Winsted's Union Pin Company: Highland Lake and Pins Still in the Soil

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Photo courtesy of the Winchester Tax Office Pins in the Brook: The Last Ruins of the Union Pin Company J and I came at it through the trees. No path, just tall standing trees and the kind of undergrowth that swats at your shins and grabs your laces, until the canopy thinned and we found what was left. A turbine, tall and rusted, rising out of the woods beside a brook in Winsted, Connecticut. A small generator sat on top of it, also rusted, also still. Beside that, set back from the tree line and facing the residential houses across Lake Street, a sealed and boarded building held its ground. It was August 2019, midday, the kind of heat that slows everything down. We photographed the turbine carefully, then picked our way downstream along the slippery rocks of the brook that fed toward the Mad River past Boyd Street. What J never mentioned, and what I never thought to look for, was the hydropower outlet tucked behind the thick trees just off the path we'd taken. And neither of us eve...
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25-31 Bartlett Building (2017)










Behind the Building




It seems like forever since I last posted here. 

2020 was one for the history books worldwide where it seems almost every country and every continent went into quarantine and lockdown with no one going anywhere and everything on pause. I did not take advantage of the opportunity to go out and explore so here I am digging through my archives to see what I can find to let the world see what was once here and now that is gone.

Found this old and vacant building scouring Brooklyn on Google Maps. Upon arrival in 2017, I found access to be doable but not worth the entry since the building was mostly boarded and fenced for impending demolition. Not worth the trouble in broad daylight and with a vigilant and suspicious community in the surrounding area not worth the time. The only doable and easy part of this spot was exterior shooting. So here you go. 


Currently, this entire street is being bought out and sold for new apartments in this densely packed area. 


Status: Demolished and currently a fully active apartment building.



Location: 31 Bartlett St, Brooklyn, NY 11206, USA

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