New England Oddities

Mt. Auburn Cemetery

Founded in 1831, Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts is considered to be America’s first garden-style cemetery, with plots and stones arranged amongst landscaped hills, rather than in the rigid lines found in churchyards of prior periods. The garden style cemetery emphasizes peaceful rest, rather than sorrow, and represented society’s changing attitudes toward death and the afterlife.

This is one of the largest and most elaborate cemeteries we have had the chance to visit, and those of you who may have visited this site before know that we’ve seen many!  One could walk for days and not see everything there is to see, as the cemetery covers around 175 acres and contains over 10 miles of roads.  In addition to beautiful monuments and chapels, Mt. Auburn is also famous for it’s 700 varieties of trees and numerous species of birds.

Photography by Katie Harper:

 

Photography by Chris Kwarciany:

 

A New England Summer

Occasionally, while out exploring history and hunting legends, we at New England Oddities do get an opportunity to stop and smell the flowers!  These are the results: a celebration of New England in the Summer.

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Photography by Chris Kwarciany:

 

Photography by Katie Harper:

 

Enders Falls

Enders Falls is a series of six waterfalls along a 1/4 mile long stretch of river in Granby, Connecticut. Though none of them are especially large, all together they form an impressive landscape with lots of opportunities for photography.

Armed with a camera, a tripod and a polarizing filter, I set out to explore the falls over two days this Summer. These are the photos I took.

 

Exploring the Forgotten

There’s something about a forgotten space that holds a definite appeal for many people, be it the look into the lives of those who have gone before us, the raw emotion evoked by an abandoned locale, or simply just the thrill of the forbidden, of being somewhere one really should not be.

The word “urbex”, which is a shortened form of the phrase urban exploration, is defined by Wikipedia as the “examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities”.  In the face of the myriad dangers native to urban exploration, such as asbestos inhalation, tetanus, falling through floors compromised by flooding and rot, transient encounters, and in some cases a ticket for trespassing, there is a growing segment of photographers and other artists who can’t resist the siren song of abandoned spaces.   They see the beauty in the way the light from a broken window hits a rusting  hinge or a strip of peeling paint and they find art in a solitary chair in an empty room.   They see the symbolism in grass sprouting up through the cracks of a forgotten highway or in the way the forest quickly begins to reclaim the stones of an abandoned foundation.

I have always been one such photographer.

As we consider ourselves to be journalists as well as explorers here at New England Oddities, we have not trespassed or otherwise compromised our principles to get these photos.  We have always obtained permission where necessary.  We bring these photos to you with the recommendation that you not compromise yours, whatever they may be.

An Abandoned Factory – Easthampton, Massachusetts:

 

An Abandoned Train Station – Holyoke, Massachusetts:

 

The Hudson-Chester Quarry – Becket, Massachusetts:

 

Sideling Hill Tunnel on an Abandoned Stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike

Ok, so this isn’t actually in New England, but I’m going to share it anyway!  If  you find yourself in central PA someday, definitely check this out.

 

Post Apolcalyptic Suburbia – Somewhere in Western Massachusetts

(This location is rare, as it is not just one abandoned house, but 13! This is an entire development in varying stages of completion, just left to rot. I’ve not had any luck discovering the exact reason why, and no, I’m not going to tell you exactly where it is. But I’m sure you can find further information elsewhere on the internet.)

 

The Springfield Cemetery Walk

On Sunday, March 22nd, several members of the New England Oddities Photography Meetup assembled for our very first photography outing! The Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts has always been one of my favorite cemeteries, as frequent readers of this site can certainly attest. This beautiful, secluded spot right in the middle of the city spans generations, containing Springfield’s oldest stones as well as many recent monuments. The photographers who accompanied us certainly didn’t disappoint; a sample of their work is below.




Heather Katsoulis, HLKphoto.com

Susan Meagher, The Northeast Spectral Science Society

Chris Kwarciany, New England Oddities’ resident historian

And, finally, two of mine

Please feel free to leave comments for our guest photographers, or visit their personal sites. If you would like to explore New England with us, hit the link below and join the New England Oddities Photography Meetup!

This Week’s Best Photos – Special Edition

Welcome to a special edition of This Week’s Best Photos!  Chris and I have been extra-busy lately trying to launch our new paranormal research group (more details to come on that later), so we haven’t been keeping up with the photos here.  But we are going to make it up to you with one massive photo post, encompassing all the photo sessions we haven’t yet published. This edition of This Weeks Best Photos includes all our best from the last two months.

Click to open full size.

Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts

Continue reading This Week’s Best Photos – Special Edition…

This Week’s Best Photos

Below is a selection of our best photos taken over the past week. Click to open full size. Beneath the photos you will find links to our full pages for these locations.

Close up photo of a monument at Hillside Cemetery in Cheshire, Connecticut.

Continue reading This Week’s Best Photos…

This Week’s Best Photos

Below is a selection of our best photos taken over the past week. Click to open full size. Beneath the photos you will find links to our full Flickr sets for these locations.

A winged statue reaches up to touch a painted blue sky at Mahaiwe Cemetery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Continue reading This Week’s Best Photos…

This Week’s Best Photos

Below is a selection of our best photos taken over the past week. Click to open full size. Beneath the photos you will find links to our full Flickr sets for these locations.

One of the large Skinner family monuments at Forestdale Cemetery in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Continue reading This Week’s Best Photos…

This Week’s Best Photos

Below is a selection of our best photos taken over the past week. Click to open full size. Beneath the photos you will find links to our full Flickr sets for these locations.

The large tower at Hammond Castle in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Continue reading This Week’s Best Photos…