Abandoned Mansions

[Flower]

Excellent abodes Flower.  You've got an eye for the eerie.

Thanks.

I imagine that there are foxes and other wildlife enjoying the Chateau .. 

[Hepcat]

I ran into my old rival Foxhound there not long ago. We'd both heard that it was a good place to cadge a nice meal.

[CreepysFan]

   

  Don't know where this is.....but I need it.

   

[Paladin]

Excellent brief history lessons here. I did know that there are a lot of buildings like these almost everywhere around the globe and it seems like a waste to just let most of them enter such a state of decay.

I wouldn't mind spending a night at any of these though    

[The Batman]

   

  Don't know where this is.....but I need it.

   

'LOVE this pic, including the trees which compliment it perfectly...   

[Flower]

It is a great photo .... I'm picking up an New England 'feel' but could be mistaken.

[Paladin]

I did notice the "widow's tower", usually meaning that it is situated usually near an ocean or large body of water. There are a lot of these homes located along the Atlantic coastline. Most of those in Maine have been turned into bed- and- breakfast inn's and others are open to hourly tours in summer.
 

[Flower]

I was incorrect about the 'Adams Family Estate'  above .. it is in Minnesota ..or at least on this website based in Minnesota

http://realestatetwincities.net/abandoned-houses/

[Haunted hearse]

I did notice the "widow's tower", usually meaning that it is situated usually near an ocean or large body of water. There are a lot of these homes located along the Atlantic coastline. Most of those in Maine have been turned into bed- and- breakfast inn's and others are open to hourly tours in summer.

Not at all, I've seen homes with towers in places far inland.  A tower on a house was a status symbol in the victorian age, and there were a lot of them where I grew up in Los Angeles California.  Creepyfan's picture is a "Second Empire" style residnece, with Italinate influences, and my guess was built in the 1870's or 1880's.

[Paladin]

Not at all, I've seen homes with towers in places far inland.  A tower on a house was a status symbol in the victorian age, and there were a lot of them where I grew up in Los Angeles California.  Creepyfan's picture is a "Second Empire" style residnece, with Italinate influences, and my guess was built in the 1870's or 1880's.

Yes, agreed. Northern New England is littered with this type of home, especially western Maine (quite inland) and northwest Vermont.
"Towers" on homes built along the ocean or seafront (mostly) were called "widow's tower's" because the wives of fishermen or sailors would wait for their husbands to come home after grueling months at sea- but this was mostly back in the days of whaling and dangerous seafaring ventures.
Sometimes the sailors came home and sometimes they didn't, hence the term "widow's tower".

[Haunted hearse]

Yes, agreed. Northern New England is littered with this type of home, especially western Maine (quite inland) and northwest Vermont.
"Towers" on homes built along the ocean or seafront (mostly) were called "widow's tower's" because the wives of fishermen or sailors would wait for their husbands to come home after grueling months at sea- but this was mostly back in the days of whaling and dangerous seafaring ventures.
Sometimes the sailors came home and sometimes they didn't, hence the term "widow's tower".

An architectural term I'm more familiar with is "widow's walk."  There seemed to be a tradition for homes built in seaports to have a area on top of the roof, usually surrounded by a railing, where you could stand and keep look out.  These were called "widow walks", as the wife of a seafarer would stand there in watch for her husband's return.  Considering how perilous sea voyages were in the day of sail propelled vessels, it was often a voyage a seafarer failed to return from.

[Paladin]

Yes, I've heard of the "widow's walk" as well.

The "widow's tower", as I have been told by many old- time sailors & fisherman,  was that the wife of a sailor would leave a lantern lit in the "tower" until her husband came home. She would only douse the lamp when he was home, went missing or was told that he was lost- at- sea by the Captain or first officer.
It was a message that wives used to send each other and to other members of her community regarding the status of her husband and father of her children.

[Haunted hearse]

Yes, I've heard of the "widow's walk" as well.

The "widow's tower", as I have been told by many old- time sailors & fisherman,  was that the wife of a sailor would leave a lantern lit in the "tower" until her husband came home. She would only douse the lamp when he was home, went missing or was told that he was lost- at- sea by the Captain or first officer.
It was a message that wives used to send each other and to other members of her community regarding the status of her husband and father of her children.

That tradition may be true, but the tradition with the lantern in the window was also seen in homes in seafaring communities which didn't have a tower.

[poppydave]

Yes this is true, because the placing of a lantern in the window is still traditionally followed by many folks here along the jersey harbor area's.