demolished if Western Carolina had not stepped in to help.

A new park is planned for 2008 at the site. The land is being cleared, revealing buildings and stone work from the dam's past. The clearing of the brush at the base of the dam has revealed some incredible brickwork and ruins of structures. I will post another blog featuring these newly rediscovered structures.

All 123 pictures of the location are in this flickr set.

Fire certainly was no stranger to the Pelham Batesville community. In fact, fire had destroyed the community's central landmark, the Pelham Mill, in the year of 1943. At that time the only fire trucks available came from Greenville and Greer, and both were too far away to be of much help. Only the small Mill Office survives to this day. The building is slated for renovation during the next few years.

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( Interior of the Pelham Mill office... )

As mentioned before, on this trip, my partner and I visited 4 locations on and close to US Highway 395 in the western Mojave Desert.

1. The Hawes Communications Bunker (Visit #4 because she wanted to see it);
2. The Atolia Tungsten Mines (4 miles square – 100+ mine openings);
3. Randsburg, CA (A Class C “living” ghost town – 300 houses, 78 residents);
4. XXXXX Minimum Security Federal Prison Camp (This required two visits)

After a positively wonderful lunch at the Randsburg General Store, we headed back out of town. On the outskirts of town, we spotted a lone head frame for a mine and a single house about 100 yards away. We decided to explore.

Randsburg, California (Lost Mine)


Disconnected

( Journey back to yesteryear (12 behind the cut) )

Sometimes adventures in abandoned places discover the most interesting things. I was exploring an abandoned house that I've had my eye on for a while. There was some kind of storage building behind the house. Overgrown with vegetation, the shed was something of a trial to approach. Inside I found what I can only assume are historical remnants of the past era of textile manufacturing. This was odd as there are no factories in the immediate vicinity. There are stacks of wooden frames with wires run across the face of the frame. What are these wire racks?  A co-worker told me that they were weaving frames used in textile manufacturing. The building also had unorganized piles of air filters and loose stacks of cardboard tubes. There is no telling how long the shed has been there or how long the contents have been stored there. The shed has a collapsed corner and the roof rests heavily on the stacked frames.

Does anybody have an idea or clarification of what these wood/wire frames/racks are?

This picture set is the first of two adjacent buildings. The house will be featured in another blog entry. All 61 pictures from the abandoned house and storage shed are in this flickr set.

Top Picture: Rear of storage building, the corner on the left is collapsed Bottom picture: One of the wire racks

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( More pics from the storage shed... )

As mentioned before, on this trip, my partner and I visited 4 locations on and close to US Highway 395 in the western Mojave Desert.

1. The Hawes Communications Bunker (Visit #4 because she wanted to see it);
2. The Atolia Tungsten Mines (4 miles square – 100+ mine openings);
3. Randsburg, CA (A Class C “living” ghost town – 300 houses, 78 residents);
4. XXXXX Minimum Security Federal Prison Camp (This required two visits)

Randsburg was once a boom town. The nearby gold mines were and are generally considered some of the richest in the country. At one time, the town once had over 2000 residents and 100+ operating mines. A number of these mines were/are right in the town. Today, Randsburg is a quiet shadow of it’s past. A number of hardy souls still live here. We were respectful about exploring in town as it’s difficult to point out some houses which are definitely abandoned, preserved or lived in.

Randsburg, California (Frozen in time)


( Journey back to yesteryear (16 behind the cut) )

As mentioned before, on this trip, my partner and I visited 4 locations on and close to US Highway 395 in the western Mojave Desert.

1. The Hawes Communications Bunker (Visit #4 because she wanted to see it);
2. The Atolia Tungsten Mines (4 miles square – 100+ mine openings);
3. Randsburg, CA (A Class C “living” ghost town – 300 houses, 78 residents);
4. XXXXX Minimum Security Federal Prison Camp (This required two visits)

The warehouses and sorting and ore sample storage buildings are nothing less than scary. In all but one case, the buildings are in final stages before structural failure. Walls are missing in some cases, ceilings have fallen and supports are sagging. In a windstorm this place must howl and sway like a banshee of Celtic lore. I’m sure it must equally scary to behold in person. Since posting the first set of photos, it’s been clarified that the site was essentially abandoned in the 50’s however very, very limited mine operations continued all the way thru the late 90’s. This was curtailed only a few years ago due vandalism, fires and theft by salvagers.

Atolia (The Wasteland – Warehouse Complexes)



( Miles and miles, of miles and miles (16 behind the cut) )

Welcome to a another abandoned building in Asheville NC. This is an industrial building with a mixture of modern and antique furnaces/boilers. The most modern piece of equipment is a boiler. The rods in the largest unit seems to indicate that it is another boiler. I was struggling with the low light, so the images have a bit of blur. They'll be better next time!

This picture set is the second of two adjacent buildings.  All 65 pictures from the abandoned warehouse and boiler house are in this flickr set.

Top Picture: Boiler Building with a mixture of antique and (relatively) modern equipment Bottom picture: Looking across room, picture taken on observation platform.

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( More pics from the boiler house... )

Like I said in previous posts, I was extremely busy this summer exploring and photographing places new and old. Normally I don’t like going back to old sites as I prefer to keep the image of the place locked from the first visit. On this trip, my partner and I visited 4 locations on and close to US Highway 395 in the western Mojave Desert.


1. The Hawes Communications Bunker (Visit #4 because she wanted to see it);
2. The Atolia Tungsten Mines (4 miles square – 100+ mine openings);
3. Randsburg, CA (A Class C “living” ghost town – 300 houses, 78 residents);
4. XXXXX Minimum Security Federal Prison Camp (This required two visits)

The Atolia Mine District could be easily described as a vast but unnoticed wasteland on the edge of US Hwy 395. To the untrained eye, the passerby on the highway would only see a few towers and a small, care-worn industrial complex. In fact, these few visible sites don’t truly indicate the extent of a nearly 40 square mile district that once included a town (west of the highway) and over 400 mine shafts or shallow drifts which employed nearly a thousand personnel.

The area that we explored lay on the east side of the highway and required extreme caution. This area contained probably between 100 to 200 pits, shafts and drifts; numerous unstable piles of debris and mine tailings; equipment, and industrial waste. Boys and girls, this is a very dangerous place. Subsequent to our visit, I learned that the property is privately owned and that owner is well known for calling the county sheriff on anyone she sees in the complex.

Atolia (The Wasteland – Mines and exteriors)



( Miles and miles, of miles and miles (20 behind the cut) )

Welcome to an abandoned and partially demolished warehouse building in Asheville NC.  The sign out front says, "Madison County Health Department". The building seemed well secured, but I gained entrance by pushing in a sliding warehouse door. Inside I found a mixture of building decay and ruin. First I walked across some wooden planks in a completely missing portion of the building.  This led to a dark shuttered room with an adjacent devastated elevator room.  Choosing discretion over valor, I merely took pictures of the furthest room instead of crossing the one apparently (?) solid beam over to the elevator platform.  The building did have an upstairs, but there was no way to access this area.  There was no need to put an "out of order" sign on the elevator!

This picture set is the first of two adjacent buildings.  All 65 pictures from the abandoned warehouse and boiler house are in this flickr set.

Front of abandoned warehouse building

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( More pics from the abandoned warehouse... )