Cayadutta Tanning Company: Inside Gloversville's Dead Tannery

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The Pink Flamingo on Harrison Street Whether it is a dead mill or tannery, a car will always be sitting in a discrete corner.  Gloversville, New York, earned its name for a reason. For decades, it was the undisputed glove capital of the world. But today, the massive tanneries, dressers, stitching factories, and dyers that built this city are quietly disappearing. One of the most fascinating casualties was the former Cayadutta Tanning Company Inc. Locals called it the Pink Flamingo. Before that, it was E.S. Parkhurst & Company, a place workers simply knew as the Hair Mill. Sitting at the southwest corner of Harrison Street and NY-30A, the property spanned two parcels. A private owner held one piece of the land, while the city owned the other. Visiting the abandoned site felt like stepping into a forgotten tannery that just needed a bit of TLC and elbow grease to restart operations sans a pocketed overhead roof. Just outside the main tanning building, a junked Mercedes sa...
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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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