Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Salvatorian Seminary / JFK Prep
What a cool place! There are a lot of stories about this place. Most of which are entirely ridiculous ghost stories. Others are of infiltrating and coming across the owners over the years. The wiki seems to be a reasonable account of the place. If you google this place you'll find all kinds of nonsense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Preparatory_High_School
I went up thereto get the straight story on the security level and to take some pictures of the outside if I could be permitted. I got so much more. When I arrived there was a couple there, probably my parents' age, looking around. As it happened the husband attended this place when it was a seminary. He told me all about the layouts of the buildings, what was used for what, what buildings are gone and what are new since he was here. They were very nice.
I also saw some people working on the place, so it's not abandoned. There were a couple of kids working in one of the buildings. I asked them if it was cool to take some pictures and they said no problem, so off I went. Later they told all about the state of the different building interiors and stories of chasing hooligans off the property and various arrest stories. So anyone thinking of infiltrating: You will be caught and arrested, no doubt. I even met the owners that seem to, at least part time, live on site. How cool is that? They have been the owners for about a year and are ambitiously trying to restore the place. They were really nice and told me even more about the place. They even let me into the church to take pictures.
This is the main building. From all accounts this is in the worst shape inside. If you see old pictures of this place there were a number of trees in the front. They have been since cut down to limit infiltration.
The cemetary is still quite active. I saw graves as recent as 2007 and some dating back to 18-- (most were hard to make out). The tomb at the top is that of the original founder, so I understand and the statue to the side is a later founder of the seminary. If I understand correctly this place was a seminary for two different groups/ demoninations in its lifetime. Further up, above the tomb is a small chapel that appears to be used to some extent to this day.
This is the Blacksmith shop. The owner informed me that this whole campus has its own zip code. In its day it was totally self sufficient. There was a blacksmith, woodworking shop, winery, icehouse with a near by lake to harvest ice from, farm fields for food, chapel, educational buildings, dorms, print shop, post office, boiler building, gym, tennis courts, etc.
This is the building thought to be the winery or the ice house, or maybe even a summer kitchen.
There were a couple of old diggers behind the church by the boiler building.
Admittedly it never occurred to me to park on the steps, but had I, there's a sign.
And finally, the church.
I thought this was going to be the best shot I'd get of the stained glass, until I met the owners.
The view of the boiler building's smoke stack through the stained glass window shown above.
As ususal, I have a bunch more shots. Not all of them turned out great, but these are the ones I liked the most and processed. If you'd like to see more pictures of this site check this link. The pictures here were what inspired me to take the trip to see it for myself.
http://www.infiltraterz.com/jfk1.html
I went up thereto get the straight story on the security level and to take some pictures of the outside if I could be permitted. I got so much more. When I arrived there was a couple there, probably my parents' age, looking around. As it happened the husband attended this place when it was a seminary. He told me all about the layouts of the buildings, what was used for what, what buildings are gone and what are new since he was here. They were very nice.
I also saw some people working on the place, so it's not abandoned. There were a couple of kids working in one of the buildings. I asked them if it was cool to take some pictures and they said no problem, so off I went. Later they told all about the state of the different building interiors and stories of chasing hooligans off the property and various arrest stories. So anyone thinking of infiltrating: You will be caught and arrested, no doubt. I even met the owners that seem to, at least part time, live on site. How cool is that? They have been the owners for about a year and are ambitiously trying to restore the place. They were really nice and told me even more about the place. They even let me into the church to take pictures.
This is the main building. From all accounts this is in the worst shape inside. If you see old pictures of this place there were a number of trees in the front. They have been since cut down to limit infiltration.
The cemetary is still quite active. I saw graves as recent as 2007 and some dating back to 18-- (most were hard to make out). The tomb at the top is that of the original founder, so I understand and the statue to the side is a later founder of the seminary. If I understand correctly this place was a seminary for two different groups/ demoninations in its lifetime. Further up, above the tomb is a small chapel that appears to be used to some extent to this day.
This is the Blacksmith shop. The owner informed me that this whole campus has its own zip code. In its day it was totally self sufficient. There was a blacksmith, woodworking shop, winery, icehouse with a near by lake to harvest ice from, farm fields for food, chapel, educational buildings, dorms, print shop, post office, boiler building, gym, tennis courts, etc.
This is the building thought to be the winery or the ice house, or maybe even a summer kitchen.
There were a couple of old diggers behind the church by the boiler building.
Admittedly it never occurred to me to park on the steps, but had I, there's a sign.
And finally, the church.
I thought this was going to be the best shot I'd get of the stained glass, until I met the owners.
The view of the boiler building's smoke stack through the stained glass window shown above.
As ususal, I have a bunch more shots. Not all of them turned out great, but these are the ones I liked the most and processed. If you'd like to see more pictures of this site check this link. The pictures here were what inspired me to take the trip to see it for myself.
http://www.infiltraterz.com/jfk1.html
More Vacation = More Photos
I went on a little road trip to take more photos. This Fountain is from Rancho de las Flores. About the only cool thing at this little abandoned site in Sheboygan. There are a number of outlandish ghost stories surrounding this place. Being a weird little abandoned site on a dead end across from a graveyard probably doesnt help.
A Monarch butterfly from the site of my next post (see above)
Sepia redux
A Monarch butterfly from the site of my next post (see above)
Sepia redux
Monday, July 27, 2009
Southshore
I went down to the Bayview farmers market for a few goodies and snapped a couple shots of the marina there.
Friday, July 24, 2009
A Prayer in the Temple of Insects
I went on a little photo journey today chasing childhood memories, paranormal, and urban decay. Grant Park, Lake Park (where my battery died so I'll have to go back), and various urban sites. Oh, and a really strange nunary.
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