This photo was taken from the track, looking up at the hills of the ridges.
This is the road leading up to the trail that takes us to radar hill.
A little history for those unfamiliar with "the Ridges" at Ohio University. It began as the Athens Lunatic Asylum in 1872 and carried other such names as Athens Hospital for the Insane, Athens Asylum for the Insane, Athens State Hospital, and Athens Mental Health Center. The property was acquired by OU in the 1980's and the facilities were moved to a new building near O'bleness Hospital in the early 90's. I remember when I was a sophomore at OU going up to the ridges with a few friends and walking around. There were still inmates residing up there, but apparently it was okay to walk around. Apparently it was not okay to take pictures (because of the privacy issue) But we didn't know that. A friend had a camera and we were snapping away. A guard approached us and asked if we were taking pictures. Afraid he would confiscate the camera, we promptly lied. He believed us, or didn't care, because he didn't take the camera. But we didn't take anymore pictures.
The cool thing about this facility is that in its heyday it was mostly self sufficient. It had orchards and gardens, 2 dairy barns, hay fields for cows and horses, and a coal fired heating plant. The patients, who could, worked in the fields and gardens and provided for themselves. The other fascinating feature of this area is a park that I've never seen in person because it was torn up to channel the Hocking River through. This park contained ponds and gardens designed by the same guy who designed Central Park in New York. (at least that is the rumor) So there you have it. The Ridges all summed up.
No comments:
Post a Comment