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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Turn to Face the Wall


In an effort to begin abatement (the process a developer goes through before tearing down or restoring an abandoned building) most of the land at Belchertown State School has been cleared. The trees and bushes that once hid the quiet corners of the buildings are now gone, leaving walls exposed and giving the entire campus a feeling of nakedness, both physically and emotionally.

This chair, rusted and peeling sits on the stairs to the medical building, G Building, where Robert Simpson Ricci lived while a patient at BSS. His father, Ben Ricci, brought about the class action lawsuit that would eventually result in the state issue red plywood slabs covering the doors and windows of the remaining buildings.

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