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Maryland travels :

Maryland travels

Updated: Dec 11, 2010 7:00am PST

Fall Colors 2010

Thomas A. Germer

Little Seneca Lake, Boyds, MD

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Frederick County, MD :

Frederick County, MD

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Baltimore :

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Chesapeake Beach, MD :

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Maryland :

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Henryton Center : In 1923, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryton_State_Hospital" target="_blank">Henryton State Hospital</a> was built in a rural area of Maryland for the care of African-American tuberculosis patients. The abandoned complex is now <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.35333,-76.91528+(Henryton+State+Hospital)&hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=39.35358,-76.915058&spn=0.005011,0.010042&t=h&iwloc=addr" target="_blank">surrounded by a remote area of the Patapsco Valley State Park</a>.

With the development of drugs for TB in the middle of the 20th century, <a href="http://www.lung.ca/tb/tbhistory/sanatoriums/end.html">sanatoriums like this were closed</a>, and most were converted to other uses. Henryton was transferred to the Department of Mental Hygiene in 1963 and began to operate as a training and habilitation program for severely and profoundly retarded ambulatory adults. The original hospital was a single building with five support buildings, but over the years additional structures were added. Eventually there were 18 buildings in the complex.

With institutional facilities being replaced by community-based care, Henryton was closed in 1985, and has been vacant ever since. It sits on 52 acres of beautiful woods, and state has tried to sell the property several times. But the buildings are full of asbestos in the floor tiles, ceiling tiles, and insulation in walls and around pipes, so razing or renovating the buildings would be prohibitively expensive.

The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had been maintaining the property at a cost of $100,000 a year, but due to budget cuts the expensive security efforts were ended in 2001. By now the complex has been extensively vandalized, and the DHMH property report states that vandals "are gradually destroying what remains of the buildings."

As if to prove that statement, in December 2007 a fire began in the auditorium section of the hospital building and burned a large area. The origin of the fire was never officially determined, but it is generally believed to have been set by vandals. Although there have been many small fires at the complex, this one was by far the largest, requiring 80 firefighters from three counties to put it out. The remains of the auditorium and cafeteria were demolished and removed.

With the advent of the recession in 2008, scavengers began looting Henryton for scrap metal, especially copper, to sell. As copper prices skyrocketed starting around 2005 and continuing through the present (as of January 2012), scavenging became more entrenched. As of 2011 it was reported that they had actually established a base at Henryton and were systematically tearing it apart.

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Henryton Center

In 1923, Henryton State Hospital was built in a rural area of Maryland ...

Updated: Apr 22, 2007 9:59pm PST

Carroll County : Carroll County still has a great deal of quaint charm. Most of these pictures were taken from the road driving through the county.

Carroll County still has a great deal of quaint charm. Most of these p ...

Updated: Apr 22, 2007 9:00pm PST

Ellicott City : Photos of the historic area of Ellicott City, Maryland

Photos of the historic area of Ellicott City, Maryland

Updated: Nov 26, 2006 3:51pm PST

Montgomery County :

Montgomery County

Updated: May 28, 2006 2:04pm PST

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