Monkton Railway Station

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Hello again explorers, today, we have a rural exploration post from the small village of Monkton, Ontario, situated in Perth County.

This sleepy hamlet located on the interesection of county roads 55 and 23 caught our attention as it holds a lovely dilapitated railway station.


Monkton owes it genesis to the building of the Logan road in 1857. Mr. T.M. Daly dropped the very first structure, a blacksmith shop and soon after, a variety of other businesses took root such as a cheese factory, match factory, two saw mills, planing mill, shingle mill, tannery, hotel, school, and two churches. Within a year, Edward Greensides was named postmaster - having a post office certainly put a community on a map.

In November of 1906, a rail line was constructed to provide goods and passenger service from Milverton to Guelph and onto Toronto. As a result of this, the Monkton South railway station was built and very little of it's outward appearence has changed since 1907.

As with many other rural Ontario rail lines, the development and improvements of new and existing roads sounded the death knell. We were not able to determine exactly when the last train rolled through this village or when the tracks were pulled up but do know that the building did lay derelict for a period before being reused by a local company, Machan Construction as a warehouse and workshop. Currently, the station is abandoned of all use and is slowly deterioating.

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Vaughan Farmstead

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I was finally able to grab my flashlight and camera and head out for an exploration after an unwelcome hiatus from UrbEx. I was joined by the familiar JuicyFruitKisses (aka JFK) as well as UrbEx n00b, Funky Punky who had proved herself rather adept during her premier exploration with UrbEx Barrie.

With several missions on the planning board, our first stop was at Funky Punky's old place of residence. The images her mother had provided clearly showed a property which was shown care in order to provide a home for the young family.











Our exploration however, showed a farmhouse in an advanced state of decomp and a property which had become a dumping ground for area a$$-hats wanting to get rid of old cars, tires, garbage, and construction waste. Both I and David Suzuki frown . . .

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Our explorers today . . .

Funky Punky (left) and JFK (right)

And your's truly, CopySix, a man forever driven to photograph a sweet abandonment.

The interior had some 'spongy' floors in some spots and quite a few pieces of furniture which appeared to be ravaged by denizen critters.





This child's teddy-bear appears to be slowly incorporated into the surrounding debris and detritus on the floor here.














There was a very small kitchen located just off the living room. Personally, I've seen larger kitchens in RV's. In other news, I wish my g/f was as dirty as this sink. Some old styl'n curtains just outside the kitchen made my teeth hurt when I looked at it. I remember as a kid having nasty-a$$ curtains like this in the home I grew up in it was tacky as hell back then BUT, if one were to clean it up and match it with appropriate decor, you certainly would be kicking it retro-licous.

Anywhoos, as it is not everyday that one sees a suitcase in a fishtank I thought this may make an interesting shot. Loads of personal effects still in the house and it is all slowly being returned to a zero-energy natural state.

Although, most of you know my UrbEx kink is institutional, insdustrial and commercial (in that order), I do not mind at all exploring a residential or rural abandonment from time to time, especially when said location has a personal connection with a member in the exploration party.

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Bruce House

Just a few weeks ago while on company business near the Bruce Nuclear plant (just north of Kincardine, Ontario), I had stumbled upon this very lovely abandonment and subsequently effected some impromptu Urban / Rural exploration. We will call it the 'Bruce House' for now.


At first, I had thought that perhaps the former denizens had left sometime in the late '80s, fearing the proximity to the nuclear power generating plant, but upon further inspection, I now believe that they may have fled the horridly abysmal interior decoration.











I for one never tire of the awkward and fumbling efforts by tag-monkeys who cause great atrocities to the Queen's English resulting in often humourous and / or confusing literal gaffes. This one by the stairs did not quite make the grade but I am certain that the miscreant is well on their way to fail.


You may well know from my previous posts, I like to shoot windows. These portals are akin to a looking glass peering into the soul of the abandonment. Here are just two images I thought appropriate to post.













Very nice structure but certainly in need of less natural ventilation. This issue is best summed by this image below.


