Shades of Freedom



Not trying to throw shade on this one papii.

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Custom Marine Inc of Old Saybrook

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  Some places pull you in not because they demand attention, but because they quietly dare you to remember. One sweltering afternoon, under the kind of heat that turns asphalt into tar and makes you rethink your footwear, J and I found ourselves wandering the overgrown path that led to Building #1 off Boston Post Road. We'd been here before, not this exact structure, but to others like it. Long-forgotten corners of America, where time has folded in on itself and memory clings to dust-covered rafters. The grass brushed against our jeans as we trudged toward the building, the humidity so thick it felt like a second skin. Outside, the world was summer in full throttle. Inside, we stepped into a different kind of atmosphere, dark, silent, cool in a way that wasn’t refreshing, just... dead. The kind of dead that had settled in long ago and made peace with itself. This building, like so many others we've explored over the years, had slipped through the cracks of time. It wasn’t aband...
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Waterbury’s Forgotten Factories: The Story of Bristol Babcock

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  For nearly a century, the city was known as the “Brass Capital of the World,” with a thriving industrial and manufacturing sector. But when the American brass industry declined in the 1970s, the city was hit hard by a series of economic challenges. Factories closed, jobs disappeared, and in their wake, large areas of land were left contaminated and abandoned. These brownfield sites, once bustling hubs of production, became symbols of the city’s struggle to adapt to a changing economy. By 2019, the city had made significant progress in cleaning up these sites, having remediated over 178 acres of land. Still, 140 acres of brownfields remained, with efforts underway to return them to productive use, offering hope for a new chapter of growth and development. One notable site is the former Bristol Babcock Facility, which operated from 1889 to 1989. The 6.6-acre property, with four buildings dating from 1895 to 1954, straddles the border between Waterbury and Naugatuck. The Bristol Bab...
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Former West Hartford Holo-Krome Factory

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Acme Cotton Company Mill

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Former Bedford Chevrolet Sales Corp

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