The Grove Project » Abandoned Spaces: Surrey Street

Abandoned Spaces: Surrey Street

Abandoned Spaces
Episode 1: Surrey Street
Brian Blackmon

Dressed in a fairly conspicuous lumberjack outfit, sporting corduroy pants, a thick flannel shirt, and heavy leather boots, I’m sure I look out of place pacing up and down a deserted urban street plotting the best place to jump a fence and explore a derelict area of the Cape Fear River just for the hell of it. But here I am awkwardly climbing a fence, clenching to my camera and praying nobody sees me as I investigate the now abandoned the lots and buildings of Surrey Street.

Speckled throughout the architecture of the Wilmington metropolitan area you can find a myriad of abandoned hospitals, factories, warehouses, and processing plants. This scene is becoming increasingly familiar and it is not uncommon for there to be new abandoned buildings each month. It may be illegal for me to explore these places, but I believe these findings are an important window into a bygone era as well as an informed critique of the current state of our urban areas.

So, I set out on my urban adventure. Even once I’m over the fence, finding my way around the chest-high brush is not easy. It is cold and overcast with the constant hum of traffic and the occasional shriek of metal grinding against metal emitted from the bridge. I’m not easily spooked, so I’m going blame my apprehension to continue on a mixture of these unfamiliar surroundings. When I look up to regain my bearings I realize that I’m completely fenced in; there’s no turning back. I push forward paying more attention to my feet than what’s ahead of me and I end up in front of a dilapidated dock on the Cape Fear River. The air here smells rich of tar and creosote. It is oozing out of the timber pilings lying around in a sort of foreboding manner. My biggest fear now is a run-in with an animal or a dead body at any minute – it’s that kind of feeling.

After a spell of aimless wandering and picture taking, I approach the lone condemned building. It sits awkwardly on this empty lot, completely out of place. Walking towards it from the river, it reminds me of an old military bunker. A large garage-like door was partially open and you could tell that bonfires had been held here. Yes, inside the building.

I decide to enter through the front door, which is partially opened. Inside it is dark – there are streams of light peaking through the boarded-up windows but it’s not doing much. The ceiling and walls in these rooms seem mostly ruined by smoke, and though most material items had been taken, it’s as if time had been stopped. The floors are brick and the walls are covered with graffiti. This building is built like a fortress with thick, concrete walls. I don’t know what kind of building warrants walls this thick but I am mesmerized by them, and even though the rooms are small, each step I take echoes throughout the building. The most noticeable feature is the spiral staircase, which abruptly and unfittingly juts through a hole cut in the roof.

Though I’m not sure the exact purpose of this building, each room is rousing and offers up ideas into what they could have once been used for. Alone in this building, it’s easy to forget that I’m breaking the law. It’s also easy to forget that exploring dilapidated sites can be dangerous and I find myself always on edge.

The threatening clouds begin to drop rain, which is my sign to leave. I trek back through the brush and to the fence for a clumsy lunge back into modern civilization.

Abandoned Spaces: Surrey Street

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