Bear-y Haunted: Uncovering the Spooky Secrets of Stonehill Farm

Right. Gird your loins my friends, we are about to embark on an epic adventure. I heard about this place from a back alley source. Let's go!

Well, this is pretty. There are a couple of duck ponds here.

I guess I should give a bit of an intro... this is Stonehill Farm. It is abandoned. Well... not entirely. It was bought by a "developer" years ago. The developer had big plans to turn this place into a subdivision but... it hasn't happened. In the meantime, everything has gone to rack and ruin (always wanted to use that in a blog post!).

These duck ponds would have been along the driveway leading into the property (it is an acreage so there is a LOT of land).

Let's follow the driveway...

And just so you know... this little bear has had to get brutal with the photos making their way into this post. Soooo many photos.... so little space!

Now we're getting somewhere... because the place has been abandoned, the invasive Himalyan blackberry has taken over everything! It's a good thing we are here in the spring otherwise we would see... nothing!

This is the first outbuilding we came to (#1)... more on this in a bit...

This is the second outbuilding (#2). Yes, I know it looks like a mound of blackberries but..

Come around to the side and... look!! It's a gazebo?

Let's go in!

Huh... kind of a gazebo but it has chicken wire surrounding it....

Me thinks not a chicken coop... maybe a parrot house? Exotic bird house? It has that feel to it... beary strange.

Let's go back to building #1...

It's got huge windows and...

Clearish corrugated ceiling panels...

I'm going to say greenhouse!

Yep... that looks like a greenhouse potting bench area... or something...

It would have been amazing... back in the day... There's even a little chimney so it would have had heating as well... Of course... the vandals have gotten into everything... like everything and it's all a big mess now.

Down the driveway a bit... and we found these stairs... and at the top...

The main house (building #3)!!!

From up here... you get a nice view over the rest of the property... wow... we might be here a while!

And yes... this is the old mansion that is apparently haunted... we are going to poke around a bit...

This looks like an old BBQ...

There is this concrete building down here which is #4...

We poke our heads in and... there is a tile floor...

OMG... it is a pool!!! With a cedar panelled roof... fancy! At the beary back is a shower room... it was dark in there though... and this little bear does not do dark...

And more stairs up to the mansion...

And... more stairs...

To the wrap around deck... OMG... the views...

And no railing... be beary careful where you walk!

Lots of graffiti here... the caretaker tries to keep up with the vandals in keeping the doors and windows boarded up...

Hmmm... pink eyes...

Interesting choice of graffiti!

There was a hole in one of the windows but... it is beary dark in there... but you can see that all the drywall is gone... vandals. Sigh.

We wandered round to the "front" of the mansion...

I think it looks kind of mid-century modern...

There's a garage here...

And a 3-car carport...

Right then... now we are going to explore the rest of the place... stables... farm equipment... lumber mill and a waterfall!! More in the next blog... with some research on the family that built this...