While out on an adventure, I found myself close to a row of 3 abandoned farms that sit just south of Hamilton Ont. Built in the 1870s for 3 brothers who's family became a cornerstone of the agricultural industry of the time.
Over the last century and a half, the houses had several owners and in the 2010s the land was bought for industrial development. A plan that has been held back repeatedly by government and environmental regulations.
I have been exploring the farms since 2016 and there was only one place on them that I had never been able to see, the second floor in one house. I check for access every time I am in the area, so I had to take the walk down the long driveway!
After taking in the beauty of nature taking the property over, I saw that a board from a door on the second floor was sitting on the balcony. The only door access to the second floor was actually open! The stairs to reach the door have been cut off and removed until around 10/12 feet up, but it wasn't difficult to formulate a way up and before I knew it. I was standing inside.
The layout is very strange. It is set up like a 4 square house, one main room with 4 rooms directly off of it.
The main room has the remains of a space for a very small kitchen and a bathroom inside of what used to be a closet in a doorway.
The 4 other rooms were empty but full of beautiful decay and nature.
After finishing on the second floor, it was time to check out the first floor. With no inside access, I had to go back outside and then back inside, and that is only the beginning of the strangeness of this house!
As soon as you walk in it is undeniable that the space was used for work.
The floor is very rotted out and my foot almost went through the old floorboards a couple of times.
A few signs of children in the space remain in the way of books in a window and sink.
The next room shows why the first and second floor are sealed off from each other on the inside. Plywood covered walls with rabbit cages lining the room.
Then in an even stranger turn, the next room clearly had chickens living in it.
This gorgeous piece of Victorian architectural art, had been partitioned into two spaces. A second floor living space with a main floor barn.
The explored was finished off with the dirt floor basement. The stone work a testament to it's time.
This explore was 10 years in the making! And I am so glad to have finally done it. There is a magic in these old homes, that we rarely ever get to see!