Old Church (?) or Schoolhouse (?) Scandia, MN

In mid-September this year we had intended to be staying in a cabin for the weekend at William O'Brien State Park along the St. Croix River. We'd made reservations about a month prior and so we packed up the car with everything but a tent. When we arrived we were told that we were in campsite #14 instead of a cabin! So our plans were completely thrown upside-down. So we decided to hike all day in the park and just head home at the end of the day. On the way back, I spotted a "native landscape" type of nursery that I wanted to visit and so we pulled off the road into the town of Scandia. I've driven past/through this town many times but had never stopped to see the original part of town. It was small as expected, with the essential small-town post office nestled between other business on the main street. But there was a building across from the post office that caught our attention immediately. A very large wooden building painted a drab green with rusty brown trim. At first glance, the structure looked like a pair of simple, one-and-a-half story houses from the turn of the century that had crashed into each other. But from the back half rose a square type of "bell-tower" structure at one end. This part was sided in wood like the rest and at the top supported a pedestal with more vertical bracing that looked like it could have held either a cross or maybe a bell. I instantly thought of the building as an old abandoned Church, but I couldn't rule out a schoolhouse either. If it had been either in a previous life, it appeared that the way the building faced –assuming the tower would be in front– was no longer in line with the rest of the town. With the tower portion being towards the back left it faced an adjacent house only 50 feet away. The other thing that made me feel this building had been re-purposed at least once was that it had two large garage doors nearest the main street. I couldn't tell for sure but I think they were the type that slid horizontally left and right along a rail. Above these two doors was a smaller "loft" door or window hinged with old metal brackets. But above that door were signs of an even older loft door much higher up near the peak of the roof that was sided over to match the rest of the building. Curiously there was a little hand-painted sign that read "Hilltop Water Co." hung smack dab between the two loft doors. Something I noticed later while viewing my photos was that to the right of the current loft door was a rectangular area where it was apparent that another sign may have hung for many years. That small area –less faded and chipped– hinted to the deeper green coloring the building may have appeared years ago. Due to fencing, I could really only walk around 2 sides of the building but it was in a beautiful state of disrepair, with siding and shingles literally falling off near the edges. It was raining at the time and I wondered how well the roof was still keeping out water. Admittedly, I don't do a lot of research on any of the buildings I post here on my blog and same goes for this one. I simply like how they look in their current form –with so much history peeling away in front of your very eyes. The mystery of that unknown history is part of the appeal for me and thus I don't necessarily go out of my way to track it down for myself. But if blog viewers care to comment and share what they know about the place, I certainly don't mind. In fact I enjoy that very much.

A Short Drive North of the Cities

I few years ago, something struck us as we were headed either to, or from a weekend kayaking excursion. Despite the fact that we live in one of the most populated areas of the state, if you get onto the right road in the right direction, it is amazing sometimes how fast you can find yourself out in the country. This Sunday evening we were feeling a bit adventurous, not wanting the weekend to end -and likely in need of a vacation. On a total whim we decided to drive north on Central Avenue (Hwy 65) just to see where we ended up and what we might see along the way. After going through Ham Lake and East Bethel, the city gradually thinned out and we soon found ourselves somewhere around Isanti. A brown sign for a county park caught our attention so we headed west towards the town of Oak Grove. At this point we realized from a map that we were surrounded by small towns in almost every direction. We decided on a destination of the town of "Oxlip" probably just because of it's odd name, and headed further west past Hwy 47 (or University Ave in the city). We found Oxlip to consist of pretty much just a few houses and a very large Evangelical Church. Just a 1/2 mile or so east was a nice old abandoned house. Unfortunately many old houses like this often sit on property located right next to a newer, occupied house, making me leery of stopping for a photo. This was not all the case, with no other houses for miles and I had a chance to walk around the property for just a bit. On the other side, you could see where the original frame was added on to. There was curious looking, angled entry way that jutted out even further from the addition. This side actually had a fair amount of white paint still clinging to the wooden siding, another hint at the history of the house. There was one more smaller building on the property, a sort of shed with a rusted metal roof but surprisingly intact glass windows. In hind sight I really wish I would have peeked inside there before leaving. We then set our sights on the next closest small town -Bradford. There were actually a few businesses here, including a newly renovated bar and restaurant called "Ravens" that called to us for a quick beer. Before heading back, we stopped at another abandoned house on the west side of Hwy 47 just south of the bar. This was a much larger house than the other, built in an "L" shape, with at least one dormer window and an added front porch. There were also two chimneys, one of which had almost completely crumbled away. The yard here was so overgrown that I couldn't even get that that close. A grapevine had attacked an devoured almost the entire front porch. At the back of the house was a porch that seemed to be part of the original construction -especially obvious by the layers of different colored shingles showing. There were a few barrels, a grill and even a mailbox tucked away behind the porch. Though much larger, I'd guess that this house was older than the other, simply by it's state of disrepair. Though the backside showed some paint the front side was mostly gray, weathered wood. I sure like this house and I wonder about who lived there.

Bechyn, Minnesota

During a visit to Redwood Falls, MN way back in 2006, my better half pointed to a (really) small dot on the map and said "we should go here." We've both always been fascinated by small or old towns, but I would say this was our first successful venture off the beaten path with the sole intention of visiting one. I look back on this later and consider Bechyn to be the town that officially kicked off tons of other journeys -and hundreds of extra miles for us- every time we're on vacation. The closer we got to Bechyn, the more remote it seemed. After driving on mostly unmarked gravel roads for a ways, we finally saw a clue that we were getting closer. This sign near a 4-way intersection might just as well have read "MIDDLE OF NOWHERE." Honestly, neither of us could imagine a town being anywhere out here, where all you could see in every direction was more cornfields. After following the sign, the strangest thing happened to the road; it became paved! We both thought this was hilarious and it was obvious that we'd reached our destination. This town was literally surrounded by tall cornfields on all four sides, making it almost hidden from passersby only a mile away. The town itself was not abandoned in any way. In fact there were people milling about -especially near a big old church labeled St. Mary's. Right away though we spotted some old and abandoned buildings. This 2 story, paint-less structure had every indication of an old general store or some sort of business. Like other buildings, it showed signs of newer renovation by way of two overhead garage doors installed right into it's side. Across the street was another old building with that familiar tall, flat-front of an old business. This building though actually appeared to have been converted into a private residence indicated by curtains and knick-knacks in the windows. We were both amazed that a little tiny town (if you could even call it that) like this could exist out here among miles of cornfields. It was pretty apparent that the church was really the center of town and probably responsible for keeping the town alive. There were people living in the town but it couldn't have been more than about 10. We never did see any sort of population sign so who knows. Only recently I learned from the internet that the town of Bechyn has a rich Czechoslovakian heritage and is named after Bechyne in Czechoslovakia. Every August the town hosts an annual "Czechfest" celebration which brings in a lot of visitors. http://www.czechfest.com/

Abandoned MN launch - Happy Halloween!

Seems pretty fitting that I launch my new Blog "Abandoned MN" on Halloween night. I'll explain the purpose of this blog more later but for now here is a taste of what is to come. This is about the coolest abandoned church I've ever seen. It sits in a clearly overgrown field just north of Duluth MN along Hwy 61 and has an eerie sense about it with it's odd red colored siding and cross-less steeple built to the right side of the structure. In the back is a still intact outhouse complete with toilet seat and lid. If not for the imposing front doors with crosses for windows, one could easily mistake the place for a modest north-shore home.