I Don't Do Urbex, But These Guys Do

From Dave Brigham:

Although I've been fascinated by the backside of America for much of my life, I only started taking pictures and writing about it two years ago. If I'd started documenting abandoned factories, railroad tracks, diners, houses, amusement parks and other out-of-the-way places before I had kids, I would have been totally into urban exploration.

But with a 9-year-old and a 4-year-old, I'm not willing to risk injury or arrest in pursuit of adventure and some cool photos. Call me a chicken, and I won't disagree. I really want to slip through fences and see what's going on behind the collapsing walls and smashed windows. But I don't think fast on my feet, and worry about my ability to talk myself out of trouble.

But thankfully, people like the folks who are making the "Crack the Surface" series of short documentaries are out there exploring the places that many of us wonder about, but are afraid to, or unable to, venture into.

Below is episode two of the "Crack the Surface" series. It features footage shot over six weeks in New York, Indianapolis, Chicago, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Montreal.

Enjoy!

Crack The Surface - Episode II from SilentUK on Vimeo.

Smoke On the Water

From Dave Brigham:

The story about these old pilings in the Charles River in Waltham, MA, turns out to be much better than I'd imagined. I figured they were remnants of an old dock, something simple where people could walk out and dangle their feet in the water and watch the boats and the ducks float by, while taking a break from the nearby watch factory. As time progressed, went my thinking, the dock rotted and fell apart and floated away, leaving behind these ghostly markers.

Well, this spot had much more going on during its heyday. I had to do quite a bit of searching to discover that a canoe manufacturer named C.P. Nutting built a boathouse here in 1914. According to an article I found at eHow.com, "This was also a boat house that was used for roller skating, boxing, dancing and concerts. This ballroom was famous, as it was one of the few ballrooms in Massachusetts, outside of Boston, where the famous big bands of the time played."

Here is a picture of the dance hall. And here is a card advertising some performances at the hall from 1936.

As for Nutting's company, according to a posting on a forum for the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (I told you I had to dig deep!), "it was established in 1884, but did not start building boats and canoes until 1890. By 1905, between 6 and 10 canoe builders were employed at Nutting’s, and it was reported that on average, Nutting built 150 canoes per year. In contrast, the fledgling Old Town Canoe Company was producing about 10 times that many by 1906. Nutting’s specialty was canvas canoes, and they had a reputation of being finely constructed."

Nutting-on-the-Charles was not too far down the river from the Totem Pole Ballroom, which was part of Norumbega Park in nearby Newton, which I wrote about recently (see December 28, 2011, "Amusement Park Ghosts").

Norumbega, which was a "trolley park," closed down in 1963. Nuttings had a much more dramatic ending two years earlier, when it burned to the water line. All that's left are the pilings.

Drug Store

From David Burke:

Taken in Torrington, CT.

The drugs are now sold out back.

Peaceful Rest

From Dave Brigham:

I don't have much to say about these pictures. They were taken at the Mt. Feake Cemetery in Waltham, MA. I don't shoot black-and-white much, but this place, on a cold, gray day, seemed like a good opportunity to practice those skills.

I call this picture "Class conflict," because of the two simple, low-slung stones looking up at the obelisk behind them.

In this one, I like the juxtaposition of the cracked sign with the proud, elegant statue behind it.

There are so many neat grave markers with cool patterns worn in over decades and centuries of wind and foul weather.

I like the variety that this shot showcases.

UPDATE: Chestnut Hill Phoenix

From Dave Brigham: There is progress at the Newton, MA, site where the Omni grocery store and other retail and business offices once stood, which I posted 19 months ago (see June 11, 2010, "Chestnut Hill Phoenix"). As I indicated at that time, New England Development plans a complex featuring residential, office and retail space. Recently, the developers announced the site, to be known as Chestnut Hill Square, will be anchored by a Wegmans grocery store. People are excited about that. While doing some Christmas shopping at the mall across Route 9 from the site, I snapped a few pictures of the demolition in progress. This is the approximate spot where the Omni once stood. Here are a few other shots of the site. I'll post more as this project advances.

Norumbega Point

From Dave Brigham:



History is ever changing. Archeologists dig up tools, weapons and ceramics and recalibrate their assumptions about who lived in a certain place, when, and what they ate and how they obtained certain objects and skills. Historians are handed long-forgotten letters hidden away in somebody's attic, and realize they need to revisit certain assumptions about an author, a war or a religion.

It's not often, however, that you see monuments built to false history.

The Norumbega Tower is such an edifice.

The tower was commissioned by Eben Horsford, a 19th century Harvard chemistry professor who believed that Vikings had once occupied the site in Weston, MA, where Stony Brook empties into the Charles River. Horsford believed that the local Indian name Norumbega was a Native American translation of "Norway." As such, he was convinced that Vikings had settled in the area in 1000 A.D., and so paid for the large stone tower to honor these brave explorers.





