History Behind Sea Glass

I pulled this right out of my crafting blog, Mannequin Reject, so it references some previous entries in that blog, not this one.

Remember my last entry where I was climbing the walls because I wasn't at the beach looking for sea glass? My collection till today was rather pitiful because I had never gone out collecting it before.


Well my 9AM doctor's appointment was canceled, so I filled my gas tank (ouch) and bought a kitchen strainer, grabbed a bunch of CDs and some Mountain Dew, and took a drive to Watch Hill, RI.

Weeeee!

On the way, here's two things I noticed.

1. You can see the Newport Bridge (actual name: Claiborne Pell Bridge) from Ekonk Hill (Rt. 49). I lived in Sterling 13 years and never noticed this before till one night when Ramy and I only had one car and I was driving to Voluntown to pick him up, and realized I could see two white solid lights on the horizon. I really didn't think it was the Newport Bridge till I actually could see those huge suspension towers. I would have taken a picture but it was a little too hazy for my camera to pick up. Here's what wikipedia has to say about the bridge: "The main span of the Newport Bridge is 488 meters (1601 feet), ranking it number 64 among the largest suspension bridges in the world, and making it the largest suspension bridge in New England. The overall length of the bridge is 3,428 meters (11,247 feet). Its main towers reach 122 meters (400 feet) above the water surface, and the roadway height reaches as high as 66 meters (215 feet).^[2]"

2. There's a bricked up root cellar far down Rt. 49 in North Stonington. I've driven by it several times and only today did it click what it was. lol.

And so I went to Watch Hill. The day was beautiful and the beach was deserted, sun was out, etc etc. The reason I chose Watch Hill was because that during the Hurricane of 1938, 36 houses washed into the bay and every once in a while artifacts turn up from them. I also figured some of them went in the drink with Depression Glass, which would possibly turn up the some of the rarest colors of sea glass (red, orange, black, milk white, electric blue, etc.) In fact, the electric blue piece I have was from 2003, when Zack, Brandon, and I went to Fort Mansfield and I found it. Zack was jealous. lol.

This marks one of the few times I went to Watch Hill without intending to go to Fort Mansfield, but every urban explorer knows the one thing you should never do is explore a place like that alone.

August 12, 2006

It lies 2 miles out at the end of the beach, and no ambulances can reach you if you were to fall two stories off the roof. I've been there a dozen times, no need to go alone. (Wikipedia entry on Watch Hill/Fort Mansfield here).

So I spent the next 4 HOURS there, combing the beach. I walked up one end and down the other side, collecting little bits of glass that glistened in the light. And I picked up a few other odds & ends, and found some things that I WISH I could have taken home...

Like this boat, for one.

What's this white thing farther down my path?

Another boat!

Ok, I'll fess up I knew about this second boat, that's been here more than two years, but I never saw it in person till today. Insane Bunkers originally hosted the photos from the person who discovered it, but they had a hard disk failure and lost all the pics. This boat apparently broke free from Stonington Borough (across the bay) and ended up over here. I wonder if its owner knows? lol

I left this for a child to find :).

After leaving Watch Hill I debated heading to Misquamicut (sp) but I couldn't find a place to park that wasn't fenced off for the season. Besides, I was hungry so I stopped at McDonald's (rare for me, but it's cheap and fast) and headed up Rt. 1, not really sure where I was going to go. I saw the signs for Charleston Beach and decided to go for it, since it was only 2:45. I haven't been to Charleston Beach since 1995 and had no idea how to get to it, but I found it anyway. It had become overcast and a lot more cold since I left Watch Hill, so I only stayed at Charleston till 4:00. I ended up going to a third beach but I have no idea where it was and it was freezing at 4:30 so I took a quick look, found a large dead fish (gross!), and called it a day.

WATCH HILL FINDS:

In this lot you can see some kind of piece of bottom jaw of something with teeth. Above that is a piece of a slate shingle from one of the 36 houses. There's some other stuff there but most notably is a piece of BLACK sea glass. It's not as beat up as it should be, but I couldn't just leave it, lol. I also found a milk white piece, which is crazy in itself. I also found the thick bottom of an old Coca Cola bottle and this shell, which I'm probably going to give to Ramy :D.

