Perilous Peaks

Most people don't know this, but there are at least six small aircraft wrecks in the Black Mountain Range, home of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in Eastern North America.

All the ones I'm familiar with are small Cessna type planes like this one. Some crashed into the mountain due to weather, and at least one set down under control after a mechanical problem. The pilot and passenger in that one both survived. Most others were not so fortunate.

It isn't too hard to fathom why there are so many. Most of these planes fly below 5,000 ft in unregulated airspace. Most of the Black Mountain range is over 6,000 ft in elevation and often obscured in clouds.

The saddest part of the story, perhaps, is that both of the crash sites I've been to so far are only fifty feet below the ridge line. A little bit more altitude and they probably would have made it.

I'm currently trying to find out more about the history of some of these incidents and hope to locate all the wrecks. If you know anything please let me know.

A second chance for the Loray?

A view of the Loray Mill in Gastonia on Monday June 25, 2012. Gastonia leaders announced Monday the acquisition of a Federal Housing Administration loan of almost $21 million to reconfigure the historic mill into loft apartments and retail space.

A few weeks ago a developer announced plans to redevelop two historic high rise buildings in downtown Gastonia into apartments. This week it was announced that another developer has secured a major piece of the funding necessary to start a project to redevelop the historic Loray Mill into apartments. 

For a lot of people in the area, myself included, this is great news. For all too long these structurally sound but very old, and in the case of the Loray Mill, historically significant structures have been abandoned for decades. 

There are still quite a few challenges ahead for the projects, but I'm just glad to see these buildings put back to good use. 

New life

I just found out today that two old high rise office buildings, the Lawyers Building, here, and the Commercial Building in downtown Gastonia are going to be remodeled into apartments and will be open in the next year. I might be moving in...

You can read more about the project in the Gazette story. We should be finding out a lot more at a presentation on Tuesday. 

Studebaker

I found this old Studebaker Hawk rusting away and overgrown while on assignment at a peach orchard in Western Lincoln County. The inspection sticker in the windshield expired in 1968, so presumably this car has been rusting away since then. 

Rust bucket

I found this old Ford truck rusting away in a barn at Sandcastle Farms near Dallas while on assignment covering a celebration of the family farm's centennial anniversary. 

Waiting...

I recently took a tour of the Commercial Building in downtown Gastonia. It was built in the 1920s, and all but the ground and first floors have been largely abandoned since the '80s.

Walking up the stairs you sort of felt like you were in a time machine, with some of the floors abandoned and left as they were in the '80s, some very obviously in the '70s and still others seemed as though they were unchanged since the '30s.

Truly a forgotten treasure, this building appears to be in perfectly good shape for remodeling into something new. Perhaps a boutique model to compliment the new Gastonia Conference Center which sits on the same city block? That's what I would do if I owned it.

There was also quite a view from the top. I might have to post a picture of that view soon, but for now I'll just tease you.  

The Nurse's Dorm

Pathways Housing and Services Development Coordinator Kim Maguire poses for a photo in the former nurses dormitory on the historic North Carolina Orthopedic Hospital campus in Gastonia on Thursday March 1, 2012.

The building was most recently occupied by the Gaston County Department of Social Services until it was abandoned in the mid '90s. Maguire hopes to secure funding to renovate the building and convert it into veterans' housing.

Paint peels and crumbles away from water-damaged walls inside the building.

Furniture sits discarded inside the building. The last occupant was Gaston County Department of Social Services, who left for a new much large facility in the mid '90s.

Paint peels off of columns on the front facade of the building. 

Downtown

A few recent Hipstamatic photos of downtown Gastonia.

The ruins of Alba Mill

I recently explored the ruins of Alba Mill in rural Gaston County north of Stanley, thanks to the tip of my colleague Leo Hohmann who makes it a hobby to find old abandoned historical treasure like this.

As best as I've been able to find out, this is an old paper mill, but the internet didn't offer much information.

In any event, it's been long abandoned and barely any of it is still standing. I thought it was a pretty cool place to explore and I'll probably return to take more pictures in the future.

Imperial Mill

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I recently took some time to stroll through the abandoned and gutted Imperial Mill building in Belmont. At over 100 years old, it's one of the oldest in the area, but demolition will continue if no one steps up to redevelop the site soon.

I was assigned to go take picture of this mill and one other in Belmont when demolition work began several months ago, but only had time to get a few shots of each. This is a large mill, and I wanted to go back and wander around exploring a little more.

As luck would have it, I procrastinated until I went into work one day and had an assignment to get more pictures of the mill, and lots of time to do it. I would have gone back on my own time, but I can't complain about getting to do it on the clock.