The Last Silk Mill

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In early April I got the opportunity to shoot this old Silk Mill. It was the last operating Silk Mill in the United States and closed in 1957. No one is sure exactly why it closed but rumor was the employees threatened to strike and the owners just decided to shut down then and there. This place has been sealed up well for years and everything inside is in very good shape. A few years ago some kids broke in and put up some graffiti and once the owner saw that he decided to put up motion sensors and cameras. However a chance encounter with a would-be explorer and the owner led to a meeting of the minds. The owner desperately needs money to put a new tin roof on the place. Water is getting inside and ruining the floors and rusting the machines. The explorer proposed that the owner charge photographers for the chance to shoot the place for a few hours. The owner agreed and they worked up a series of Saturday photoshoots at the place. For $75 we got 5 hours to shoot inside, a souvenir bobbin, and a t-shirt. I actually only stayed for 4 hours because it gets a little redundant. But I felt I got my money's worth for sure.

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2. Don't get your eye poked out...


3. The owner discovered graffiti inside and knew explorers and other people were getting in...


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5. I can only imagine what these looked like all threaded up...


6. Even the trash was interesting...


7. They got all their silk from Japan. Not sure how that worked during WWII...


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10. Spare parts...


11. Macro of the little pieces the threads went through...


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15. Silk, looks like old lady hair...


16. Love these old calenders...


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30. Newer aluminum bobbins...


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34. Couple of silk tags. I saw another photo and someone found about 10 of them...


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37. Scale, some asshole stole the copper off of it...


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40. Carbon-tetrachloride "glass grenade" fire extinguisher. Outlawed in the 1950s because heat from the fire turned the CTC into poison Phosgene gas...


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44. There are motion sensors and cameras inside now so heed this warning..


45. You would never know there was anything good inside just from looking at it...

Fantastic set! Amazing.

Very good set all around.   A very very interesting story; first of all because the owner of a place like this actually gives a shit, and second because he's actually open minded enough to work with "exploreres" for the benefit of all.   

Awesome set dude. I turned down my invitation.

Seeing a calender with the fish symbols is rare.

   Again, awesome work!!

Really nice photos. I'm glad to see you stopped making all of the windows in your shots dark gray/purple... always ruined your sets for me.

Really nice photos. I'm glad to see you stopped making all of the windows in your shots dark gray/purple... always ruined your sets for me.

Just because none of these are HDR. It takes an entire week to do one set of HDRs. I just don't have that kind of time anymore.

Great set. I was there as well, in the first group. The decay in the bathroom was awesome, no lights were on when I hit the basement.

Great set. I was there as well, in the first group. The decay in the bathroom was awesome, no lights were on when I hit the basement.

Yeah there were a few lights strung up in the basement when we went. I never tried to photograph the bathroom since it was pitch black.

Magnificent shots!

I too was fortunate enough to visit this great location.

I tried to fix the links to these @hoodwatch buts its a no go, hoping you have fresh links, looking at the comments it was a good set