Stonewall Jackson Reform School - a photo on Flickriver

            The Abandoned Stonewall Jackson School for boys ..... better known as a "Reform School" .... in Concord, North Carolina, is about 110 miles from my home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This was my fourth trip. I'd been through several of these buildings at least once - this main building 3 times. I'll have to admit - I became more than a bit obsessed with these pianos; the two in this room and the two just outside the door to the left in this picture. However, not once had I put my hands to keys on any of them. They were in various stages of decay, after all. Why bother?

This photo is made up of 288 images put together, via Microsoft ICE, to create this panorama. This image, the original, is comprised of 36 columns, 8 rows of images, is about 5 feet wide and 3.5 feet high. Each of those 288 images is created from 3 images for tonal depth and color saturation. Took me about 3 hours to shoot them all, standing in the same spot in the corner of the room.

In my previous 3 trips, I had not seen but one or two other people poking into other buildings - really had not interacted with them. However, on this afternoon - a bright and sunny Sunday in January with a temp somewhere in the 60s - seemed like Grand Central Station in comparison. In the 3 hours standing in that room - I lost count of the people coming through - young and old, several couples, mostly college kids and mature adults - wandered in through the front door (the lobby of which was through the door to the left in this image) and up the stairs.

Many, hearing the clicking of my camera, would poke their head through the window and say "Hello". One of these people was an older guy, bald, with a goatee celebrating the 27th anniversary of his 21st birthday that day. His wife was curious about a "jail cell" that was suppose to be in one of these buildings - I had not come across one. We had a rather lenghy conversation about the abandoned school and it's history. He talked about coming in to explore this and the other buildings. Told him to be careful about where he walked ... "Varmits?" ... "No", I said, "Rot ... these floors are all wood and have been exposed to the elements for years." I had seen several spots that had rotted through.

He smiled, nodded and walked on. I was done shooting and began to pack up my equipment. I heard the couple walk through the front door and start talking about the pianos ... I was focused on leaving and didn't pay attention to what they were saying. I had just thrown my knapsack over my back and ready to walk out when I heard the sound of something dragging accross the floor in the lobby. Walking into the lobby, I saw this gentleman sit down on an old chair in front of one of the pianos.

And he played the piano.

A couple of the keys gave out a silent thug ... and I'm sure it was way out of tune .... but he played well, and enjoyed doing it - and the music was pleasing - a jazz tune, though I couldn't tell you what the tune was. This gentleman sat in a decaying building, playing an old and decaying piano abandoned and left to the elements for decades. I stood there listening to him for about 5 minutes ... at which time he got up and smiled, I thanked him for his music, we shook hands and he wished me luck with my pictures .... and he went on to explore the rest of the building.

Yes, I'm sure I could come up with some sort of ephiphany here .... but I'll let you come up with your own. I hope you enjoy this picture as much as I enjoyed that man's music.

Taken in: United States / North Carolina / Rockwell (show map)

Taken on: January 12, 2014

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Stonewall Jackson School

Abandoned

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