Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...
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Brooklyn's Secret Cove


 




One of Brooklyn's best-kept secrets or shall I say the most underdeveloped park in Brooklyn. Herein lies a small hidden cove home to an abandoned boat that has been permanently moored in this cove as far back as 2012. Will Ellis, AbandonedNYC's, writer and explorer, checked out this small waterfront way back in the day in 2014. In addition, Atlas Obscura also wrote a small undated piece on this abandoned vessel.

A couple months ago, a generous low tide allowed me to get up close and personal with this wet bucket of metal, plastic, and seaweed. I've always had it on my ever-long and expanding list of locations to visit since I viewed it on Will Ellis' website years ago when I was giddy with excitement when I first started exploring as a hobby and now as a serious life endeavor. I can see why it can be considered a "secret cove" since it is pretty much off the beaten path. You wouldn't know it was there if you didn't trudge through the grass and low and behold see the ruined vessel sitting on its side amongst the slippery mucky rocks.

According to Ellis' article, this waterfront was made possible by the nearby Verazzano Bridge construction debris which to this day stands quite mountainous from the shores of Brooklyn. If you would like to see dated photos from its construction, check out Dave Frieder's wonderful article here.

Status: Still within secluded cove...may have moved a bit or submerged again.

Sources:

1. Ellis, Will, "Brooklyn Wild: Gravesend's Accidental Park", February 2, 2014, AbandonedNYC
2. Frieder, Dave, "Bridge in the Back Yard: Construction of the Verrazano-Narrows", August 17, 2003, Forgotten New York
3. Kadinsky, Sergey, "Calvert Vaux Park, Brooklyn", January 22, 2017, Hidden Waters Blog






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