CHARLESTON BEACH FINDS:

In this lot you can see the rubber sole of a very old shoe, a metal label of some kind, a grey bird bone of some kind, a fishing thing, a large rock, and another piece of a coke bottle. There is one piece I found that I'm dying to get under a black light because I think it might just be Vaseline depression glasss (!!!), and then there's two olive green glass pieces.

All sea glass found today!

All sea glass is one big happy family.

Meanings of colors of sea glass and possible history (this is why I love it!):

BLACK: Possible origin: Tableware or flasks dating back to the mid to late 1800s. Its rarity is due to the obscure materials that were used with glass to make the bottles, which increased its rate of decomposition.

MILK WHITE-- Possible origin: Milk jars or Ball jar lids made between 1910 and 1936.

OLIVE GREEN-- Possible origin: Wine bottles pre-1900.

ELECTRIC BLUE-- Possible origin: Tableware, antique flasks or art glass. This makes sense because there's some kind of design on mine.

SEA FOAM GREEN (Coke bottles)-- Possible origin: Coca Cola bottles, ink jars, fruit jars, baking soda, and other soft drink bottles.

COBALT BLUE (3 pieces)-- Possible origin: Old medicine or poison jars, Vicks Vapor Rub, Bromo-Seltzer, and Milk of Magnesia products.

Clear, Brown, and Emerald Green are colors of common glass and beer bottles.

More info? Wikipedia's entry on Sea Glass. And this place, which helped me out with info for the colors.

So....did I mention I want to head back to Charleston tomorrow? lol

EDIT: Yours truly just discovered that she has a SUN BURN. In WINTER. This, my friends, is a first.

Also a first: I made Thai sticky rice with coconut sauce, peaches, and custard. A+++++++++. It's a treat for Ramy when he gets home and finds out I was at the beach all day.... lol

Cool abandoned places that bit the dust in 2007

Insane Bunkers is back! I swear my heart must've stopped. I'm so excited that I don't even know what to do with myself! lol

Finding the forum on IB exactly as it was the day the site went down (February 25, 2007) is like a time capsule. I was blabbing about reading "Fingerprints of the Gods" and talking about going to Egypt, but I hadn't even received my passport yet. And now I'm married to Ramy, who was the entire reason I was going in the first place!

Some of the photos I took & had posted on IB are now for sale on Etsy.

Anyway, seeing the forum and UE announcements like "MASONIC TEMPLE DEMOLITION SET FOR 10/10" made me wonder just how many announcements I would have made throughout 2007, and it probably would have been something like this.

1. Ramy and I got married in the Wauregan Hotel!!!!!

Top photo, Wauregan Hotel Ballroom, 1920
Middle, Wauregan Hotel Ballroom decay, 2003
Bottom, Wauregan Hotel Ballroom Grand Opening Gala, November 18, 2006

Our Wedding in the Ballroom, November 18, 2007

Ok... enough shameless shots of us. But it's true and it's one of the reasons why I chose the ballroom for the wedding!

2. Birdhouse Mobile Home is gone.

June 27, 2003

December 5, 2004

July 20, 2005

I visited this mobile home twice, and was surprised to find it missing on June 17.

3. Butch Fox House is GONE.

I kind of saw this one coming, especially after finding a huge dumpster outside the house when Zack and I stopped to check it out on April 30, 2006. It came down some time during the summer when I was working 2 jobs and didn't check up on it all the time. It had been abandoned since roughly 1970.

June 27, 2003

June 20, 2004

April 30, 2006

May 1, 2007
Last photos of the Butch Fox House

The imminent end of the Butch Fox House was pretty obvious the last time I saw it. This was formerly located on Watson Rd. in Preston, CT.

So that's about it. For now.

Say goodbye to retro signage!

The Indie Historian is sad to report the loss of this retro sign (below) on Rt. 101 in Dayville, CT. Due to the recent road-widening in preparation for the construction of the new Dayville Shopping Center in late 2008, this gas station lost a percentage of its property, including the triangular roof leading to the road sign. The roof was sheared off just after the pumps.

These photos were taken in December 2006.

Chief G'tine'mong, Rest in Peace

The Chief
December 25, 1918 - October 1, 2007

Lifetime Chief of the Mohegan Tribe, Ralph Sturges, passed away yesterday morning at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London after a battle with cancer.

