Friday, July 8, 2016

Abandoned Middletown Church

Located in Middletown, RI is a church by the name of the Maria Mater Spei Church. It's been abandoned for quite some time, though I could not find out much about its history. I do know its future though: it's already been gutted and some work has been done to it and around it, and it will soon enough be torn down to build more residential areas nearby. It's a surprise it's survived this long, with the recent addition in the past year or two of the residential area on the hill above it, which you can see in the first picture. It's a beautiful church, especially during golden hours.


From the street in the distance.





See the black stains along the sides of the building in the foreground and the structure in the background? I thought perhaps these could be evidence of a fire on the first floor, which stretched up to the top while blowing in the ocean breeze (hence their slant). This may have been one of the reasons for its abandonment.




Near where the front entrance used to be, but completely overgrown.

Piles of rubble and dirt are all around the sides.

The back of the church.


I was surprised to find these doors wide open. This place has countless easy points of entry.
Before we go inside, let's skip to what it looked like from atop the roof:


This was the path I used to get here, beyond the houses on the hill.

Looking down in the front, from the roof.


Inside a rooftop elevator.





Now inside, where it was dark and flooded on the lower floors and mostly empty on the upper floors:
Staircase graffiti.






I shot this to make it look like the light was turned on, but there is no power here.

These steps lead down to the basement, which had at least 10 inches of water in the shallow places. I didn't have the foresight to bring my rain boots, so you can expect another post when I return to explore the basement, which seemed more interesting and less disturbed.

It's a shame I couldn't get down here.

This painting on the wall was enough to catch my eye. This place is supposedly haunted, but that didn't bother me.

This used to operate the elevator.

Moving upstairs:
The elevator, just an empty shaft now.










Next we moved to the chapel area, which was a large room with a ceiling far above. The reverb in the center of this place was insane.




I don't know what kind of stone this is, but it looks rather valuable.

Broken stained glass. It's terrible what the vandals will do, but at least they don't tear the whole place down like the state or the owners.


A retired balcony looking down at the chapel.
I had heard about a nearby set of tracks that led to some abandoned train cars, so I figured I would scout around the property where I thought they were. It turns out I was looking in the wrong place, but here are some photos of what I found:

On a path right next to the church.

Up the road, more land is being cleared for construction.

Followed a completely different trail and came to an opening with this stone wall on my right.

I found some old tombstones along the trail in the woods. That's when I decided to leave.

28 comments:

  1. This is so incredible! I've lived here my whole life and I've never known about this place. I think you are so brave to go in here! Just looking at the pictures give me the chills. Thank you so much for sharing

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    1. Thanks! It was really fun to go in here and poke around; I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures

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  2. Pretty cool pictures never heard about it being given haunted thanks for sharing.

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  3. I used to go to this church when it was in operation. I remember the classrooms, the operating elevator, sitting up in the balcony. What a flashback

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    1. I have been trying to conduct research on this building for the past year now. please email me with any information you have about it back when it was in use or it's current state
      (edenl141@gmail.com)

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  4. where in town is this located??

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    1. Middletown, off of West Main Road

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  5. I go here all the time! I live right down the street. It's a beautiful place.

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  6. I lived in the military housing that's up the hill from here and went many times. Had my own Vitaly experience. I can promise you it's haunted. I even have pictures of the place make.

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    1. Really? I've been 5 or 6 times in total and haven't had any experience. Would you care to share your haunted story?

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    2. I, too, have had weird experiences here. would love to hear what has happened to others in this building to compare to my own.

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  7. http://wikimapia.org/22361830/Mother-of-Hope-Novitiate

    Dioseses of Providence owned it.

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  8. Pretty sure thos was some sort of school as well as a church .Basememt as far as i remember was mostly a kitchen area and some other smaller rooms. Havent been here for over 10 years but i remember there still being a bunch of steel counters and hood vent and other big stuff still being down there. One picture is of a wall with a straight line smashed down it...yea that was from me and other people i knew, we used to go and scrap all the cast iron and copper that was left over

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  9. I used to go there as a child. When I was back in high school me and my friends used to hang out there. Definitely a place of beauty, once you overlook the fact that it is haunted. You can feel the chill in the air, the despair all around. A wonderful place to be alone with your thoughts though.

