Tomes Revisited

On Sunday morning, I went with Steve, Emily & Jon back to Tomes Boys School in Fort Deposit, MD. None of the others had been there so it was a wonderful excuse to see that fabulous staircase again.

 We passed some very pretty countryside on the way up including Conowingo Dam which we'll go back and visit as it looked architecturally interesting and seems to be popular with Golden Eagles. We passed quite a few abandoned houses, a very cool barn and this 1966 MF 180 tricycle tractor. It was so hard not to keep stopping but we were on a mission and we intended to complete it. Before too long we were parked up and having climbed up a steep bank were walking towards the now familiar buildings.

The beautiful entrance hall which unfortunately had a door smashed in by previous less considerate explorers (or vandals). And Jon peering over the edge of the first floor.

We spent quite some time in the main building and eventually Emily and Jon wandered off to another house leaving Steve and I photographing the auditorium. We too left after a while and started walking to the other buildings.

Occasionally around the grounds I tried to be artistic and get low to the ground to take some photos with a different perspective but my large and somewhat heavy camera bag on my back would often unbalance me so I'd fall back and end up feeling like an upended beetle with my arms and legs waving in the air. I would need help righting myself so had to give up on being too creative.

We climbed through a window on one building but didn't stay long. Inside the rooms and corridors were bereft of any old characteristics and the crumbling asbestos concerned us a bit. We left that house and strode towards another which we were able to enter through a doorway and explore, finding an interesting layout of different levels and some pretty features, although the main staircase was precarious.

We wandered around inside inside Emily called from another building exclaiming that Jon was famished. Not wanting Jon to suffer any longer than was necessary Steve and I walked over to meet them. 

There were still a few buildings we hadn't ventured in but they would still be there another day. It saddened me to see how these regal structures were being left to crumbled and decay. They were built mainly of granite which would last forever but the interior decorations and moldings were gradually rotting away with no intention of them being preserved for historical reasons.

We went down into the town which is also built of granite and found a place which served up horrendous food but the beer was good so overall we were happy.And so with full tummies we drove back southwards to our homes and warm beds, glad to relax after a full and exciting weekend.

As I walked round the grounds of Tomes, I took a few short videos and threw them together here.