I have to say I'm honored I was able to meet him and got to know him during my time at The Resident. I took the above picture on August 9, 2005 and to this day, it remains a favorite of mine.

I wrote several articles about the Chief in 2005--he was so touched by the first one I wrote that he wrote to Alexis, editor & publisher of The Resident and there are few things in life as rewarding as reading that letter.

The first article

Chief Sturges Remembers Voluntown Days
By Megan McGory

When Ralph Sturges was elected lifetime chief of the Mohegan Tribe in 1992, Mohegan Medicine Woman Gladys Tantaquidgeon gave him the Native American name “G’tinemong”, which means “He who helps thee.”

Chief Sturges, along with other members of the Civil Conservation Corps recalled helping a man trapped under a fallen tree at Beach Pond in Voluntown during the Hurricane of 1938.

“We had to chop and saw through trees to get to him and get him out,” Chief Sturges said at the Voluntown Historical Society’s annual meeting June 29, “And then we had to chop and saw to get him to Westerly Hospital!”

Chief Sturges received an Honorary Membership to the Voluntown Historical Society and was the noted speaker at the meeting, held in the Voluntown Fire House. When Sturges wasn’t saving lives during his stay at the CCC Camp Lonergan in Patchaug State Forest, he was trying to save white pine trees from fires, blight and gypsy moths. “I used to go through a lot of your back yards,” he said, mentioning that gooseberry bushes were one of the main culprits for the blight. “Farmers sometimes didn’t like it,” he said, “but they let us go about our business.”

The Civil Conservation Corps was a program installed in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide employment for young men during the depression. Camp Lonergan was founded on June 6, 1933, with the barracks completed by that September. Two-hundred men were employed there at any given time, and Chief Sturges spent two years there, from 1938 until 1940.

“I spent a lot of happy hours there,” Chief Sturges said, “It helped kids from the city with nothing to do. We learned to shop, sharpen axes, get along, and most importantly, a man learned to take care of himself. I never forgot that.”

Because the Army supervised in the camps, Chief Sturges felt that the country was prepared when war broke out. “I don’t think we would have been prepared for World War II,” he said, “We had training and we were self reliant. I don’t think the war would have been successful without it. When war broke out I was in the Army. We were in pretty good shape -- first class shape -- it helped the war effort because we were ready to go into war and fight.”

Chief Sturges said that he would like to see the CCC program initiated today, or at least the revival of the draft. “When you’re 16, 17, 18 you’re full of that stuff and vinegar,” he said, “Kids today are not getting this. Nobody is teaching these kids how to support themselves; they plow and tumble through life with no conception of what life is about. It’s sad to think that that happened in a country like this.”

While Chief Sturges often mentioned how many trees he and the other members of the CCC cut, he also said that they were replaced. “Whatever we cut in the winter, we replanted in the spring,” he said.

Today, all that remains of Camp Lonergan are the dirt roads around Pachaug Forest. The CCC camps around the country became deserted overnight once World War II broke out, and remained that way. The CCC turned management of the forest over to the state in 1959, and there are no traces of the barracks that once housed 200 men. “I was devastated to see the camp gone,” he said, “How many guys did that place help? It’s sad to see nothing there. It did a lot of good for a lot of good guys."

Perhaps Patchaug Forest is Camp Lonergan's greatest legacy.

Another article...I got to have lunch with the Chief!

The Chief's Uncas American Indian Grill Opens with Pizzazz

By Megan McGory
Posted Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Lifetime Chief of the Mohegan Tribe Ralph Sturges has a special seat at the new Uncas American Indian Grill — literally. At the ribbon cutting ceremony for the restaurant July 28, Chief Sturges was presented with the chair he always occupied at the grill's former incarnation, so he could have it forever.

"I'm going to put it in my office," Chief Sturges said with a smile, "and I'm going to electrify it."

Chief Sturges' eyes lit up as he looked around the new grill while awaiting his lunch after the ribbon cutting. "This place is right up to snuff," he said, "and I doubt many people would spend $7 million on a new restaurant."

Designed by the Greenwich-based Haverson Architechture and Design, the stunning 15,000 square-foot restaurant features waterfalls, color-changing walls lined with white birch trees, and an open hearth. "We used the wonderful existing facility to create a place to rest," said architect Jay Haverson. "If you imagine the casino to be like a forest, the Uncas Grill is like a clearing, or a respite."

