Dan Antion

Northampton Doors – #ThursdayDoors

I love this door!

I didn’t really expect to find many doors while hiking through Massachusetts. Then again, I forgot we were hiking along a rail trail. Faith is used to me stopping to snap a picture. She never seems to mind, but stopping on Sunday meant we could take a drink of water. We stopped a lot, doors or not.

Our hike was along Norwottuck Branch Mass Central Rail Trail. I didn’t expect to find much information about the trail, but this is the first thing that I found:

“The Massachusetts Central Railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, but the 104-mile corridor is being reborn as a cross-state rail-trail. Currently, nearly 40 miles from Boston to Northampton have been converted to trails, often by dedicated local groups that are piecing together this important part of the Bay State’s history.”

The hurricane in 1938 was once of the worst to every hit New England. Fueled by the warm waters of the Connecticut River, the storm remained at hurricane strength all the way up into Canada.

Speaking of Canada, this hurricane may have gotten close to Norm Frampton’s neighborhood. Norm works up in Montreal, and each week, he invites us to share a door, a few doors or (as you will see below) a collection of doors from an area or around a specific theme. If you want to see the doors Norm has collected this week, follow the hurricane’s path up to Norm’s place. He will have instructions for you to add your doors and he’ll point you to the doors he’s collected.

My gallery has doors from the trail, the brewery and the mini-golf course.

As soon as I saw the gable end of that building, I knew it was an old warehouse.
This warehouse appears to have some replacement doors, but the one on the left looks original.
I love that door!
This makes me sad. I wish there was a way to repair this.
The (rail) train side of the warehouse.
A bit of a collage of buildings.
Looking off to the side of the rail trail as we walked past a tobacco barn.
This was the first door we spied as we started walking.
This barn was at the mini-golf course.
Every backhoe has a door.
There’s a door in there somewhere – trust me.
Red barn doors speak for themselves.
A lot of nice doors on display here.
You know I would be attracted to a doorway with plywood for a door. That means a project is underway.
I think this renovation will turn out well.
This warehouse is looking pretty sad.
This door has seen better days.
This warehouse is a mess today, but I can imagine several ways it could be reused.
I love the details in the brickwork.

71 comments

  1. It looks like it was an interesting hike for you.

    I like the gray and white of the house with the plywood door. It looks well kept so that plywood isn’t likely to be there long. However it makes me sad to see old warehouses and factories abandoned and boarded up. New ones being built today are plain ugly boxes and lack the interesting details that we often see in the brickwork of many of these old structures.

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    • Thanks Joanne. I am 100% with you on the fate of old warehouses and the style of new ones. I know that a lot of the details in older buildings were necessary, but those folks also took pride in their work and tried to build something good looking. Today, it’s all about building it in less time and for less money.

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  6. Rails-to-trails and breweries. What’s not to like…other than the excessive heat? Going to be a scorcher here with possible thunderstorms all day, meaning we have to really monitor our open windows!,

    janet

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  8. Never get tired of seeing barn doors, or barns, in any condition. The gray/white house being renovated has great potential. The old warehouses look so sad. Bad enough they’ve been so neglected, but the graffiti just adds insult to injury. Can you even imagine the hours of labor that went into the brickwork of these once beautiful buildings?

    But seriously Dan, the door on the backhoe? Lol.
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Ha ha – I had to include that door, Ginger. How else am I going to feed my addiction? The barn doors are my favorites. I do wish the owners of those brick buildings would take some steps to improve their appearance. So much effort went into making them beautiful, I hate to see them waste away. Thanks for the comment!

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  11. Great doors! All hail the water stops! The older left door on the warehouse is a great find. Very striking, indeed.
    After years of driving past a local Cape Cod home all boarded up with a plywood door, I’m glad to see it has a new door and cars in its driveway. Maybe I’ll get that one sometime.

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    • Thanks! The water stop is such a nice gesture, I was surprised. That building was in tough shape, so I was very happy to see that door in such great shape. I think the plywood door will be gone before too long. I’m guessing a new door is on order. The house looks to be occupied.

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  13. Looks like an interesting hike. This is a great grouping of doors, Dan. I am particularly fond of red barns, although when I think of the tobacco barns in Virginia, they did not look at all like this. I was also not a fan of the smell of drying tobacco.

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    • Thanks Maggie. The long pole barns are typical for the Connecticut River valley where they grew tobacco under shade cloth. It cured for a long time and was eventually used for the wrapper leaves of cigars. No one seems to grow shade tobacco anymore. All of the farms in our area have taken down the shade cloth and supporting grids of poles and wires.

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  14. Hi Dan – love the stable looking red door/s with the cross iron hatching, but also that brickwork is gorgeous isn’t it … What a fun hike up the old railway line … then the fact about the hurricane – so interesting … that it went with the river up towards Canada … fun post – thank you – cheers Hilary

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    • Thanks Hilary. That hurricane caused unbelievable damage in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The city of Hartford spent years recovering and taking steps to control flooding after 1938. I do love barn doors.

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  19. Your posts always make me nostalgic for New England. That same hurricane changed the course of the stream at my grandparents house and so it was a main topic of conversation when I was growing up.

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  20. Wherever it may be, just the mere thought of rails-to-trails warms my heart, and hey, it’s always great to be outdoors and exploring in the summer. A lot of lovely finds in this collection Dan but for me it’s red barn door for the win ;-)
    Awesome post!

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  22. I know EXACTLY what you mean about the graffiti – we encounter that and worse vandalism, constantly on the heritage trail. I really struggle to tamp down my emotional response – in some ways, tagging is not unlike wind damage or other “acts of God.” That’s what I tell myself, anyway, to get over it.

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    • Thanks Maggie. I just hate it when the deface historic buildings. Then again, the owner let the loading dock rot and collapse into a pile of rubble, do which is worse?

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  23. Nice hike. The grey/white home is interesting but looks inches from the road. I’d be nervous living there…especially if it’s anywhere near the bar with the hidden doors.

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  27. Out of curiosity, why didn’t you expect a lot of doors in Massachusetts? Yes, I know. It’s a dinky little state. But it’s one of the oldest states in the Union too. I would guess the population was getting rather dense but the middle of the 19th century. If this is so, just think of all the doors on homes and businesses since then.

    Anyway, you might have a good reason for doubting the number of doors and I just don’t know what that reason is.

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    • Oh, I didn’t mean the state, I have found tons of doors and some of the best ones I have, in Massachusetts. I just didn’t expect to fine many while walking along a Rail Trail. I could probably spend hours in the Northamptin area scouting for doors.

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  28. Love the barns, red tobacco and mini golf. The first door – big wow! I had no idea that the ‘38 hurricane wiped out the railway. The rail trails are wonderful. Stay cool, Dan.

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  31. Hi Dan,
    Loved those barn doors, especially the red one. Don’t get barns around here and I’m not sure whether you get them even in the country. We sheds. I’ll have to ask my husband who is from rural Tasmania. He’ll have a better idea. I’m a Sydney girl.
    Once again the time has run away from me so I’ll head off.It’s after midnight.
    Best wishes,
    Rowena

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