Auction day!
Sun, Oct 10th, 2004
posted by 'Dukes

First off, my big picture suprise eluded me; Molly and Dolly a pair of Black Bears that have lived in this location since '98 and taken care of by locals.
They've already been relocated to Central Florida. If we had found this in the winter Bizzy would have wanted to take them home with her! She loves the bears.
I was provided a link by an acquaintance of mine; Saturday the 9th is when the auctioneer gets his chance at all of the physical assets of the park.
I was dissapointed because I wanted to properly document the place fully intact.
At the same time I thought it would be fun to try may hand at winning a sign or prop or something.
It was sad to see all the props in the winter as if preserved for all time, now corraled in a yard with all the other items ready for sale. I got there late, and instead decided to take another run through the park.
Where before Bizzy and I were relegated to tresspasser status to see the place (or so we thought) this time around I had company; Balloonheads of every description wandering the place, half of them French Canadian tourists.
The bonus? More of the buildings were accessible than ever before, I didn't have to get clever at all, just waltz right in like I own the place.
I started with the train station out front, followed the tracks in and about a half mile later I'm in Pettticoat junction or whatever the village was called.
I was a bit of a dumbass myself; I burned a roll of 35 mm, tried to rewind it and you guessed it balloonhead 'Dukes improperly installed the film and it never got on the take up reel; I guess I'm going back tomorrow.

The first couple of shots are of the auction itself which was sad but interesting; The trains went for more than 5 grand apiece! The 1.5 mile tracking sold for 2900!.

I was there to bid but it was too pricey; all my favorite signs and things were selling for a hundred bucks plus. At this point there are things left there that the auctioneer considered "junk". I'm gonna help myself, before the county sells the property.

So excepting the additional pics I will add to this gallery until the County sells the joint, that's it! End of a much storied era, including bears which were fed by locals.
The buildings will probably be removed; 50 or so years of history gone in a one day auction; that's why I'm here to photograph every inch of the place before someone new moves in.
It's assessed at almost two million .
If this was in a designated "wilderness area" and it reverted back to state ownership, the DEC's Gestappo would come in and Raze the buildings; thus returning it to it's natural state. They've done it with many a great camp. Excuse me, but what harm is an empty building doing to a Loon or an Osprey!
More pictures to come tomorrow, but it's kind of a sad day.