Beautiful decay: Collinsville, Connecticut
The town of Collinsville, Connecticut is built around a defunct ax factory. It's huge, it's red, and it dominates every angle.
I had some hours to kill this weekend, so I walked around Collinsville pointing my camera at run down buildings, bridges, and vehicles. Even though the old factory and the buildings surrounding it seemed about to crumble, the town had revitalized parts of the decay to create an active dining and shopping scene.
Here in Maine, these sorts of sites (lots of old mills) are really revitalized before businesses move in. The buildings almost look new again and then the breweries open. It was weird to me to see all the shops and restaurants in Collinsville that didn't bother with all that, they just moved right in to buildings that looked like the next gust of wind would topple them into the river.
I'm sure there are efforts happening behind the scenes to ensure the long term survival of these buildings and their modern tenants, but for now it's just a great place to get photos of old, dilapidated buildings while waiting for your dinner reservation.
