Abandoned Horse Track

On a chilly weekend (well before quarantine) my friends and I decided to take another mini trip to the outskirts of a few new England states in search for a horse race track and an old abandoned hospital, we booked a hotel in a town nearby and stayed overnight so we could explore both places with plenty of time for each. Up first on day one was the race track, the drive took us past some beautiful places that we stopped at for some quick shots which I'll include in the gallery, we took the a scenic route though the mountains (still the fastest way) which I think we all prefer for roadside photo opportunities. When we finally reached the destination we saw a massive building with a glass front facing the remains of a dirt horse race track that wrapped around a nice sized pond, there were small barns in the distance which we explored after but those were pretty much empty. The main building was several floors with all the things one would expect find at a racetrack, tickets were scattered on the floor with glass from the broken windows in the entryway, the first floor had the concession stands for snacks and cigarettes, there were a few straggling tables and chairs so I imagine a food court sort of set up, up the stairs was the main seating area where people would watch the races. The view from the decrepit old place was pretty beautiful with the mountains in the background all the old wooden chairs sat screwed into place most still pretty sturdy. There was a lot of damage and decay in the building, Vandals had smashed a lot of the glass inside and spray painted, there were even a few hoodlums while we were shooting using it as a place to practice bike tricks, it was pretty clear from the dog walkers and fishers on the property that no one really cared about this place despite the hazards. The next floor up from there was an adult lounge with a bar and I think a betting area, not much was left behind a few moldy tickets and pamphlets some restaurant menus, etc, there was one more floor up from there that was small and very decayed I didn’t make it up to that part myself. There isn't much history here as it was not open long from 1963 to 1993 making it a only a 30 years old when it closed due to the pressure from animal rights activist’s (rightly so in my opinion), originally it was built for horse racing events from the opening in the 60s until 1976 it was than changed to greyhound dog races until its close in the 90's. Although it had brief history this was still a very fun spot to walk around and explore, it happened to be the nicer of the two days as far as weather was concerned it was nice to shoot with some natural sun light coming through all the windows and the holes in the roofs! My favorite o Check out these before and after shots as well as all the cool photos in the more galleries page! P.S Don't forget to go follow my friends and I on Instagram and social media!

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