Part I - The Exterior of the Hotel
Part II - The Pool & Bath Houses
Part III - The First Floor Interior, A
Part IV - The First Floor Interior, B
Part V - The 2nd Floor Foyer, Hall, and Exterior
Part VI - The 2nd Floor Interior
Part VII - In search of the Tatham Spring
Part VIII - Epilogue, Tatham Springs: The Final Chapter
As a child, I had seen it from a distance many times; from the windows of a school bus or from the tobacco field which sat in front of it. Even then it looked forlorn and abandoned. I had decided earlier in the year that when the weather was right, I wanted to take a personal field-trip to the old structure, if it was still standing, and document what remained before it was too late. From the looks of things, and as I later would find out, I got there just in time.
One is hard pressed to find 130 year-old wood structures surviving anywhere outside of the national/state parks systems, much less one of this magnitude. It is a two story building, built in the shape of a huge letter "E". The base of the "E" runs parallel to the river bank less than 100 yards away. The spine of the "E" runs perpendicular to the river, with the middle and top branches forking off, parallel to the base at equal lengths. Due to the sheer size of the property, I thought it might help if I made a rough diagram of the area I will be showing you, so you can visualize it. Please forgive my crude diagraming skills and I promise you, this is not to-scale by any stretch of the imagination.
"X" roughly marks the spot where both of the above photographs were taken. As you can see, a good deal of the double-decker porch is missing from this side of the building. In fact, this side of the building isn't fairing well at all. The wall is starting to give at the foundation yet still hanging from the structure, attempting to pull the rest of the building over with it.
The porch has completely fallen away (and been removed) from just around the corner. In the following photos you can see where what is left of the porch continues....
...along what once served as the front of the hotel. The porch juts out a few extra feet due to the slightly expanded middle section along the spine where the front lobby and entrance were.
This entrance corresponds to the middle branch of the "E" which is slightly wider than the other two branches, particularly on the lower level. In addition to the front lobby and staircase just inside the front door, it also contains the old dining/kitchen area on the lower level and what appears to be an old dance-hall on the upper level - each running the length of the branch toward the rear of the building.. We shall get to that later in another entry, after thoroughly exploring the ground-level exterior. What follows is another shot of the front of the building from the other end, closest to the river.
As you can see, the porch is largely intact, even as it makes its ways around this lower corner toward the back.
It must've been rather impressive in its day with this huge double-decker porch skirting the hotel on its three primary sides. I imagine that the side which was missing its porch was probably a twin of this side, with a staircase leading to the second level as seen here. At least during its latter incarnation as a 4-H camp, it also was adorned with exterior lighting.
There was also a lamp which was better preserved, but it gives away something else about the porch. It has recently collapsed on this side.
As the upper level rooms were only accessible from the porch, this presented a problem. That upper doorway would not be accessible to me. Nor would an entire third of the upstairs interior on the other side of the building where the porch had been completely removed. I didn't worry about this at the moment and continued my exploration of the exterior: the pump house, pool, and bath houses.
and i'm confused...where's my ass?
I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.
What a person will endure for art.
;-p
Looks fantastic those pics. Would have been many memorable evenings in a place like that. Do you have more info on it ??
Jc
I'm glad to hear you actually dared to go inside!... cause that means there's more coming in this post!
And thanks for the Shadowlands link... looks like an interesting read.
Funny what really boggles me is just how this would never have happened in New England. A few things would be different, the and/ors below (you know all these of course, but still).
1. It would be saved as a historical site, which could take three branches.
1a. It is privately owned and poorly maintained by descendents, with a small gov't stipend, who keep it largely private.
1b. It'd be turned into a for profit catering hall/historical inn.
1c. Museum/Historical site, as part of a park, open to public during XYZ hours.
2. It would be boarded up and plastered with no tresspassing signs, probably fenced up too.. And you'd more likely than not get caught by police for trying to eve wander around the property.
3. Demolished long ago to be replaced by condos.
Anyway cheers and good job.. the rate at which such places are dissapearing is sad, especially given how tight access is on many of them. Think with irony just as you capture their last moments, archive.org will capture this when you blink it out :).
hotel
Re: hotel
I've finished all parts now-- very cool. It seems to me that you brought in a bit of suspense by posting it in sections. Adds to it somehow I think. I came back to this one to see the roads & how it looked again.
thanks for all
Need Photo Information
I am trying to find a good copy of an old photo of the hotel like the one you found at the start of your collection. Do you mind sharing where you located the photo on the internet?? I need a decent photo for Christmas present ideas that I have for my wife's family.
Thanks,
Rob
robturn@hotmail.com
Re: Need Photo Information
This is disheartening
For a number of years this was used as a church camp during the seventies. I spent at least three weeks living there. The interior of the Front room and winding staircase was beautiful.
How very Sad.
Gerald
Naxuam@yahoo.com
Thank You
It was going to be difficult to tell him the old hotel was gone completely, but it will be so great to share all your wonderful pictures with him and other members of the family.
Thank you so much for recognizing a gem in the rough and for helping to preserve our memories.
Re: Thank You
frrstthmpsn@yahoo.com
TATHAM SPRINGS HOTEL
the old hotel
Re: the old hotel