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SkyWatch Friday: Insanely gorgeous
Friday, July 11, 2014 at 12:44PM 
Recently I spent a blissful several hours walking the grounds of the deserted institution formerly known as the South Carolina State Lunatic Asylum.
Established 1822.
Its deteriorating cupola faces everyone driving eastward on Elmwood to where it makes a "T" with Bull Street.
Turn left and in no time you're at Palmetto Health Richland. Turn right and say Aunt Sally and you're in downtown Columbia. Stay straight and you're less than a hundred yards from (now empty) mental wards. The terminus, as it were.
In fact, the land on which the old asylum sits is the largest in-town tract of developable real estate on the eastern seaboard.
One hundred seventy-eight acres. Some under broken glass.
And for one hundred seventy-six years, it was home to tens of thousands whose mental state rendered them unable to function in society.
Sounds like Washington, District of a different Columbia.
Going nowhere. Well -- no place anybody in their right mind wants to go.
In recent years however, investors have floated ambitious plans for the crumbling property, none of which lofty visions have thus far come to fruition.
So there it sits at the mercy of the elements, not to mention the second law of thermodynamics. Waiting for deliverance as countless souls have done within its environs.
It seemed appropriate for me to head my automobile toward the asylum grounds to take pictures. Things have been crazy at my house.
I sought solitude combined with moderate exercise enhanced by a mild creative buzz. And as so often has been the case in cemeteries, I found it.
As you might imagine, this defunct property is massive, creepy, eerie, haunting in its Stephen King-ish brand of decay, dereliction, and acute abandonment.
Someday I'd like to gain entrance to Babcock -- the main hospital building -- as others have done, and take photos of the heartbreaking detritus to be found there.
But on Saturday, owning the keys to no kingdom, I was obliged to content myself with drive-walking the acres looking for poignant outdoor photographic subjects.
It was hot so I wore a hat. Enthusiastic cicadas droned in the trees and overgrowth but otherwise it was wonderfully silent.
The voices are all gone and so are the eyes, but there were times I felt watched and I heard -- well. Not voices. I'm not there yet.
But it is at times as though, if you listen, you can hear memories.
They speak to you. Pay attention, I said to myself.
The sky was impressive enough, though perhaps not as dramatic as I would have preferred.
Ultimately the saving grace turned out to be that my heart was in it.
And as always when that is the case, the clouds occasionally parted to reveal something special.
As I wended home to my family -- whom I've convinced I'm sane -- I snapped one more from the car window going westward on I-26.
Yes, I was careful. Eyes on the road.
Enjoy your life and look to the skies not only this weekend, but always.
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Happy Friday
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Reader Comments (11)
You got some pretty amazing shots while trekking the grounds of an abandoned insane asylum. We have one in our area, but not nearly as impressive as this. I, especially love your opening photo. Can you imagine the tale the walls of this facility could tell, if they could speak? Definitely is a place you might find Stephen King lurking around, but only if it were located on the Maine coast line. Thanks for the tour on SWF!
Wow - a feeling of sadness and yet there is still beauty here!
I would have loved to wander these grounds with you. What great pics. You captured the true essence of this place J. , and I think that next to last sky shot has a beautiful heart just for you. So happy you got to go out and have this peaceful day and such a bonus to get these pics!!,
G.
Just Wow!!! Hope you didn't bring any Haints home with you...:o)
Love all of these...If only walls could talk! I can't imagine the history!
hughugs
The textures you've captured are exquisite.
I love old, abandoned buildings! You did a great job of capturing the beauty seen in old, falling apart buildings. Thanks for the tour!
PS - loved your Washington comment. :)
The photos are stunning. Sad and beautiful at the same time, image the history there and the secrets?
I remember as a small child, going t visit my grandparents in Spencer WV, and my grandma always driving by the "Spencer State Hospital", and telling me that was for the insane..it was eerie seeing and hearing it then. I always wanted to go back there and get a closer look at the architecture, sadly - it has been torn down and is now the site of a Walmart… (as s it goes).
When my son Matthew was in high school he wrote a paper on the Greystone, in Morris Plains. I remember taking him and a few friends and my other son ANdrew, and getting on the grounds to take photos. It was interesting and again - oddly calming and nerve racking at the same time! Quite a history, but i believe it is set to be torn down as well. ( i am certain that Walmart will NOT be erected on this site.).
You have sparked my interest. When Max returns from Thailand and Singapore, i think a new adventure is in our near future.
Jenny, If these old buildings could talk, I wonder what sad stories they'd tell? Your photos of the crumbling buildings evoke melancholy and a dreamy passage of time. The heart in the sky was a auspicious find! Were you looking over your shoulder, hearing whispering voices?
I always enjoy our visits to these forgotten places, it must make you feel differently when you are there. I'm hoping someone knew where your were. Keep safe on these adventures Ms. Jenny. Somedays I too feel like checking myself in... Always look to the sky is a good moto.
Beautiful sequence of shots.
Hi Jenny - I decided to come back and read more of your blog. And, as soon as I saw what this was about (and enjoying the photo's) I was reminded of a letter that I have written in the late l800's by (I believe) my dad's aunt, as it was addressed to my grandfather. But, having said that, the letter was written from a mental institution in Kentucky. After finding that letter, I did some research on that facility, and of course it's no longer there. But, I did find old pictures. I'll have to look again for that letter, but I will tell you the handwriting was superb! Just beautiful. :)