Tag: turners falls

Smoke and the Water

After the rains I spent this Sunday exploring the effects by visiting local waterfalls and Turner’s Falls.

A late post, as I spent some time on this lovely Sunday to go follow the water! As there had been a tremendous amount of rain over the past week and a half, I thought it might be worthwhile to see the effect. This included a trip to one of my favorite local waterfalls (pictures later), and to Turner’s Falls. The Connecticut river flows through Turner’s Falls and to say it was a spectacle is an understatement.

Here’s an image from today…

Storage Container

Sitting alongside the power canal in Turner’s Falls, it appears that this building was used for some type of storage. I’m not sure what used to be stored in it, but given its proximity to the mill buildings, I expect it may have been fuel. If that’s the case, it would have been for the latter part of the history of the mills along the canal, as water was the main power source originally.

On this day it was a nice scene to capture, especially as the power canal was fully maxed out in terms of water flow.

Succumb to Decay?

Advancements cause decay…

The WordPress Daily Prompt has the theme of Succumb.  While there are many ways to approach this prompt, the one that came to me first is to document the ongoing decay and how it threatens to the buildings that once were the backbone of a vibrant community.

The village of Turners Falls was established as a planned industrial community based on the ability to harness the power of the Connecticut river by building a dam and power canal to drive industry.  As the power canal still rushes through the town, one can imagine the din of that era, as mills next to the canal were actively producing their goods.  As with many of these towns, industrialization slowly moved away from them, as water power was replaced by fossil fuels, causing the town to succumb to slow decay.

These days, Turners Falls is a charming little town to visit with an interesting historic district.

One of the old mill buildings along Powers Street…

Powers-Street-Decay_14E2072_3_4_5_6-crop
Powers Street Decay

As you can see in this image, this mill building was already in an advanced state of decrepitude, as the window on the right side shows the sky behind it.  I’m not sure, if the building still stands, but it called from a past era on this autumn day!

Have a wonderful day!