The Uncas Grill is also home to the 24-hour Chief's Bagels, where one can stop for a quick breakfast any time of the day. The restaurant is next to the Casino of the Earth and in close proximity to the Shops at Mohegan Sun and Mohegan Sun Arena. "Celebrities are going to eat here," Chief Sturges said, "we have a special place for them that we can curtain off for their privacy."

However, as many casino patrons may know, Chief Sturges prefers to see the people as they pass by when he stops in for his daily lunch. "When I'm not around, people call and ask if I'm sick," he said.

Chief Sturges did not sit in his usual seat for lunch after the ribbon cutting, nor did he have his usual lunch. "I tried out the turkey dinner," he said. "I have to get ready for Thanksgiving!"

For dessert, the Chief tried the Smudge Pot, which is orange craisin ice cream, chocolate brownie, cranberry compote and chocolate smudge, but that ingredient list doesn't do it justice. Shaped like the famed smudge pot, the dessert features a cone of ice cream bordered by the brownies. With a thin shell of chocolate as the actual smudge pot, the waitress poured heated chocolate syrup into the shell, which melted through the shell and ran down the sides of the dessert as the Chief looked on in bewilderment.

Chief Sturges even has a deli sandwich named after him — the Chief G'tine'mong, which uses the name given to the Chief by Gladys Tantaquidgeon in 1992. The Chief G'tine'mong sandwich features roast beef, turkey, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing, lettuce, and tomato; a far cry from what the Chief himself has for lunch — half of a cheese sandwich, peaches, and tea.

After the ribbon cutting and all the fanfare that went with it, Chief Sturges resumed his seat overlooking the casino where he will continue to keep watch for years to come.

And lastly, here's the article I didn't write--

Death of Mohegan chief 'leaves a void'

Leader helped tribe gain recognition, casino

Oct 01, 2007 @ 10:35 PM

By ERICA JACOBSON

Norwich Bulletin

MOHEGAN -

It would have been easy for Ralph Sturges to change.

After all, during his lifetime, so much around him had -- his hometown of New London, his Mohegan tribe.

But Sturges, the lifetime leader of the Mohegans since 1992, who sported a baseball hat with the word, "Chief," retained a few steady, simple habits.

Every day for lunch, he would pick a particular table at the Uncas American Indian Grill at Mohegan Sun and sit down to half a plain turkey sandwich on white bread, a side of french fries or fruit and a cup of decaffeinated tea. Sturges would invite the casino's department heads and, occasionally, the random customer to dine with him, bartender Stacy Anderson said. He could see pretty much everything at the Casino of the Earth from his spot.

"The chief liked it up there," she said. "That was his only table."

Sturges died early Monday morning at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London after being ill for several months. He was 88. At Sturges' favorite lunch spot, Bruce "Two Dogs" Bozsum, Mohegan tribal chairman, had staff place a "reserved" placard, set a single place and remove all but one chair to honor the man who shepherded the tribe through both the federal recognition process and the planning and construction of the original Mohegan Sun casino.

"We will miss his leadership," Bozsum said in a statement issued by the tribe Monday afternoon, "and his passing leaves a void not easily filled in our tribal government. I know that many of us considered him a friend and person we could approach for advice on any issue. At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with him and the entire Sturges family."

Gov. M. Jodi Rell remembered Sturges Monday as a wise leader and a skilled sculptor.

"On behalf of the people of Connecticut, I offer my deepest condolences to the Mohegan tribe on the death of Lifetime Chief Ralph Sturges. ...," she said in a written statement. "The state of Connecticut and the Mohegan tribe have lost a great friend and treasured talent, but in cherishing him we will maintain his spirit always."

Born Dec. 25, 1918, in New London, Sturges later recalled for a 2001 oral history project for the University of Connecticut a city that still had dirt roads and frozen swamps where he and friends would ice skate in the winters. He served first in the Civilian Conservation Corps and he helped clean up the aftermath of the 1938 hurricane. Later, Sturges joined the U.S. Army and spent World War II doing duty first on a Fisher's Island, N.Y., base.

