P A U L I N S K I L L   V I A D U C T

Architecture in general is frozen music --Friedrich Nietzsche

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct (Hainesburg Viaduct), Knowlton, New Jersey

explored & photographed by: Shady

The eerily majestic Paulinskill Viaduct (aka Hainesburg Viaduct) used to be part of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad system, which threaded a scenic route from Lake Hopatcong to Pennsylvania and was abandoned sometime during the early 1960's. This immense 115-foot-high bridge was constructed between the years of 1908-10; it consists of seven looming concrete arches spanning 1,100 feet, high across the woods and the river below. Upon it's completion in 1911, it held the record for the world’s largest railroad reinforced concrete viaduct. Now, abandoned and unused, it holds only myth and memory.

We set out to explore this legendary giant one fine summer day... and while we knew the thing was big, we had no idea just how enormous it was until we finally saw it for ourselves. It is biiiiig. We wanted to climb up into (and even to the top of) the Viaduct, so we parked along the side of the road, and started looking around for the best way up. I picked  a route I wanted to check out, and began climbing up a hillside so steep that when I was halfway up I looked back to see the road below and a few fellow hikers who looked little ants! And with each step the Viaduct loomed even larger...

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Finally we reached the top of a kind of ledge on the hillside below one of the arches; under the corner of the arch, we found a railroad tie propped up against the base of one of the columns, with a wily little spray-paint-devil standing guard just above. We kinda used the beam like a ladder of sorts and shimmied up onto the arch, and into the Viaduct itself. Once inside, a trail of rusty rungs on sloping concrete lead straight through the heart of the Viaduct via a series of open archways, and as we passed through each segment, we could look out of the open sides to see that we were making our way progressively higher...

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

I couldn't help but think about some of the rumors surrounding this place- such as the one about a worker being killed and falling into the concrete of one of the columns during construction, only to be left there for all eternity, entombed inside the Viaduct. Urban legend says the spot where his body rests is marked, and that his restless spirit roams the trestles in the dark of the night. Also, whispered stories of murders, suicides, and hangings at the Viaduct persist, adding to it's legend.

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

We found pitch-dark rooms within the Viaduct's pillars, and more rungs that lead up inside the pillars like ladders, leading to the top of the trestle via manholes. We ascended one of these and found ourselves on top of the Viaduct itself. Being up on top of the Viaduct was breath-taking, and a wee bit scary, as there are a lot of spots where the railing has fallen away and there is absolutely nothing between you and a deadly plunge to the concrete or perhaps the river, over 100 feet below...

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

 Sinister messages scrawled in paint urge you to take a step over the edge... no thanks... um, I enjoy being in one piece. Some of the old railroad ties can still be seen poking out side by side along the rock-strewn trestle. There are stories about a phantom train that barrels across the Viaduct on certain dark nights... and standing up on top of the deserted old bridge, you can almost picture it. After wandering around up there for awhile we were being baked by the blazing sun, eaten alive by bugs, oh yeah and nearly run over by some people on ATVs, so... we decided to head back down to the river below to cool off...

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct

Cheech helped me climb back down the wood beam cause I was having a helluva time (it was a lot harder than it sounds cause that thing was about 9 feet high and nearly vertical, with nothing whatsoever to hold on to, and I'm a damned tiny person lol). The guys were laughing at me and stood below taking pictures to commemorate the moment as I nearly killed myself, ha ha ha. Thanks, guys. Then, we headed back down the hillside to the welcome coolness of the river, where we just kicked back for awhile... checked out some more of the graffiti splashed onto the Viaduct's columns, and I made a little sailing vessel and launched it down the river (where it was promptly capsized by a fish). Yes, I'm a dork like that *wink*

Unfortunately, afterward I was going to take some long shots of the Viaduct, from a distance, to show the sheer enormity of the structure... but... suddenly, my camera screwed up really badly- the disc got jammed inside and would not eject, and in fact, I ended up having to send the camera back to Sony to have it repaired, it was that screwed up. So, no pictures of the thing from far away... doh, sorry guys (if anyone out there has any Paulinskill pics of their own that they'd like to post on this page, lemme know!)

Do you have any background information or stories to tell about this abandoned site?

 

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