Hearthstone Castle

A 19th century castle fit for a king, must be in Europe right? Wrong... Hearthstone Castle which was completed in 1899 sits nestled deep in the woods of Danbury, CT. This three story castle designed by Ernest G.W. Dietrich once boasted over 17 rooms complimented with imported Italian woodwork and 8 stone fireplaces. All the stone used to build this marvel was quarried entirely on site and transported by a small railway system. E Starr Sanford who was said to be a noted photographer at the time was the castles first owner, using it as a "summer cottage". Sanford and his wife spent only five years at Hearthstone before selling to new owners. Ownership of the castle changed hands over the years with its final residents being"The Jennings" moving out in 1987, the same year the castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Soon after changing hands to city ownership the castle took a turn for the worse, it sat and deteriorating through the 1990's and into the 2000's. In 2004 the roof of the castle had collapsed and the castle from that moment on was literally a shell of its former self... The inside is completely destroyed and just a pile of rubble with small traces of what it once was lying under old floor boards. As of 2017 all attempts to renovate this once proud castle have been abandoned and plans to demolish the site are underway.

Explorers beware this site is extremely deteriorated and dangerous. Going inside the castle is not recommended.

UPDATE 03/27/18: Reports that the castle is in the beginning phases of demolition, trees are marked to be removed. 

UPDATE: 07/15/20: A local radio station reports the grounds will be cleaned up. The castle still stands in its deteriorated state.

 Photo by Lewis Zurlo - 1995

 Photo by Lewis Zurlo - 1995

 1985

Photo courtesy of "Friends of Tarrywile Park"

Workers transporting stone on railway - 1896

Photo courtesy of "National Park Service"

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Dead Malls | Enfield Square Mall

In the age of the internet brick and mortar stores are anything but safe, this year the United States has seen an unprecedented number of closing of stores by retailers such as Sears, JCPenny and Macy's. The Enfield Mall is a prime example of this although this 788,000 square foot mall has not had the best luck over the years. Opening in 1971 it boasted stores such as G. Fox, Filene's and Steigers. Steigers closed its doors in 1994 and the space went unoccupied until 1997 with the addition of Sears. JCPenny shut its doors in 2000 and was replaced by a Macy's Mens and Home store.The begining of 2016 is when the mall went into an absolute free fall, Macy's made the announcement they would be closing its two anchor stores in the mall. Not a month later in February J.P Morgan Chase foreclosed on the mall as the owner defaulted on a $240 Million dollar loan. Over the next year smaller stores began to shutter in the mall along with Ruby Tuesday and Express. And then in 2017 after 20 years Sears shut its doors leaving Target as the malls lone anchor store.



Update 11/17/2018: On December 10th 2018 the Mall is scheduled to go up for auction on 10-X.com with a starting bid of $3.8 Million.

  

 Closed Radio Shack

 Macy's Men

 Macy's

Macy's

 Sears

 Sears

 Ruby Tuesday

 Former Macy's Mall Entrance

Enfield Square Mall 1970's

Have you been to this mall? What was your favorite store?

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