3,287 Comments for Danvers State Hospital

I think this pic is sensational. My late-husband wanted to paint our home a dark green to blend in with the outside scenery. Of course I rather injoy a variety of colors. Maybe the people who painted the Danvers wanted it to blend in, or they painted the tree to blend in with Denvers. they gave the tree srawberry juice so it could transform from a green tree to a red one. This is so crazy...hehe

I could not help to comment on this one pic. I enjoy spires and old ruins. I have read that a weather vane as on top of this spire is actually a lightning rod! This is so awesome! And to this individual who commented on the CAPS...my niece has bad eyesight, and many times she uses CAPS so she can particpate in the dialogues and forums. I myself have to revert to CAPS often because of my sight.
To me, CAPS are so much easier in the eyes when one has to strain using a small computer monitor. Sorry I feel this way. Normally I do not comment, only enjoy the reading and the wonderful pics.

deafangel, those are exactly my sentiments. Not only is Danvers an incredibly historic structure, it is in fact sitting upon incredibly historic ground. People really need to use their common sense more and realize that we are losing everything that holds more than a fleeting thought. It wouldn't surprise me if I soon start to hear about plans for condos opening up inside the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower.

maybe it is so gloomy because the institution itself feels threatened by what is in store for it, and it moans for what it once was in bygone years. Whatever, the photo shots matches what Danvers must be thinking if it had been human...sorta like a death sentence. Sad.

I wish they could restore Danvers and make it a museum like they did to USS Alabama battle ship and submarine. I mean, it would be cool to restore it has it originally was, and open to the public and even make a small skit for the tourists. Oh well...it was a nice dream though!

i had a dream once after coming home from the mental hospital. In my dream was a bathroom, and in this bathroom, the ceiling was flaking and mold, slime, and green algea was growing on the walls. Rodents started coming after me, and that was when I woke myself up screaming. I have toilet-phobia (those that are in parks, and old buildings!).

Is it my eyes deceiving me, or does that look like wheel tracks on the floor? I can imagine a lone ghost in a wheel chair strolling along in the empty orridors of time. Or an employee strolling a corpse for its last ride toward the morgue.

this pix is so thrilling. Makes one wonder about what can be down in the cold, dark, and dank basement. Isn't the basement where many mental and medical facilities used to house the morgue?

Oh, the reason why I was committed, my beloved husband hot killed in 2001 and this sent me into a spiral downard into deep depression and anxiety. I developed self-injury and this was what caused me to be committed, and these photos makes me think of the hospital I was in for a month.

Even though I was in a hospital here in south georgia, it still makes me remember things I had hidden deep in the recesses of my mind. Looking at these photos of Motts, it is good therapy in itself! Thanks Motts.

the most fun I had and the better therapy was the art therapy. I made a vase to put small trinkets in. I also enjoyed sketching pixs and hanging them on the wall in my room at the state hospital.

I know security was watching ;-)

Almost everything left behind that could be unfastened has been taken, from documents and audio reels to the weather vanes on the roof.

This was one of the curved niches found in the middle of the hallways, I believe this was in the female wing but could be wrong.

What a site of amazing photographs. I am impressed with your work Mott.

This particular place has stunning archetecture. It is always sad to see public property that could be a community resource wiped out forever.

Often there is just no money or will to preserve. Too bad to Massachusets has spent a gadzillion dollars on state history for oddball projects that attract the attention of politicians. For example the structurally troubled schooner Ernastina and the lighthouses on Nantuckett.

Here in Oregon a rare will developed in a private developer who has bought up dozens of these old funky sites, orphanages and poor farms with instituitional archetecture of significance. The Mcmenamins have renovated them and turned them into a very succesful entertainment empire. Their business model may have seemed bizarre at first but after 15 years it has proven to be very succesful. They renovated without changing the layouts or archetecture too much. Put in attractive landscaping and commision local artists to decorate the place often in works reflecting its history and the people who lived there.

They still have that institutional flavor. Some hotel rooms are made out of old classrooms and still have the slate blackboards and hooks for the coats.

They run the places as community resources and encourage people to come and hang out or just wander around. Each site may have 2 or 3 resteraunts, a brewpub, winery, distillery, cigar rooms, hot pool, gymnaseum for local leauge games and dances, wedding and party catering, local meeting rooms, hotel wing, and even chip and putting courses across the grounds.

Check out the Edgefield poor farm and the art work that covers every wall in the 4 story place

http://www.mcmenamins.....php?loc=3&id=55

I go to their Kennedy school all the time and soak in the hot pool. Then watch 3 dollar movies sitting on an overstuffed couch in the old auditorium while a waitress brings me micro brew beer and pizza.

These guys run their business like the Ben and Jerries of the NW and make good money at it in an industry where many go horribly banktrupt.

No one would have ever believed a private person could not only save so many of these odd derilict properties but turn them into such a valued community resource. Whatever ghosts remain of former sad and despondent residents must be completely soothed by the good vibes of the vibrant life people bring to these places now.