"But I used to run an observation post on Fisher's Island," he said during the oral history interview. "And I would watch boats go out and probably an hour later get a radio message that the boat had been sunk. The Germans use to operate right off of the coast here, and they use to sink the ships. It was really something."

Sturges later was assigned to an intelligence division that took him to New Guinea and the Philippines. He returned to Connecticut and eventually went to work for the Salvation Army in New England as its public relations director.

As the Mohegans sought federal recognition, Sturges ventured into state, local and national offices to meet with government officials and leaders of other tribes, including the Mohegans' neighbors to the east, the Mashantucket Pequots.

"He became kind of commonplace around the tribe," former Chairman Richard "Skip" Hayward said Monday, remembering Sturges as pleasant and upbeat. "Absolutely his single focus, it seemed, was to get that recognition for Mohegans."

Hayward said leading a tribe can be a tricky balance of blending diverse personalities while moving the group forward -- a combination that doesn't always appear compatible.

"It's tough work, people don't realize it," Hayward said of the tasks both he and Sturges faced at times. "Chief, cook and bottle washer, I say."

Mashantucket Tribal Chairman Michael Thomas said his tribe will lower its nation's flags to half-staff.

"Chief Sturges was a valued leader of his people and an inspiration to native peoples everywhere," he said in a statement Monday. "He led the Mohegan people through the difficult process of federal recognition. It was a success, in no small measure, because of his untiring efforts. We mourn his passing."

Investor Len Wolman, chairman of the Waterford Group, said he first met Sturges in 1992 as the tribe was still two years away from winning recognition, but already looking to its financial future. They formed an outstanding relationship both professionally and personally, he said.

"He got people to really understand what his goals were," Wolman said, "and got them to really stand behind him in achieving those goals."

Wolman said Sturges' wife, Ida, who died in May, always reminded her husband who was boss of their New London home where she dispatched Sturges as the official greeter. Sturges also had an aversion to flying, Wolman said, and preferred hours on the train for trips down to Washington during the recognition process.

"I was ready to paint the side of the plane with 'Amtrak' just to get him to get him to fly," Wolman said he joked with Sturges. "It did get him to chuckle."

Sturges is survived by his son, Paul, and his wife, JoAnn; grandchildren, Paula and Jesse Sturges; and great-grandchildren, Tyler and Joey Sturges. Funeral arrangements had not been set as of Monday night.

Anderson, the Mohegan Sun bartender who served Sturges lunch several times a week, said Sturges' illness kept him from his steady routine for several months before his death. And staff suspected the chief's seat would remain empty.

"Everybody knew, but. ...," Anderson said. "He always said that he would be coming back."

Reach Erica Jacobson at ejacobs@norwichbulletin.com

(Original source: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/casinos/tribes/x1156267965 )

Weekend of Adventure

August 17, 2006-August 20, 2006: lots of driving. lots of cool places. 500+ photos. Full blog posts will eventually show up on most of the places in this post, since each of them has a long history, more than one visit, more than one wild goose chase...you get the idea. A lot of these locations are featured in the book Weird New England by Joseph Citro.

A year ago this weekend was probably one of those most crazy UE weekends I ever had. It started on Thursday, August 17, 2006 when Josh, and I found Rhode Island's official haunted place, Ramtail.

Ramtail:
Constructed: 1790's
Abandoned: mid-1800's:
Burned: 1850's
Featured in Weird New England, page 191

Located off Ramtail Rd. in Foster, it was my third attempt at finding it--an attempt in 2004 with Zack was thwarted by rain, and an attempt two weeks before with Josh proved to be long and futile. Futile as in "I swam across a broken down bridge and walked 5 miles with a piece of glass in my foot." Somehow we managed to find Ramtail in total darkness on the 17th, and also found a note that someone had also been there the same day. Other than that, nothing happened.

The remains of the mill in Ramtail.

Hi Bergy. I have your cell phone number. lol.

The next day I got out of work early (summer hours), so Josh and I went to Hell's Gates, also in Rhode Island (West Greenwich). I hadn't been to Hell's Gates since January 2000 and never thought to take a camera there until 2003, when Zack and I attempted to go but quickly turned around and left when we saw someone ahead of us on the road back to the house. Another attempt to reach Hell's Gates in 2004 failed miserably when Zack, Mike, and I got lost in the woods. They were ready to kill me for that one. And Josh wasn't too happy with me when I insisted we cut through the woods where there was no path. (When Zack, Mike, and I got lost, it was because we stayed on the path and ended up at a cranberry bog about 3 miles from the car...and not willing to go back through the woods, we asked for a ride to the car from a house we found at the cranberry bog. They had a dog named Cranberry.) Anyway, Josh and I found rock piles in the woods not unlike the Blair Witch Project.

