Location Taken: Savage, Maryland
Time Taken: August 2010

There are ruins by the river.

They’re remnants of the old Savage Mill, the parts that weren’t converted into the modern upscale shopping center and artist studios it is today.

There’s a series of crumbling stone walls along the river all the way up to the top of the local waterfalls, the remains of the old aqueduct that fed the waterwheels that powered the textile mill.

And down by the river, there’s a half-collapsed brick building that used to hold said waterwheel.

Since it was designed for such a specific purpose, there was no way to convert it for other uses that wouldn’t involve practically rebuilding it. So it was abandoned, now just an interesting feature to spot when walking along the river.

Oh, and a favorite subject of some of the local artists who work in the Mill. Nothing quite like only having to walk a hundred yards from your studio to reach some interesting ruins to paint.

It’s very difficult to get to these days, as it’s at the bottom of a steep hill in the only spot flat enough to put a building right next to the river. You either have to risk life and limb climbing up and down the hill, or you have to wade across the river, which is fairly fast at this particular spot. And that doesn’t even count all the underbrush that’s grown up around it.

It’s holding up well for being abandoned for at least fifty years. Without regular maintenance, buildings crumble fast. Who knows when more of the wall will join the pile of bricks at the bottom. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps not for another decade or more. But at some point, it will all be gone.

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