Saturday was a kind of unofficial beginning to our trip as my bluegrass bandmates and other friends threw a goodbye party to send me off. My brother, Dave, knows I want to see as many ghost towns as possible, and wanted to see for himself what kind of experience I'm going to be in for - he suggested we go to Pleasure Beach, a ghost town right here in CT, and we were off.
I won't tell the story here because all the info is at the links, especially the Wiki link:
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ct/pleasurebeach.html Many pics and video here!
Much more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasure_Beach
It was an incredible experience. Empty. Nobody. 30ish vacant residential properties right on the Connecticut shoreline and several commercial properties, including a go-kart track!.
Still, there was a sense of what had been there. The lazy summer days at the beach, families coming to visit and spend time together and happiness despite the ruination that stands today. A community of people that obviously enjoyed each others' company as the houses were all on one street, and closer together than the norm here, all sharing the same beach. I guess I should explain here that I'm an unrepentant beach bum - always have been, so this adventure held a particular allure for me, and we were not disappointed. Pleasure Beach... a name that has become an oxymoron. It brought to mind how finely balanced today's society really is, and that just a little tip can result in community upheaval like Pleasure Beach.
What a way to start our explorations!
Always wanted to go here, I will make a not to actually do it this summer. If you're around Central Pennsyvania, remeber go to Centralia! An underground coal fire forced evacuation of the town and it's quite a trippy place to be. Sounds like you're having a ball, keep on truckin' and be safe.
ReplyDeleteOh, Andrew, don't. They're tearing it down right now.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see ya on the blog!!