Inside the Abandoned National Silk Dyeing Co.: Paterson, NJ's Forgotten Textile Mill (Photos)

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  The text message from my friend J was simple: a list of addresses in Newark and Paterson. An invitation. An urban treasure map with Xs marking forgotten places. I picked the one on Piercy Street. Pulling up, I saw the building wasn’t exactly hiding. It was a behemoth of brick and colorful lettered graffiti, a whole city block of decay. A door gaped open next to an old loading dock, but the scene gave me pause. Mounds of illegally dumped trash lay along the floor of the loading bay. This part of Paterson has a tough reputation, and the open doors felt less like an invitation and more like a dare. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The air was thick with the smell of dust and damp. I found myself in a vast, open space littered with plastic containers and skeletal metal shelving. I moved deeper, drawn toward the old boiler house section. Before I reached it, I walked into a room that stopped me cold. Everything was stained a deep, blood red. A fine crimson powder coated the fl...
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Vine-Covered Mystery House




The memories of a vine-covered house in Newark left to decay while New Jersey's low-income residents grapple with an ever-worsening housing crisis, have stayed with me. Despite the urgent need for affordable housing, properties like this remain abandoned. This crisis is not unique to New Jersey; it is a pervasive issue across the United States, growing more severe with each passing day.


I remember the day I stumbled upon this house vividly. En route to another destination, I noticed the neglected property and felt an inexplicable pull to investigate. I parked my car and approached with a sense of purpose as if I owned the place. With my trusty Canon T3i camera in hand, I began documenting the scene, capturing the story of a once-lived-in home now surrendered to the elements.








I didn't venture inside. The house's dark interior and the possibility of encountering squatters made me cautious. Alone, and unwilling to risk my camera, I confined my exploration to the exterior. This was an impromptu detour, a side mission that added an unexpected twist to my day.


Urban exploration, or urbex, has a way of drawing us into stories of forgotten places. The scene is filled with grand mansions, modest homes, and everything in between, often tied to intriguing histories and notable former owners—mobsters, billionaires, athletes, and entertainers. The allure of these abandoned spaces is universal; people are fascinated by the tales these empty houses can tell.








But this particular Newark house, its address lost to my memory, remains an enigma. When I saw it in September 2017, I didn't document its location. It might still stand today, shrouded in vines, or perhaps it has been consumed by fire or demolition. Its fate, like so many others, is uncertain.












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