Hell's Gates
First construction: 1800's
According to aerial maps the 1800's construction was standing till the mid 1900's
Next construction: 1960's
Burned: mid-1990's

The burned out skeleton of the house at Hell's Gates.

TOWER TO SATAN. No I'm kidding.

If you can't tell, Hell's Gates (just by the name) is one of those places where people practiced human sacrifice after football practice and there's supposedly more sin here than Sodom & Gomorrah...blah blah blah. I'm working on finding out the real story...but it's next to impossible as my first visit to Hell's Gates was in April 1999 and I haven't found out much since then.

This about sums it up.

From Hell's Gates, Josh and I drove around scouting out new places to explore before heading to the Bradley Playhouse in Putnam, CT for the musical, Tommy. We found this large piece of furniture in Foster.

On August 19, Zack, Shawn, Josh, and I headed 75 miles out to Waterbury, CT to visit Holy Land USA. I mean, after all the Satan worship the day before...nevermind. After stopping at the Westfarms Mall, we didn't actually get to Waterbury till it was dark and then it started pouring. Fun night nevertheless.

Holy Land USA:
Constructed: 1956
Abandoned: 1984
Featured in Weird New England, pages 235-237

Almost there...The yellow flashlight in Zack's hand is the BEST for exploring.

There are more pictures of this night like one where Zack was riding a headless camel...coming up in the next post on Holy Land USA, unless Zack protests.

So on August 20, Josh and I drove back. The day was gorgeous and we spent a couple hours there.

Like the Great Pyramids, this mini-Great Pyramid can stand the test of time and vandals.

If you've ever driven on I-84 through Waterbury, you've seen this cross.

Hey, someone was there the same night as us again. It was odd having two of these coincidences the same week.

Off the beaten path.

Since we were in Waterbury and so close to Middlebury, we also found Little People Village.

Little People Village
Constructed: 1920's
Abandoned: ?
Featured in Weird New England, page 268

After leaving Little People Village, we went to "haunted" Downs Rd. in Hamden, CT, and walked the entire length of that.

Downs Rd.
Constructed: 1700's
Abandoned: mid 1900's
Featured in Weird New England, pages 174-175

We really didn't find much out there except about five old foundations, but the walk was nice.

After we left Downs Rd. we found this while driving to the nearest Starbucks.

Miles logged: 600 (Zack drove at least 150 of those miles though)
Total photos: 519

Remembering the Baltic Mill Fire

Eight years since the Baltic Mill Fire - August 11, 1999

The Baltic Mill Fire in Sprague, CT was an event I accidentally showed up for. I was 15 and had just gotten a tetanus shot for my school checkup and was running errands with my dad, who had to do some kitchen equipment repair work at the Hillside Cafe, about a mile from the mill.

This was the second time the mill for Baltic village burned, the first time being in the 1880's when the original mill burned to the ground. The new Baltic Mill was constructed in 1887 with granite quarried from the Marriott Granite Quarry in nearby Sterling, CT, and once again became a prosperous textile mile. However, like most New England textile mills, the Baltic Mill was closed by the mid 1980's.

The last large mill fire eastern Connecticut had seen was in Jewett City in 1994, but the Baltic Mill seemed to be the start of many more to come. These mills, some abandoned for more than 20 years, had decayed so poorly that the towns couldn't afford the cost of demolition and cleanup for asbestos abatement, and no one wanted to take on the task of rehabilitating them.

The fire was unintentionally started by some middle-school kids who were hanging out in the mill during the early morning.

It was 1999. I didn't even have a camera of my own--much less digital-- but by sheer luck my dad had a disposable camera in his truck. While my dad did work, I took off running and ran a mile in heels to try to get decent photos of the fire before it was out.

