That Old Pumpin' Station at Campbell's Pond

Every year I go walking in the South mountain reservation and, each year, I manage to visit my favorite spot in the reservation: the pumping station at Campbell's Pond. The abandoned building is right off Brookside Drive and is easily accessible from the road. This was the first time that I had visited the station during the winter and the visibility of the building was astonishing! My journey to the pumping station began when I crossed the century-old wooden, iron, and brick bridge (see first picture) that guarded the path to the station. Despite appearances, the bridge can be a little nerving to cross; a single footstep can cause the rusted, iron plating to wobble and creak beneath new-found weight. Once I reached the end of the bridge I could see the pumping station only a few hundred feet down the path. When I approached the station I noticed something new, a metal fence (probably erected last year). Most of the fence had already been dismantled by hoodlums with wire cutters so my journey through the station remained unhindered. Immediately after entering the station through a concrete filled doorway that had been broken down by hoodlums with a sledge hammer my eyes were bombarded with hundreds of graffiti tags (hoodlums with a spray can). All three rooms of the station and much of the exterior of the station had been completely covered in spray paint. I noticed that most of the machinery of the pumping station still remained throughout the building - many of the pipes were intact, along with their valves. The chimney and the door to the chimney also remained, and even the outside intake valves that carried water from the pond to the station were still intact. One thing, however, stood out through my whole journey: the beauty of the abandoned pumping station.
New Jerseyans have always had an interesting perspective on art. As a class we have studies two forms already, poetry and music. Our poetry chapter was filled with all sorts of depressing or weird poems that beautified industry, trash, and pollution. Springsteen's song are very similar in that nature; he tries to elaborate or sometimes even 'glorify' sex, drugs, and violence. The graffiti and trash that covers the walls and floors of the abandoned pumping station are a perfect example of a third form of New Jersey art: photography. New Jersey photography is the beautification of things that have negative attributes to them (trash, pollution, garbage). My brother has been using graffiti as a main subject in his photography (typical New Jerseyan) and, luckily, he has done a gigapan of the pumping station's northernmost room (click 'gigapan'). I highly encourage the casual reader to journey and explore the beautiful confines of the abandoned South Mountain pumping station.