onto my flickr feed for #charlottesville flows an unlikely image of a barn that looks like it belongs on one of those websites where people photograph “spectacular abandoned places”: surely the photographer had mistagged it, for i could not see this in c’ville with her student-hipster core and gentrified not-quite-old-south surroundings ?

so i look it up and it is the abandonned diary barn of the blue ridge tuberculosis sanatorium, which began as a sanatorium for the mentally-ill but was later turned by the state into a tuberculosis sanatorium. an aerial photo of the sanatorium — an entire complex of facilities, as it turns out — survives on this postcard from the 30s or 40s, archived at the boston public library (i always love it when my two american cities intersect, much like that time the harvard book store did a special window display of books from the uva press!)

the asylum project page informs me that the site was considered attractive because of the proximity of the uva medical school and its “paved road access, mountain scenery plus money and water connections offered by the city [of charlottesville?]”. apparently they also were able to be quite self-sufficient, apart from dairy produce they seem to have had some limited agricultural produce as well.

since the photo is dated may 2014, i suppose one could still go visit the site? i will think about getting there the next time i’m in c’ville.