Decaying desk drawers inside a former State Psychiatric Hospital in Tennessee.
This building was constructed in 1932 and has been abandoned for the last few decades.
Photo: "Hartsville Reactor Building"
Vertical pano taken inside the reactor building at the unfinished Nuclear Power Plant in Hartsville, Tennessee.
The Tennessee Valley Authority halted construction on this plant in 1983 when the desire for nuclear power began to decrease.
Photo: "Seclusion Doors"
These seclusion rooms are located on the first floor, basement level, of the Polk Building, or K Building, at the Western State Hospital in Tennessee. These rooms contained two doors, the first has an open window with a metal covering. The second is a solid wood door with a glass window. This allowed nurses to check on patients but kept the noise to a minimum.
Photo: "Inside the Cooling Tower"
First light seeps through a small personnel door in the side of the cooling tower.
Having the opportunity to revisit this location was really awesome. The last time I was here, it was incredibly humid and the temps reached the high 80's. I felt much more refreshed during this last visit and was able to capture some of the angles and perspectives I didn't photograph on the first visit.
Photo: "Blinding Perspective"
Construction on the Hartsville Nuclear Plant came to a halt midway through the process, leaving the plant looking other-worldly. It's full of abstract shapes, rebar poking out from cement, steps leading to incomplete floors and some beautiful patterns around the lower ring of the unfinished cooling tower. This particular tower had been completed and stood a few hundred feet tall, looking down on the disarray below.
Photo: "K Building"
The Polk Building, or K Building, at the Western State Hospital in Tennessee, formerly known as the West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane, was constructed in 1932 as a psychopathic facility with 400 beds for patients.
(Print - http://smu.gs/1iHWfHu )
Photo: "Reactor Building"
Hartsville Nuclear Power Plant, Tennessee
This power plant has been sitting abandoned, being reclaimed by nature, since 1983 when the Tennessee Valley Authority cancelled construction on this plant.
Print - http://smu.gs/1c0hijb
Photo: "Therapy Tubs"
I'm heading out of town for the holidays today, but I experienced a burst of photographic inspiration and dug into the albums from my May 2013 trip to the South this morning.
Here's a shot from inside the Polk building at the former West Tennessee Hospital, designed for psychopathic use and constructed in 1932 to aid in overcrowding. These tubs were part of a hydrotherapy program for patients, which involved covering the tubs with heavy fabric (you can see the securing points on the side of the tubs) to trap steam, only allowing the person's head to be outside the tub.
(Print - http://smu.gs/1jtXi1R)
Photo: "Label"
Medical bottle inside an operating room cabinet at the former West Tennessee State Hospital, recently known as Western State Hospital.
Photo: "Lost Stories Inspire Me"
Tonight, I was a guest on a Google+ 'Hangout On Air' where we talked about inspiration. I shared this photograph and explained how finds like this are what drive me to continue photographing forgotten places. Not only do I enjoy the beautiful architecture, but I strive to document the stories that aren't being told; stories about patients, employees and visitors to all these empty spaces.
The suitcases have been sitting in the attic of the West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane' for decades. When patients were admitted, they carried one suitcase of items to the hospital. Some contained curlers and hair brushes, others contained photographs and letters from loved ones, but all of the suitcases you see here were never returned to the patients and these stories remained lost inside this attic forever.
Photo: "Natural Draft Tower"
Cooling Tower, Hartsville Nuclear Power Plant
The concept of a cooling tower is to reject heat by cooling water in an evaporative manner. The heat from the water transferred to the air raises the temperature of the air and increases the humidity and that air is released into the atmosphere.
Cooling towers are very effective at the disposal of heat, more so than dry devices, as water can cool much faster than other methods. This natural draft cooling tower relied on the buoyancy of the heated air to provide the draft up the tower and was incredibly efficient as it cooled water by the thousands of gallons.
Photo: "Break In the Darkness"
Hartsville Nuclear Plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority never imagined that construction on this plant would end a few short years after it began, in 1983, with thousands of government dollars wasted, creating a paradise for people like me.
Walking around this plant, I felt small. Being surrounded by a massive world of nuclear concrete that is slowly being overtaken by nature, after being abandoned for three decades, is an experience you can't easily forget.
These places are my home. It's hard to convey how much life lies within the places most people consider to be dead. The walls of these buildings speak many words as long as you're willing to listen and embrace the history. I don't believe in ghosts, if they existed I definitely would have seen them in some of these places, but I believe in the countless stories and memories the patients and employees left behind.
Photo: "Draperies"
Western State Hospital, Tennessee
A few days ago, a few G+ users were discussing asylum colors on an image. Here is another example of the very common "institutional green," inside a 1930's era psychiatric building at a Tennessee hospital.
Photo: "Roost"
When construction began on the Hartsville plant in the late 1970's, the Tennessee Valley Authority never imagined less than a decade later, they would be canceling construction of the plant.
In 1983, when the plant was canceled, the reality set in that the needs for nuclear power were not as great as many predicted years before.
Now the plant sits abandoned, a home for vultures and small birds nesting in the building's orifices.
Photo: "326th"
Marine Hospital, Tennessee
Many of the rooms at the former Marine Hospital were repurposed over the years. It appears as though this room was first the office of the commander and later used for blood collection.
(Print - http://smu.gs/19GNfRI)