Abandoned Homes

There are many abandoned homes scattered throughout the world. They sit empty and often isolated, leaving the questions of who lived here and what happened?

I have visited two abandoned homes in Maryland, one in Columbia and one in Clarksville, although I have driven by many more. The first home was boarded up completely except for a couple windows on the second floor. Graffiti covered the inside of the windows and the walls of the house, as I later discovered. All of the furniture was gone, but the basement contained remnants of old tools and other dusty objects. The living room had beautiful chandeliers and hardwood floors. The house is not too deteriorated, but the graffiti has ruined the walls. In the closet I found an old mouse trap with an illustration that appeared to be from around the 1960s. The attic contained a mattress and a family of rats who inhabited it.

I tried to find out who owned the property online, whose mailbox is surrounded by weeds that overtake the yard, but could uncover the information.

According to this Baltimore Housing website, abandoned homes are quite common and "The city has 16,000 abandoned homes and thousands more in need of improvement. "

-All photos taken by me: Allison Nagy

Chestnut Lodge

Chestnut Lodge was a sanitarium in Rockville, Maryland that was built in 1866 and closed in 2001. It was run by a generation of psychiatrists in the Bullard family for a number of years and had many notable and renowned staff members during its time, as stated by this website. According to this New York Times article, Chestnut Lodge started out small and soon became one of the country's leading psychiatric hospitals. Many of the patients at the Lodge were severely disturbed and the primary form of treatment was psychoanalysis.

I interviewed Patricia Woodward who was the head nurse at the Lodge for many years. She looks back on her job fondly, and holds very strong opinions on treatment. Today she says that most doctors only give patients medicine, but that she has seen that medicine a long with necessary therapy works. Many of the staff members of the Lodge are even having a reunion soon.

The Lodge closed down due to a lack of funding and many of the patients were transferred. Woodward recalled that some of the patients continued to see their private doctors and lead normal lives in Rockville.

When questioned about possible hauntings at the Lodge, Woodward did not dismiss the idea as silly. She said that because of the Lodge's history, the imprints of the people were very strong and most likely still remain. Her husband and herself plan to move into the condominiums that are being built on the property and she wants to live on the floor that she worked on. She says that she may see some ghosts, but would not be afraid if she did, and she plans to relive many memories from her time spent there.

St. Mary's College/"Hell House"

St. Mary's College was a religious preparatory school for young men entering the seminary. It was founded in 1866 in Ilchester, MD and closed down in 1972 due to a lack of men entering the order. Upon closing, the school soon became a place of interest for vandals and curious young people. Many rumors circulated about the school such as "there was a psychotic caretaker who would release his man-eating dogs on trespassers, satanic cults were performing strange rituals on the grounds, people had been murdered, there were ghosts of former students haunting the building" as stated by this website on the history of the school. None of the rumors have ever been proven, although there was a caretaker on the grounds for awhile. In 1997, many of the buildings crumbled in a fire whose cause is still unknown. The site posted this Baltimore Sun article that reported on the fire. It stated that "Investigators with the state fire marshal's office are calling the blaze suspicious because the building has been vacant since the 1970s, according to Allen L. Ward, deputy chief state fire marshal." The caretaker was actually charged in shooting one of the trespasser's of the property as stated in this article from The Sun in Howard in 1996. I read and saw photos of the buildings being bulldozed in 2006 so it seems that not much is left at the site. I have never been to "Hell House" because I heard of it being torn down as soon as I learned of it. It is one of the most interesting buildings I have researched yet in terms of the history and myths surrounding it and I wish I had had a chance to explore it myself.

In other news, I visited the Enchanted Forest that I wrote about in an earlier post and it was a very neat experience. The park is completely overgrown and many structures lay in ruins. One of the most interesting things was a lake with a mountain structure built in the middle. A slide runs down the side that children used to use, but the steps leading up to it were destroyed. Graffiti covers many of the buildings left unfortunately and some of the steps in one of the castles were dangerously crumbling under my weight. The old turnstiles still stand and some are so covered in twisted vines that they won't budge.

