Page 29 - Old Abandoned Buildings of Northern New York

Taken on 03/12/09
Old house on Middle Road, near Pillar Point

On 4/19/12 Amy writes "This looks like the Wagar's old house on Pillar Point. Circa late 1970's the Wagar family had a small dairy operation. Big family, all super hard working kids. One day's work: "picking rocks," which meant go to a field and start picking up the rocks that had worked their way out of the ground over the winter. Throw the rocks into a manure spreader and then dump them at the fenceline. And then do it again. And again. At the end of the day, go milk the cows.
I remember driving past in the late 1980's and seeing that the farm was dwindling -- product of the changing farm economics. There might have been a trailer out front for a while. Classic farmhouse design from the area."

Taken on 03/12/09
Another angle of the previous

Taken on 03/12/09
Barn, far back behind the previous house.

Taken on 03/12/09
Another angle of the barn

Taken on 03/12/09
Barn, near the previous house and barn, other side of Middle Road

Taken on 03/12/09
Another side

Taken on 03/12/09
Yet another side

Taken on 03/12/09
Down the road (still Middle Road) is an old house and a few buildings. This is one - a collapsed storage building or barn.

Taken on 03/12/09
Another angle of previous building.

Taken on 03/19/09
An old Air Brake building, off from Pearl Street, Watertown. Top the side is a large concrete parking lot.

For more info about the New York Air Brake see this JeffCoWiki entry

Taken on 03/19/09
Another side; surprisingly a section of the far corner that you can see in this photo is used by a church. Nearby this building is a gentle hill which is where the old landfill has been covered over years ago.

Scannerman writes "The landfill referenced is northeast of the old Air Brake, and served the Air Brake itself, not the city. There is another one that served just the foundry, northeast of the foundry off Purdy Ave."

Taken on 03/19/09
A close-up of the previous side. Notice how many windows there were, many of which are broken now.

Taken on 03/19/09
Another building nearby (Foundry Building?), close to the Pearl Street entrance. Some of these buildings that made up the Air Brake are being used and are in good condition while others are not in such good condition but seem to be in use. With some of the buildings it is hard to tell which are being used, which are used for storage, and which are completely unused.

Mark H. says "Great website. Born and raised in upstate NY. Moved away 20 yrs ago. Remember when my dad worked at the Air Brake. Sad to say this is what our country has come to. All our American made factories in ruins."

Frederick C: "As a boy, I sold Post Standard Newspapers at the main gate. I would get the papers at a building near the Mohican market, peddle my bicycle to the main gate and get home in time to go to Hamilton St. School.

Taken on 03/19/09
This the lower wall and ruins of something I found off from the Black River-to-Watertown Trail. Probably a barn building of some kind, built of limestones it seems.

Taken on 04/16/09
Another view.

Most of the trail is built on a railroad track foundation but this particular section (the part closest to the village of Black River) was built on the remains of an old road; the Woodard Hill Road, and connects up to the railroad track foundation where the trial continues. There are numerous pieces of old farm machinery scattered around, and parts of the building and miscellaneous items.
Click here to see a page pertaining to the Black River-To-Watertown walking trail.

Taken on 03/19/09
Right beside these foundations is a small, low six-sided concrete structure. A silo I guess. Very unique.

Taken on 04/16/09
Another on the other side of the ruins.

Taken on 03/19/09
Another view, you can see the six-sided concrete thing is right up against the foundation of the building. The stone wall is moss-covered and incongruously looks a hundred years older then the concrete structure, which is in fairly good condition. To the left in this photo you can see the blacktopped walking trail close by.

Taken on 03/19/09
A closer shot looking down into it. Vines, junk, and the remains of an old snow fence are in it.

Taken on 04/16/09
A closer look at the wall.