No luck, unfortunately, but here's what I wrote about the event anyway (from a journal entry dated August 14, 1999):
...Dad had to go to the Hillside Cafe in Baltic. On our way, Dad said, "Look, blue clouds!" I thought he was nuts :) but he then said, "oh, that's smoke". I immediately thought "Oh my god, the mill's on fire!" And I was right. The Baltic Mill had already been gutted when by the time I saw it. Nevertheless, I still wanted pictures.

First shot I took of the mill tower, from next to the Sprague Historical Society.

I ended up running from the Hillside Cafe' all the way to the bridge over the Shetucket River to get my pictures. While I was there, Channel 30, 3, and 8 showed up. The Norwich Bulletin and The Day were there as well as AM 1310 (Norwich radio station) It seemed like the entire town turned out just to watch. Damn, wish I was a journalist. Oh well. This was one hell of an event. I got my best shot from next to the old grist mill, now the Sprague Library/Historical Society.

You can see the satellite truck for one of the TV stations to the left. This is the bridge over the Shetucket River on Rt. 97. This bridge was evacuated shortly after this picture because of the fire's proximity to some large propane tanks.

After the evacuation, I took this shot while walking back to the library/historical society. I milled about inside the building for a bit and learned that earlier in the day, even buildings on the opposite side of the river had been evacuated too.

(I didn't actually get my pictures developed for a year because I lost the camera.)

The skeletal walls of the Baltic Mill were torn down during the summer of 2000, but part of the mill that was saved still stands today.

Six years later, when the InterRoyal Mill went up in flames in Plainfield, CT, I was more than ready for it and showed up while fireballs were bursting out the roof...but that's another entry.

Egypt and the Indie Historian

Hello! In the absense of my favorite website, InsaneBunkers.com, I had to start my own blog on urban exploration because I'm itching to get back to posting stories about my wild goose chases and favorite abandoned houses. If you were a regular on IB, I'm Megster (big surprise there, right? haha)

Ok...maybe visiting the Pyramids isn't considered urban exploration unless you pay a bunch of guards 500LE to climb the Great Pyramid, but you gotta admit, this is a fantastic photo. This is my fiance and I (not the camel) on the day he proposed, March 27, 2007.

IB went down less than a month before my fantastic trip to Egypt and admittedly, due to the scrutiny my fiance and I have been under for the immigration process, I haven't actually been exploring this year except Fort Wetherill with Zack in January and Fort Mansfield with my mom in July. I'm lucky I haven't been arrested yet and it's not a chance I'm willing to take until this process is done.

In the meantime, I have more than enough topics to write about from old adventures, new abandoned house updates, and even some new photos.

So why did I call myself the Indie Historian? Let's face it, UE is about more than trespassing and photography. Some of these places have been abandoned for decades and all of them have stories or urban legends associated with them, so I'd like to shed light on the history, if I can. You could say I'm a local historian that does a lot of field research.

Some of the best opportunities I had to do this research was when I worked as a journalist for The Resident newspaper in Stonington, CT. Some of my old articles will reappear here, such as articles I wrote about the Masonic Temple demolition in Norwich, CT, as well as the restoration of the Wauregan Hotel (also in Norwich). (They were simultaneously published on IB so some of you might remember them.)

It is still a dream of mine to become an archaeologist and a novelist, and I would like to finish my college studies at the American University in Cairo. (I was originally an English major but would like to switch to history when I return to school.)

Speaking of Cairo, One of the IB members recommended the book Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock to me, and I read it in its entirety before leaving for my trip, which was from March 22-April 1. It's a very interesting read, as it suggests that they Pyramids and the Sphinx are about 8000 years older than Egyptologists believe. If you want to know more, go read the book. Whether it's 12,000 years old or 4000, nothing can describe standing at the base of the Pyramid of Khufu (better known as the Great Pyramid).

I did not venture inside. It would have cost us about 100LE each (about $17USD, not a lot I know) but if you have asthma, it's just a bad idea. The air quality is poor as there isn't much oxygen and there isn't anything inside except Roman and French graffiti, so we stayed outside.


Yes, there is parking at the base of the Pyramid of Khafre. (Pyramid of Menkaure is to the left.)

Field trip past the Great Sphinx (I took this as we drove by...I don't know why I would risk a drive-by shot on the Sphinx & the Pyramid of Menkaure but I'm very pleased with it. I just submitted the photo to JPGmag for their Passport theme, we'll see how it goes.)