257 Comments Posted by MARIE, CMT

wrote:
Interesting roof line-it's a shame that no one has bought the place to rehab it into a new amusement park. Rocky Point has that vintage charm just like another old place called "Whalom Park-for a Whale of a Time!" Whalom Park was located in Lunenburg, MA. My mom used to take me there all the time during the summer. It was a great old park. Unfortunately, it closed, auctioned off everything, and was slated for condos. : (
wrote:
This seems like a very sad place...I hope that all the people that were there are OK now, I pray for them. Were there any Art or Music Therapists employed there at the time? I know there was a Music Therapist at Met State-that seems like a very sad place too. I worked diagonally across the street at The Fernald State School as a Music Therapist. I worked with the non-ambulatory and non-verbal profound mentally retared clients. Even though they could not speak, they could still vocalize to the music and work on a variety of fine motor grasps and gross motor movements by manipulating muscial instruments. Music is a universal language, and they responded well to this medium. I love working with this population of clients.
wrote:
Behemoth indeed! The scale of this monsterous piece of iron is truly amazing! For some reason, I also find these types of industrial decay fascinating. I wonder how much "torque" that thing had!
wrote:
I've always been fascinated with the Bonner Building. It's a shame that this too was demolished. When it was a fully operational hospital, it served many patients. It was still relatively new-what a waste of resources! Another fairly newer hopital, St. Vincents in Worcester, was also closed. It was only about 50 years old. I can't stand waste. If you were born in the Depression, there was NO waste. My dad said there used to be an old saying back then, "Use it up, wear it out, make it due, do without." Nothing went to waste.
wrote:
What's cool about DSH, is that not only does it look like a castle, but also has the architecturial elements of a large church. It's a real shame that they closed Our Lady of the Hill Chapel on the property so soon. The patients could have used some spiritual support. Also, keeping it opened could have brought on blessings to keep the whole campus opened and perserved. Prayer IS powerful-and so is the Blessed Mother and Jesus. They tried to close our church, St. Joseph's in Worcester, but with alot of prayers and rosaries, we got the church back again!
wrote:
Wow! I always wondered what happened to that park! I used to go there as a kid, and I remember when they were going to close it. But I never dreamed that they would just leave it there to decay. So sad. Too bad the horses are gone-I love horses! : )
wrote:
I've nick-named this building, "The Silo." It sort of looks like an oversized silo on a farm, especially when viewed from a distance! : ) The view must be very impressive while looking up from the bottom-great shots!
wrote:
Great pictures of WSH! It brings back fond memories of my childhood when Dad and I would walk the grounds. Behind the State Hospital, in the woods, are a few walking trails. On the top of the hill, there's a huge flat rock that we named, "Picnic Rock." Sometimes we would bring a snack, and make a "picnic" on that rock! Dad and I would also walk up to the water tower and tell scary stories. Also, below the hill, there's 2 small waterfalls on one of the trails, surrounded by pine trees, it's very picturesque. I'm glad I grew up seeing that Clock Tower every day. These old gothic asylums are the closest things to "castles" that we have in our country. It's a shame that so many of them have not been perserved. They should have been rehabed into functional buildings so as to keep their majestic beauty.
wrote:
Thank you for showing the inside of the rotonda building-the day room. I've seen those round structures growing up, and I always wondered what they were for. The other black and white pictures of patient life is very interesting as well. Thanks.
wrote:
Interesting piano! I wonder if there was ever a Music Therapist employed there in its heyday. My parents went on a tour there once, before they fully closed the building. They said that one room was painted all black! How morbid! I wonder what it was used for-insolation room, perhaps? How sad! It's nice when the walls are painted in more plesant colors, such as cheerful pastels. One time a patient escaped and landed at our house. (We lived down the street from WSH) She looked disoriented and her clothes looked dated, like that from the 50's-60's. The make-up on her face was extreme. My dad drove her back to the hospital. As a child, I was both shocked and saddened. On a more upbeat note, the Clock Tower looks beautiful when the sun is setting. I'm glad it was a fixture, sitting on that hill, for most of my life.
wrote:
Fascinating Pictures! It's a cool juxtapostion of the old and new buildings. I liked your metaphor of the old building in relation to the new buildings. Have you ever explored Worcester State Hospital? I grew up down the street from there, and my dad and I used to take walks and run the dogs on the grounds. My dad would joke, 'Hey, Marie, the Clock Tower is going to be your new apartment! Funny, huh? I always loved that building and thought of it as a romantic castle. However, Danvers State Hospital will always be my favorite! It was soooo beautiful, so mysterious. In my prayers, I always include the psychiatric patients so that they will get well...I've always had empathy for them. May God bless them!
wrote:
By the way, the "CMT" stands for "Certified Music Therapist". I was blessed that my college had a Music Therapy program. I went into it during my sophomore year. Previously, I was a Bio-pre-med major, but it really wasn't my bag. My interest was more in the Arts, so that I was able to combine my love for music and to help people at the same time.
wrote:
If only those walls could talk...
wrote:
Such an extremely tall, and majestic building! I love the shot of this building when it appears to stand alone, in a field, in the middle of nowhere...it looks so lonely and abandoned.
wrote:
Such a sad and lonely picture...it relates the somber tone of this campus.