Finally, while in the Area, I took some time to visit the nearby Inverhuron cemetery which is still in recent use. Most graves date from the late 1800's but some newer stones indicate newer internments as recent as within the 5 years or so.

Happy & Safe Exploring !

Aurora Trinity 2

"Trinity" . . . Yep - - Please expect a set of three posts here as well another excellent video from yours truly. This is Post #2 of 3 of a recent rural exploration I took in with our most excellent UrbEx buddy neX who acted as local guide in this neck of the woods near Aurora. For the first post, look HERE.

Following, is a video summary of the Aurora Trinity Session . . . Look for some waggish / witty exchanges between neX and myself in the video - I usually leave my captured video mute, but this was too priceless not to share.

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Obtaining a POE at this location was as easy as getting laid at a cougar bar. Greeting us in the garage was this lovely antique night-stand, complete with jar 'o' Vaseline - These jars are indigenous to nightstands and only recently their numbers have been declining due to the introduction of newer lubricant species such as KY Jelly and An*l Lube.











This second house was certainly more grand (and modern) than its neighbouring abandonment adjacent to it to the east. The entrance especially so with its two-storey columns.











The front entry hall was no less grand than its outside entrance. The colours here were a refreshing neutral colour but the stair railing perhaps a bit on the ornate side. It appears that subjects unknown had already liberated the railings ringing the hall on the upper floor. I strongly suggest fall arrest equipment for any explorer who may be exposed to a falling hazard of 3 meters or more.









We now move from the grandiose entry hall to the upstairs washroom. The appalling choice of the coloured ceramics left no doubt in my mind that the former occupants had no capacity or sense for interior decoration. The only saving grace for this house was of course the Epic WIN Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. With Jason (Red), Zack (Black), Billy (Blue), and Trini (Yellow), this once mundane wall became a chamber of heroes.







Someone left a perfectly good looking COLOUR television set in one of the rooms upstairs. I was happy to see that a$$-hat vandals did not find their way into here yet. I was also equally happy that the afore-mentioned miscreants did not find these beautifully-croqueted hangers and unravel them.

Anywho, stay tuned for the third and last post in this our Aurora Trinity Session. I will leave you off with this image of CopySix and exploring buddy neX posing living room of House #2 in the for the cam and being all awesome.

Aurora Trinity 1

"Trinity" . . . Yep - - Please expect a set of three posts here as well another excellent video from yours truly. This is Post #1 of 3 of a recent rural exploration I took in with our most excellent UrbEx buddy neX who acted as local guide in this neck of the woods near Aurora.









This old farmhouse had a very lovely addition to it on the east side (not shown here). Surrounding by residential and commercial development on all sides, this location gave a flavour as to what a working farm looked like here less than a decade ago.










It had appeared that the last time an interior decorator popped around to this place may have been in the late '70's / early '80's. You may call this hideous and want to beat the former owners with a style stick, but I call the shizzle 'retro-licious' !













There is a theme most avian to these two images. One is of a bookshelf in the west living room retro-fitted to house an aviary. The other is a robin, quite dead in the basement . . . or perhaps just asleep / dreaming and pining for the fiords.













Here in the image on the left, my narcissistic side is showing itself in my photographic work. I am also somewhat 'hooked' on this image on the right taken from the front hall . . . (get it - - 'hooked' ! - that was a funny there).











The stairs and arrangement of rooms upstairs were very typical to just about every other farmhouse I had been in dating from this era. The only bit of interest to be had up here was the interior electrical wiring exposed by the removed floor-board (image on right). Unfortunately that image did not really turn out.









I have noted with a casual interest that in many abandonments, I have explored, the previous owners often leave behind toilet plungers and brushes. Although I am rather certain that there is a good reason for this, the answer is presently just beyond my grasp. Also, it was noted that this house was operating with an older version of Windows from which I am sure they had a beautiful rural vista.











This particular barn did not hold much interest for me, that being said in comparison to the wonderful barn neX toured through which will be revealed in our third Aurora Rural-Ex Trinity post.

~Stay tuned kiddies, more to come.
Until next time, Happy + Safe Exploring.