Abandoned Places- Old Farm House

This old, abandoned farm house has long intrigued me and I've wanted to photograph it for a long time.  It sits on a property currently being farmed, as the bales of hay testify. 

 All that's left of this farmhouse are the walls. 

 It's amazing that all this stone work still stands... I'm guessing this was a circa 1750's build...

 The wall shows that it may have been repaired, or patched, at one time. I wonder what that was all about? 

I may have to work up the courage to talk to the people living on the land to see if they know anything about the history of this house-- maybe it belonged to family members?

Abandoned Places- Old Barn

I remember driving by and seeing livestock on this property when we moved here in 1988, and marveling at how close we lived to actual, working farms! At any time of the day we could always hear seep bleating and cows mooing—and I had a real sense of having moved into a development that was in the country! Across the street from this farm were several other farms, but over time, the properties have made way to housing developments.

Sadly, this barn is now about to be demolished to make way for a controversial charter school (controversial because it is thought that the property is neither big enough nor are the roads able to handle the extra traffic this school will create). It sits on the old Coffee Run Mission site in Hockessin, which is the site of a historic Roman Catholic mission church started by Father Kenney in the late 1700’s. Out of this place both St. Mary’s Church (now St. Mary of the Assumption) and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington started. This barn was part of a homestead that included a fieldstone house built in 1812 (now torn down) and a cemetery that is the resting place of 62 graves.

Construction crews have moved in to clear the property, so who knows how much longer this barn will continue to stand? It doesn’t take long for things to be forgotten, does it? 

Abandoned Places- A House

Whenever I see one of these old houses I always wonder about its story... Who lived there? When was it built? What caused it to be abandoned? Does anyone own it now? Most of these houses in this area of the country are several hundred years old. Interesting in that so many old houses like this in Europe are still actively occupied, but in America, many old houses are abandoned, and eventually torn down. Wonder what the future holds for this house?

Abandoned Places- The Old Snuff Mill

One could drive through Yorklyn and not even know that you've passed through-- other than a few houses, and an old-fashioned non-descript post office, the most noticeable thing about Yorklyn is the abandoned NVF plant and the broken down red brick buildings of what once was Garrett Snuff Mills.

What is a snuff mill? According to online resources, snuff is a pulverized tobacco product that is inhaled through one of the nostrils so as to get a swift kick of nicotine. Use of snuff dates back to Europe where in the 1500's it came into use and was hailed as having medicinal properties. The word snuff comes from the Dutch word "snuif" (oh how proud I am of my landsmen!). Snuff was widely used in Europe by the aristocracy and came to America by way of John Rolfe (husband of Pocahontas). Snuff mills were a lucrative business back in the day.. but now, they represent a time gone by and are mostly abandoned places...

Abandoned Places- NVF Plant in Yorklyn

Abandoned places usually have a mysterious story. They can look ugly or menacing, or, as in the case of the abandoned NVF plant in Yorklyn, it can look oddly artistic in the midst of a bucolic setting.

While manufacturing created the American middle class, what's left behind when plants shut down is another story entirely. In the case of this site, it's slowly being demolished under a superfund order. 

Part of this site sits on a historic area that was once known as the Garrett Snuff Mill. 

Makes me wonder to what extent leaving behind toxic chemicals is this plant's legacy...