Tag Archives: abandoned places

Prison Chapel

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This is the chapel of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. I had a surprisingly nice time touring and playing with my camera here last year.

There is beauty in the old and faded. There is value in the unused. There is something interesting to see around every corner of this life.

There is also something haunting about this space. The way the mid-day light floods this room reminds us that even the darkest places, like an old prison, aren’t so dark that they can’t be illuminated even for a few hours a day.

Maybe I liked this space so well because much of the prison isn’t so light and spacious. I could almost feel the cell walls closing in on me.

If you ever get a chance, I would recommend a tour here. It’s where the movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed and they do have some movie memorabilia for you to enjoy.

Want to go? Click here for details.

Another One Lost

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This old church has been a constant in my life since childhood even though I’ve never been inside. It’s just always been there and it has been abandoned for as long as I can remember.

It’s another in a long line of old country churches and other historic structures that you see abandoned across communities everywhere. The churchyard is still mowed because there’s a cemetery too. If not for cemeteries, many old churches that have been abandoned by their congregants would be abandoned to nature as well.

Congregations age and die, human expectations and interests change, and time marches on. I suppose all these old, empty churches are just a sign of the times.

Still, it’s sad to see them falling in.