Abandoned Science labs and 1800s Mansions

I have decided rather than try to go all the way back to the last adventure story I shared with you all, I’m going to skip ahead to the present day and tell you about one of our most recent trips on the eastside. I realize that is a lot of adventuring to skip over and we might go back to some of the highlights, but if you really want to know what the A team and I have been up to these last few fall weeks you’ll have to check out the youtube Channel over at The need for exploration and stay tuned for all the video footage coming out soon, lucky for all of us Brandon has done a fantastic job of filming our best adventures and researching the history of the locations.

This was one of my favorite trips so far, it led us all over the east coast jumping around in between a few different states in search of a derelict science laboratory, an old mansion, and a “satanic” house. We had our pins and off we went, two days with exploring ahead of us. We left home before sunrise straight for the science lab. It was a long haul for us but after some snack breaks, we finally got to the pin on the map. We decided it would be best to take the long route around on foot as we noticed some cars and workers on the property and wanted to avoid being seen.

From the looks of the outside, it appears this location is getting ready for demolition it said online that the site had recently been bought at 40 million for the 550 ace property, but with zoning issues over and the land itself being a considerable slice of underdeveloped property it is unclear what’s next for this location. There were landscape crews cutting down the beautiful green trees that we had seen in the photos from friends online, which was a tiny bit disappointing as it had given it that wonderful overgrown vibe that we all love so much, however, it turned out to be a really fantastic spot green trees or not. We headed for the furthest entrance from the workers we could find which happened to be the greenhouses that day (lucky for us). The greenhouses despite the emptiness were spectacular, just row after row after row it seemed to go on forever. There were plants sneaking their way into the cracks seeking the warmth and sun inside creating an eerie vibe, some of the doors had whiteboards on them that were still labeled with what was inside like apple trees and other edible plants. We were eager to get inside and start exploring so we headed further into the crumbly building towards the science labs. This place was massive but pretty easy to figure out once inside so many long hallways with various labs on either side some with “authorized only” or “hazards robotic equipment” signs though probably for the best all of the science “hazards” and robots were cleared out long ago, as far as the stuff remaining we only found one robot, a few empty beakers and file folders with old reports. There were also a few old goggles and rubber gloves rotting away in drawers and the eyewash stations all dried up with dust. There were some pretty spooky looking climate control storage areas where they would keep different specimens now just a cozy home for spiders. When we reached what I assume was the center of the campus there was a long hallway made of all these big glass windows connecting the two buildings. It was exactly the spot we were looking for when headed here so it was super satisfying to see it in person. The glass was shattered in a bunch of places, all the trees on either side were ripped out. With the right dress though, we made a beautiful moment out of the destruction and ended up with some pretty unique shots compared to those we had seen before. We found a few impressive spiral staircases and shot there for a bit keeping with the dramatic red dress theme for a bit we had fun tracking through the squishy floors on the first chilly adventure of the long winter season. It is worth noting that it was an unseasonably warm day for November on the east side of the U.S but it was at least 15 degrees cooler inside the facility where the labs and the stairs were. After we covered most of the grounds we wound up near the old food court which looked like a throwback to the 90s mall food courts. I found out reading online the site was officially abandoned in 2000 so 90s food courts would make sense. This site had operated a research and development facility since the late 1950s. There have been several uses for the land by the company over its years of operation such as agricultural chemical laboratory research and development, raising of experimental crops and livestock, and chemical and nutrient testing on crops and livestock. We explored a bit more of the greenhouses before heading out pretty satisfied that we had seen just about everything we were looking for.

All that was just stop number one on our list so with just a quick stop for lunch we were on our way to the next one!

Spot number two was much more low key easy in and out with good timing we had no issues there. This one was a huge old mansion on a street surrounded by other beautiful expensive homes, this one was the only one on the street that looked abandoned. It was tucked back a little bit from the road with trees around it so I imagine it’s not too much an “eyesore” for the community which can be the reason a place like this would be demolished. Hardly any graffiti inside or out it was almost all natural decay that comes with being forgotten about. Unlike a lot of places we go to this one was completely empty of all furniture and personal belongings but we wanted to shoot the beautiful old staircase that led up three stories and mostly knew what to expect before we arrived. We also fell in love with the upstairs bathrooms and master bedrooms, you could imagine all the amazing old furniture they must have had to decorate with. One really cool thing about this mansion was a very deceiving looking closet door, I say that because it was not really a closet door but a tiny narrow hallway that led to the back area of the house near another bathroom with a claw foot tub and smaller rooms perhaps maids or children’s area, as is usually the case for these tucked away areas. A little bit of history on this place; noted online as a “high style, Italianate” built-in 1850s by a prominent local farmer. It has been Renovated several times before its abandonment in 1995 and withstood a small fire back in 2011. There was once a plan to turn the old house into an assisted living program (why do they always try to make these old buildings old folks homes?) but the cost to restore the property and bring it up to livable code was too much investment so they instead petitioned to demolish it, the petition has been blocked by the historical society and town preservation groups so it seems to be in a deadlock state of can’t sell, can’t demo, too much money to fix and that seems to be the case with a lot of these old historical mansions. I myself am happy that people out there are fighting to keep pieces of history alive rather than tear it all down and it’s even better for us explores when it’s in this limbo state of decay.

We had a great time shooting here but the sun was setting quickly by then so we decided to head out while there was some light left so Brandon could get his amazing drone shots and Amber and I could find a place for good chicken. All and all day one of the adventures was fantastic and we crashed at the hotel early to get a fresh start for day 2!

Follow up here for day 2 of our trip, and be sure to check out the more galleries tab for a bunch of the shots we got at these locations!

And always check out my friend’s youtube The need for Exploration

and IG’s

@xurbanxxamberx @the_need_for_exploration @chaotiquephoto

for even more photos and videos and history on these spots!