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  10. This was built and owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese who owned the 100 acres surrounding it. It was first used as home for an order of nuns from Providence. After they disbanded, rented as dorms for Salve & Rogers Williams (fire stains). It has been abandoned since. Originally, chapel was very beautiful! Not sure what year it was sold to a developer, but is now on I believe its 4th developer. They have told me they will be taking it down. They have tried over the years to keep it locked or boarded but people can always find ways to get in. The building is actually in Portsmouth. I do believe the cemetery over the stone might be on our property. I'm sure if you asked at Portsmouth Town Hall they might have more information. Pat Simmons

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    1. Hi Pat. I grew up in the 1970s in the navy housing that borders this church property and Simmons Farm. There is an old historical graveyard at the edge of the navy housing land (near the athletic field),and Simmon's farm, in a wooded area. It's overgrown. There's a sign there stating it as: Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Middletown 1.
      I remember as kids it was a fun, spooky place to explore. A few years ago I went to visit it again to show my daughter. The tombstones are mostly from the 1800s, maybe a few from the 1700s. But the surnames names on the stones are prominent names from Aquidneck Island history; names like Coggeshall and Rogers. Was curious what you know about the graveyard. Are these ancestors of the Simmons farm family? It's really quite something.
      Jeff T.

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  11. How do I get to the actually church? I'm there right now and can't figure it out

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  12. You have, by far, the most complete documentation through photographs that I've seen of this place. Great pictures, too. Many of them have this eerie, gritty look to them. How'd you get that effect, if you don't mind my asking? With a filter of some kind? All I can really tellis you used a high iso. Also curious how safe it is to drive straight in these days (haven't been in a while).

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment! Most of the pictures of the outdoors I saturated a bit and lowered the highlights, but I think for the inside/basement area pictures I added some filter and a bit of grain. The high ISO I think is just accidental as my camera was adjusting to the dim lighting.

      As for driving in there--I wouldn't recommend it. There is a gate which is open when construction is being done (or at least was the last time I stopped by this place, which was a long time ago) and it is closed at all other hours (usually closes at around sundown). It's best to park nearby and walk up the path or through a thin prickly trail in the woods that will bring you to the church.

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  13. The train cars are sadly no longer. They used to be further north but they put in some country club or something to that effect nearby and decided to clear the cars off side tracks unfortunately. I, too, went looking for them but was too late. Cool about the church though. I plan on checking it out this week. Hopefully it's still there when I get there.

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  14. I went there today and experienced a very uncomfortable, eerie feeling. at times i heard talking and footsteps, to find my friends in completely seperate areas, but I felt like someone was watching me and following me. Very weird, and very interesting. Will be a while before I return, as I was that spooked.

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    1. That's interesting. I've been there many times and never heard or experienced something I couldn't explain, though at times I have been very anxious about bumping into other people or construction workers around there. At one point I had to hide in the dark flooded basement for the better part of an hour and it was certainly spooky but nothing supernatural or ghostly. Many people do claim that the place is haunted, however. It certainly can have that vibe.

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  15. Thanks for posting about this property. I have often been curious about it. I grew-up in the 1970s in the Navy Housing that neighbors the property of this place. As kids we would explore the woods in that area (be careful of ticks in the summer there, lots of them.) I always remember seeing the building in the distance from the trees. Being older now, whenever I drive on W. Main Rd around sunset and look over towards the bay, I see the golden light reflect off the old church and it reminds me of childhood. Thanks for posting.
    Jeff T.

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  16. I was living in Green lane housing during the early 70's Dad was stationed on a ship during the end of the Vietnam war. I remember catching garden snakes for the nuns on Saturday mornings. We were rewarded with kool-aid and cookies. There was also the old cemetery where we would pick wild raspberries by the buckets. I want to say there was an old barn we would play in, it was falling down then but remember having a blast exploring the area... Brings back lots of memories...

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  17. That was my dorm when I was at Salve in 1982. It was great. All the rooms were singles. I don't recall any paranormal activity. But we did have our own dining hall, parking lot and guard booth.

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