Preston Tours Hospital Property
Karin Crompton
TheDay.com
Preston - Inside a yellow school bus on Saturday morning, which edged and bounced along the roads inside the former Norwich State Hospital campus, town residents became tourists.
As the bus inched deeper into the heart of the property, one after another of the long-abandoned buildings came into view. The “tourists” inside the bus stood, craned their necks and uncapped their camera lenses.
They leaned against the insides of the bus to snap photos of jagged windows, brush overgrowth, and brick buildings they may never see again.
Saturday's town-sponsored tour was the first of two this weekend and included two school buses, each filled. The town will send another two buses out today. Town officials said approximately 80 people showed up for Saturday's tour and another 80 are signed up for today's.
Members of the town's Redevelopment Agency handed out maps of the property plus a survey that asks for input on what residents want as well as a new name for the site.
Preston voted at referendum on Feb. 24 to purchase 390 acres of the property from the state. The sale price was $1, but the environmental cleanup is estimated to cost millions.
Saturday was most people's first look at the property.
”It looks better than what I expected,” said resident Dave Przygoda, speaking at one of three stops along the way (one was a pit stop).
Przygoda said he applied for a job at the hospital in the mid-1980s and got a brief tour of almost all of the buildings. Though many of them are dilapidated, Przygoda said, he pointed to the stately Administration Building, noted for an interior of granite and marble.
Przygoda was on the tour with his wife, Heather, and friends Derry and Kim Brown.
”This architecture, it's a waste to see it go,” said Derry Brown, as the four stood looking up at the Salmon Building, often referred to as the jail on campus because it housed the “criminally insane” and has bars on the windows.
”Look at all the time and effort that was put into this,” Brown said.
They pointed to the weather vane, the copper finials, and the tons and tons of bricks, and suggested that the town could offset some of its expenses by selling and recycling a variety of materials found on site.
If the adults were getting their first glimpse at what their tax money had gotten them, the kids on Saturday's tour were there simply for the cool factor.
”It's kinda old, but it's really cool,” said 14-year-old Courtney Majcher.
”I want to go inside,” added 7-year-old Nolan Greene, echoing the sentiments of most adults who visit the property.
Fourteen-year-old Kirby Greene, Nolan's sister, said she has friends who have gone on site and into the buildings a number of times, taking pictures, and she was intrigued by the photos.
”I think it's beautiful,” Kirby said. “I like all the architecture.”
Of the idea that the campus is haunted, Majcher said, “Everybody says it's haunted.”
She was asked what she thought.
”I think it could be, but I haven't ever seen anything that looks suspicious,” she said.
As coincidence would have it, when the tour paused for a pit stop a few minutes later, a security van was escorting two vehicles off the property, including a Jeep with “Enfield Paranormal Society” posted along its side.
At a stop across from the main campus, the tour visited an unnamed pond of about 10 acres that surprised some of the residents who didn't know it existed.
Resident Kathy Farley said she thought that side of the property held a lot of potential, including as a city beach, park, or trails.
”I didn't realize we owned this much on this side,” she said, gesturing to what town officials said is nearly 200 acres. “I always just think of the buildings on that (across Route 12) side.”
Paul Greene, who snapped photos throughout the tour, said the buildings were mostly in worse shape than he envisioned. Still, he said, Preston made the right move when it voted to buy the property.
”It was a no-brainer because if the state did take it back, they're still not going to clean it up properly, because they haven't yet,” Greene said. “And they would have brought in something we have no say in, just like the incinerator plant.”
Greene was referring to the current trash incinerator, which the state built just south of the hospital property about 30 years ago despite the protests of Preston residents, who vehemently opposed the project. The state rejected ideas to locate a state courthouse or community college there.
”I think a lot of people in town learned their lesson,” Greene said, “with the incinerator plant.”
As the bus inched deeper into the heart of the property, one after another of the long-abandoned buildings came into view. The “tourists” inside the bus stood, craned their necks and uncapped their camera lenses.
They leaned against the insides of the bus to snap photos of jagged windows, brush overgrowth, and brick buildings they may never see again.
Saturday's town-sponsored tour was the first of two this weekend and included two school buses, each filled. The town will send another two buses out today. Town officials said approximately 80 people showed up for Saturday's tour and another 80 are signed up for today's.
Members of the town's Redevelopment Agency handed out maps of the property plus a survey that asks for input on what residents want as well as a new name for the site.
Preston voted at referendum on Feb. 24 to purchase 390 acres of the property from the state. The sale price was $1, but the environmental cleanup is estimated to cost millions.
Saturday was most people's first look at the property.
”It looks better than what I expected,” said resident Dave Przygoda, speaking at one of three stops along the way (one was a pit stop).
Przygoda said he applied for a job at the hospital in the mid-1980s and got a brief tour of almost all of the buildings. Though many of them are dilapidated, Przygoda said, he pointed to the stately Administration Building, noted for an interior of granite and marble.
Przygoda was on the tour with his wife, Heather, and friends Derry and Kim Brown.
”This architecture, it's a waste to see it go,” said Derry Brown, as the four stood looking up at the Salmon Building, often referred to as the jail on campus because it housed the “criminally insane” and has bars on the windows.
”Look at all the time and effort that was put into this,” Brown said.
They pointed to the weather vane, the copper finials, and the tons and tons of bricks, and suggested that the town could offset some of its expenses by selling and recycling a variety of materials found on site.
If the adults were getting their first glimpse at what their tax money had gotten them, the kids on Saturday's tour were there simply for the cool factor.
”It's kinda old, but it's really cool,” said 14-year-old Courtney Majcher.
”I want to go inside,” added 7-year-old Nolan Greene, echoing the sentiments of most adults who visit the property.
Fourteen-year-old Kirby Greene, Nolan's sister, said she has friends who have gone on site and into the buildings a number of times, taking pictures, and she was intrigued by the photos.
”I think it's beautiful,” Kirby said. “I like all the architecture.”
Of the idea that the campus is haunted, Majcher said, “Everybody says it's haunted.”
She was asked what she thought.
”I think it could be, but I haven't ever seen anything that looks suspicious,” she said.
As coincidence would have it, when the tour paused for a pit stop a few minutes later, a security van was escorting two vehicles off the property, including a Jeep with “Enfield Paranormal Society” posted along its side.
At a stop across from the main campus, the tour visited an unnamed pond of about 10 acres that surprised some of the residents who didn't know it existed.
Resident Kathy Farley said she thought that side of the property held a lot of potential, including as a city beach, park, or trails.
”I didn't realize we owned this much on this side,” she said, gesturing to what town officials said is nearly 200 acres. “I always just think of the buildings on that (across Route 12) side.”
Paul Greene, who snapped photos throughout the tour, said the buildings were mostly in worse shape than he envisioned. Still, he said, Preston made the right move when it voted to buy the property.
”It was a no-brainer because if the state did take it back, they're still not going to clean it up properly, because they haven't yet,” Greene said. “And they would have brought in something we have no say in, just like the incinerator plant.”
Greene was referring to the current trash incinerator, which the state built just south of the hospital property about 30 years ago despite the protests of Preston residents, who vehemently opposed the project. The state rejected ideas to locate a state courthouse or community college there.
”I think a lot of people in town learned their lesson,” Greene said, “with the incinerator plant.”
This article was
written by Karin Crompton
and published by TheDay.com
on Sunday, June 28