-Building photo is from http://ellicottcity.net/.

-Newspaper clipping photo is from http://ellicottcity.net/.

Patapsco Female Institute

This was a school for young women in the 19th century in Ellicott City, MD that closed down in 1891. It was turned into several things over the years such as a hotel, a theatre and a nursing home. Currently, it serves as a historical site and the ruins have been preserved and stabilized. Tours and lectures are given as well. In the 1870s, it is interesting to note that the headmistress was Sarah Randolph, granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson according to the school's website. An article from WUSA9 discusses the property and the ghost stories surrounding it. One of the stories is that a student named Anna VanDerLot attended the school and hated it. She died on the grounds of pneumonia while waiting for her parents to come retrieve her and it is said that her spirit haunts the grounds. A Baltimore Sun article discusses the same story. Jacqueline Galke , executive director of the Institute's historic park, dismisses all rumors, while ghost hunters claim to have snapped photos of ghostly orbs and figures.

-The photo is from The Howard County Library website.

The Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest is an abandoned amusement park located in Ellicott City, Maryland that opened in 1955. The attractions were based on story book nursery rhymes. The Enchanted Forest was the first Theme Park in Maryland, the first Theme Park on the East Coast and the second oldest Theme Park in the USA, according to this website. The park closed down in 1986 and according to Preservation Online magazine, this happened when "the strip-mall developer broke his pledge to keep the Enchanted Forest alive. " In past years it has also been featured on the top ten endangered sites list for Preservation Howard County. The park holds fond memories for many, which is why there have been so many efforts to restore and reopen it. My mom remembers going there as a young girl and was sad to see it close. Included in the preservation efforts is Clark's Elioak Farm, located nearby. According to the Baltimore Sun, Martha Clark has been restoring and transporting items from The Enchanted Forest to the farm, which began in 2004 with a large Cinderella's Pumpkin Coach. Children can now enjoy the petting zoo, the farm's main attraction, along with some of the restored elements of the the forest.

-Photo from Preservation Howard County.

Glenn Dale Hospital

Glenn Dale Hospital was a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1930s that was later used to treat the chronically ill. It closed down in the 1980s and is located in Maryland. The grounds are extremely large with 216 acres and contain both adult and children's buildings. Today, the grounds are abandoned and run down, heavily guarded by police to prevent trespassing. People still visit the grounds, however, and when I went there was a lot of graffiti. Many interesting artifacts have been discovered such as bacteriology lab slips and a patient ID card. It makes me wonder where that person on the ID card is now and what life must have been like for her.

The hospital is now owned by the Prince George's County government as described in this Washington Post article.

A park of over 200 acres is planned at the hospital site as well according to this website.

The Henryton Center

The Henryton Center is a former tuberculosis complex that opened in the 1920s, located in Carroll County, MD. In the 1960s it was transferred into a state mental hospital and it was closed down in the 1980s. With 23 buildings, the 46-acre property is large, isolated and surrounded by dense woods. I have visited the Henryton Center twice, once at night and once in the daytime. I am always filled with feelings of wonder and curiosity when entering these still, abandoned places. I can't help but close my eyes and think about the people who were here before. Most of the buildings are deteriorating and rotted, but signs from the past still remain. There is a collage of flowers created by patients in one building, chairs in another.

Sadly, graffiti and litter have mostly overrun the property now. Many people claim that these buildings are haunted and come searching for a thrill at night. I have encountered others simply admiring the building in peace. I couldn't help but wonder if one old man wandering the grounds could have been a former patient...

A railroad line also runs right alongside the property and has one of the oldest active railroad tunnels in the world.

In more recent news, the Henryton Center appeared in the Baltimore Sun in an article which discussed how the State is searching for a buyer for the property. It has been on the market three times since 1992.

The Center also appeared in the Eldersburg.net online newspaper in 2006 when the Sykesville Fire Department responded to a call about a small fire on the abandoned premises.

-The collage photo was taken by me: Allison Nagy

-The train photo and photo of the sign are cited to their original sources by clicking on them.