Your own city for $800,000
On All Saints Day, aka Halloween, an auction will be held in the States. One of the lots is a ghost town. Village of Johnsonville, Connecticut. In the 1830s, life was in full swing here. Then something happened. The entire population has left the area, and now only the wind is walking in the once bustling village.
(Total 15 photos)
1. This place is considered "bad".
2. The fact is that a hundred years after oblivion, the village was bought by an eccentric millionaire named Raymond Schmitt.
3. And he had a dream to turn this area into a top-class tourist attraction. For people to play weddings here, to have fun.
4. Part of the wooden buildings turned into dust from time to time. But Raymond did not give up.
5. Together with his wife, they found somewhere a couple of Victorian houses, including a school built in 1863, loaded on wheels and brought to the village.
6.
7. The church in the photo was built in 1876 in a nearby town. Before transportation, it had to be carefully disassembled according to the planks and re-folded in a new place.
8. In 1966, Schmitt bought an old steamer at auction. It was towed to Connecticut along the river, and the second part of the way the steamer drove in the back of a truck. Step by step, Schmitt assembled a copy of his own Victorian town: a post office, a sawmill, a barbershop with mannequins and shaving tools.
9. The pearl of the village of Johnsonville was a mansion called Emory Johnson Homestead. It was built in 1840.
10. Five generations of the Johnson family lived in it until the village was completely depopulated.
11. Among those living in the district there is a belief that the spirits of workers from the mill roam the estate at night, who, after death, were buried right here in the living room.
12. Schmitt dreamed of turning the village into a place where live performances would take place. Guests will be greeted by attendants dressed in Victorian attire. Organ in the living room.
Dreams were shattered when a lightning strike hit the main building of the hotel. She burned to the ground.
The owner didn't give up. But the funds to maintain the village were dwindling. And with them morale melted. Locals in the area still remember a couple of older people walking hand in hand among the dilapidated buildings and fishing.
13. Schmitt died in 1998. Those who enter the village often have the feeling: “Why not get out of here as soon as possible. Who knows, maybe the ghost of the old man still roams the area and guards this place.
14. The cobweb-covered village of Johnsonville is on the verge of complete collapse. But there is still hope that on All Saints' Day a daredevil will be found and will buy a lot with the name "ghost town". 26 hectares of land. 8 buildings, including 2 churches, a restaurant and a mill.
15. Oh yes, and a pond with a waterfall together.
The lot will be traded from the price of $800,000 for two days from October 28 to October 29 at auction.com.
By the way, Schmitt himself once paid 3.5 million dollars for this place.
Keywords: Auction | City | Ghost town | Life | Lot