Modern historians refute the idea that Vikings landed on these shores nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus. For more on the subject, check out this Straight Dope column.

Across the Charles River from the tower sits the former site of Norumbega Park, a "trolley park" that ceased operations in the '60s. For a piece about the former amusement park, see December 28, 2011, "Amusement Park Ghosts."

Amusement Park Ghosts

From Dave Brigham:

From 1897 to 1963 Norumbega Park in Newton, MA, was one of the premier trolley parks in New England. As was the fashion of the day, the park was built by the Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway in an effort to increase ridership. The park featured canoeing, a picnic area, an outdoor theater, a penny arcade, a restaurant, a zoo and a carousel, and several rides among other attractions. In 1930, the Totem Pole Ballroom opened; it was considered the best and most elegant ballroom in the area, according to NorumbegaPark.com, a site offering a history of the park as well as sales of a documentary DVD of the park.

The park took its name from Norumbega Tower, a large stone structure across the Charles River in Weston that was built by a Harvard professor to honor the Viking explorers he believed had visited the area in 1000 A.D. (this tower is the subject of my next post).

I'd known about the park's legacy for many years, but only recently got around to visiting the former site. Much of the land formerly occupied by the park now houses a Marriott Hotel. The remainder is conservation land.

At the entrance to the park, there is an overgrown, sunken garden surrounded by stone walls. I have no idea if this is a remnant of the amusement park. What I do know, is that local kids use it as to bomb around on their BMX bikes, as evidenced by this ramp, one of three I spied.



Just a little way down the path there are sections of stone wall that look like they were built before the amusement park.



And not much further down the path I found this light stuck in a tree. Now this I can picture as part of the park.



Behind the hotel there's a nice space that opens up to the Charles River. There's a gazebo there, as well as this old stairway leading up to some benches.



At the northern end of the park, where it meets with a nice residential neighborhood, I found this sagging barbed wire fence. Strange.

Happy Holidays!

From Mick Melvin:



My wife and I were in New Britain, CT, to see an exhibit at the New Britain Museum of Art and I stumbled upon this backside opportunity. Across the street from the museum was a large display of Christmas lawn ornaments. I walked over to take a look and was amazed by the variety of decorations. I then spied a sign on the front lawn with dates of an open house. I never did make it back for the open house, but I did take a few shots.



As it turns out, the woman who lives at the house has been putting on the display since 1978. The admission fee for the open house is as little as a non-perishable food item. Rita Giancola, who is 87, opens up her house every year. This year it was open from December 18-22. Many schools and local folks come to view the Christmas extravaganza. The lawn is covered with many Christmas-themed items such as plastic Santa Claus, Toy Soldiers, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Snoopy to name a few. She also decorates the inside and the balcony of her home with a plethora of Christmas ornaments. It is said to be the largest lawn display in the area.

If viewing this display doesn't get you in the holiday spirit, you need to check your pulse. Happy Holidays to you all and best wishes for the new year!

Happy Shortest Day of the Year!

God Mill Town Wilderness

From Joe Viger:


Berlin, NH

Learn more here.

History Flows On, Part III

From Dave Brigham:

This is the final installment in a three-part series providing some history of Greater Boston water works. See November 11, 2011, "History Flows On, Part I," and November 20, 2011, "History Flows On, Part II."

In the second part of this series, I wrote about a long hike I took in Cutler Park. The photos below were taken in another section of the park, hard by the Charles River and close to major retailers and business parks in both Newton and Needham, Mass. Here is a pump house similar to the one I featured in part two of the series.



Cutler Park was for a time used by the city of Newton, MA, as water storage before the Quabbin Reservoir in central Massachusetts was built in the 1930s. As such, pump houses like this one were surely more common sights in the Greater Boston area.

As I mentioned above, this area of Cutler Park is close to major thoroughfares. There is a bridge that carries abandoned train tracks across the Charles River from Newton into Needham. This is the underside of that bridge:



And here are the tracks, looking from Needham into Newton:



The tracks used to go all the way into the Needham Industrial Park (now known as the New England Business Center), a massive spread of buildings built in the 1950s. The tracks now end just behind a new housing complex on the fringe of the park:



I'm not sure if a resident of that complex dumped this side table, or if a hobo passing through couldn't fit it on his wagon:



OK, so this post wasn't really about Greater Boston water works, but it shows how you can find abandoned bits of history just about anywhere you look. And in a hundred years, the pump house might be gone, and the railroad tracks might have been torn up, but there will always be something else for curious Backsiders to tromp around and see.