Let me preface this by saying this was entirely shot using my potato phone camera, as I had no intentions on exploring anything and in actual fact didn't even take any of my camera gear with me to save on weight on this latest trip.
However life loves to throw me curve balls, as on the plane over there - or very close to the date of the flight - I was attacked by the little bastard that is known as COVID. A couple of days into my trip I felt like absolute death with a fever and body aches like crazy, however after that decidedly grim 24 hours I felt pretty much fine, just with a minor sore throat and accompanying cough. Now, had I been on my own, or not had that day of hell when death would have been a salvation, I would have brushed the entire thing off and not even taken a test. However, as bad luck would have it, I was staying with my very close friend who is currently in the middle of receiving outpatient chemotherapy treatment for leukaemia, so her immune system is absolutely shot, and I felt it wise to do a test even though I knew deep down what the result would be. Following that, I carted myself away to a nearby hotel where a few days later I got the perhaps unsurprising update that she too had succumbed to the little bastard and was feeling extra rough. By this point I will readily admit I was getting myself worked up into a very dark, bleak place in my mind, it's not somewhere I wish to visit again that's for sure.
Of course, with that double blow, it meant all plans for everything we had wanted to do were well and truly off the cards. As I was feeling physically better I took myself to a couple of flea markets and stuff and it was on the way back from one that I spotted this building no more than a minute's walk from my hotel/prison. A quick investigation that afternoon revealed an extremely easy access point and so not wanting to arouse suspicion in the middle of the day, I went back early the next morning and had a quick solo wander to try and bring some sanity and meaning back to my life. I definitely needed it, mentally, as it made me stop thinking about things for half an hour or so.
There isn't too much history on this school, other than it was built in 1960 for the church next door which itself was constructed in the 1950s. It remained the church school for the next few decades before being taken over by an adult education college, who then moved out to a new more modern facility and placed the entire property on the market around a decade ago - the parcel of land including the church, the school and a former rectory building were bought by another religious organisation, the church and rectory are very much back in use, but the school building has remained derelict ever since. Not an unusual story in the States at all!
Again, please remember these were all taken on my very much potato phone camera, ironically I was looking at finally upgrading my phone to a more modern better one with a flashy decent camera shortly before I went on the trip but I never bothered! Some of the more terrible images I have done my best to rescue using an editing program but they are what they are.
The lower floor contained the library, kitchens and a pretty nice little auditorium, although it was in these darker areas that my poor phone camera suffered the most.
Thanks for looking
However life loves to throw me curve balls, as on the plane over there - or very close to the date of the flight - I was attacked by the little bastard that is known as COVID. A couple of days into my trip I felt like absolute death with a fever and body aches like crazy, however after that decidedly grim 24 hours I felt pretty much fine, just with a minor sore throat and accompanying cough. Now, had I been on my own, or not had that day of hell when death would have been a salvation, I would have brushed the entire thing off and not even taken a test. However, as bad luck would have it, I was staying with my very close friend who is currently in the middle of receiving outpatient chemotherapy treatment for leukaemia, so her immune system is absolutely shot, and I felt it wise to do a test even though I knew deep down what the result would be. Following that, I carted myself away to a nearby hotel where a few days later I got the perhaps unsurprising update that she too had succumbed to the little bastard and was feeling extra rough. By this point I will readily admit I was getting myself worked up into a very dark, bleak place in my mind, it's not somewhere I wish to visit again that's for sure.
Of course, with that double blow, it meant all plans for everything we had wanted to do were well and truly off the cards. As I was feeling physically better I took myself to a couple of flea markets and stuff and it was on the way back from one that I spotted this building no more than a minute's walk from my hotel/prison. A quick investigation that afternoon revealed an extremely easy access point and so not wanting to arouse suspicion in the middle of the day, I went back early the next morning and had a quick solo wander to try and bring some sanity and meaning back to my life. I definitely needed it, mentally, as it made me stop thinking about things for half an hour or so.
There isn't too much history on this school, other than it was built in 1960 for the church next door which itself was constructed in the 1950s. It remained the church school for the next few decades before being taken over by an adult education college, who then moved out to a new more modern facility and placed the entire property on the market around a decade ago - the parcel of land including the church, the school and a former rectory building were bought by another religious organisation, the church and rectory are very much back in use, but the school building has remained derelict ever since. Not an unusual story in the States at all!
Again, please remember these were all taken on my very much potato phone camera, ironically I was looking at finally upgrading my phone to a more modern better one with a flashy decent camera shortly before I went on the trip but I never bothered! Some of the more terrible images I have done my best to rescue using an editing program but they are what they are.
The lower floor contained the library, kitchens and a pretty nice little auditorium, although it was in these darker areas that my poor phone camera suffered the most.
Thanks for looking
