Rhody History Goes Ka-Blooey

The ProJo has an interesting article documenting the history of the Old Jamestown Bridge, which is expected to be blown up a week from tomorrow (4/18), not tomorrow (4/11) as I originally reported. Maybe I'll just have a stomach bug for the next few Tuesdays? Because this article even says where to watch the bridge be blown up, and I'm very tempted.

In other interesting Rhode Island news, I found this website on my internet travels last week. Art in Ruins chronicles some of Rhode Island's most famous abandoned buildings, redeveloped buildings, and posts sad pictures of actual demolitions of historic landmarks. It's sad, but beautiful as well. I'll post some of my favorite images below. All are from Art in Ruins.


The Old Jamestown Bridge, with the New Jamestown Bridge in the background. I remember thinking how cool it would be to be able to run and climb on the steel beams as a kid.


This is the steel grating that the article mentions. It was both cool and frightening. We didn't go to Jamestown much after my Dad died, but I'd remember going to an outlet and peering over the car door to look down. Since you'd be going about 45mph, you'd look down and feel like you were being supported by nothing. The car felt like it was on ice even in warm weather, and it made humming noise like a jet engine. The new bridge is solid concrete, so there is no scary noise unless something's gone all wrong.


The Old Narragansett Brewery. I just love this image, how big and light it is. I also very much enjoy this part of the story that Art in Ruins posts:

In 1959, the company celebrated brewing one million barrels, and the company employed 850 workers by 1965. The brewery provided steady pay, good benefits, genuine friendships, and free beer. Employees were not only allowed to drink during the workday; it was encouraged. Anyone caught drinking a soda would be quickly handed a beer. Asking for a draft in a bar in the area would automatically bring a Narragansett. If a worker spotted someone drinking another beer in a bar, he would ask, "Why would you want to keep someone working in Holland instead of the people in your own neighborhood?"

I knew I liked that beer for a reason. Sadly, this building has been torn down. Fuckers.


This is from the Ladd School in a town near mine. For some reason, no one ever dared me to go here on Halloween or anything, and I don't know where it is, exactly. But there is NOTHING freakier than an abandoned school for the retarded and morally deficient where allegations of sexual and physical abuse ran rampant. Just look at the pictures. Mortifying. It's still there, and I'd completely go in and look around. In broad daylight, of course. Stories of hauntings abound, and I would not want to fuck with an abused spirit. Yikes.


And, in the fun but creepy category, pictures of Rocky Point before it got sold off and torn apart to make room for (you guessed it) condos. I never went here because my mother was convinced I'd meet my death on the rickety rides, but I am sad it's gone. Again, cool pictures. If this site sold prints, I'd be out a lot of money.