Last year I took a trip with a friend to take photos at the Stonewall Jackson Youth Development Center, once named Stonewall Jackson Training School. This is without a doubt one of the creepiest places I’ve been. While much of what you see in the photos below was manufactured much later by vandals or others staging photo shoots, the deep feeling bad things happened in this series of buildings was very real. You just know it while you’re standing there. Most of the photos, including the photos of the outside of the building, were taken in the building dedicated in memory of James William Cannon by his wife in 1922.

For weeks afterwards, I had breathing issues. I learned from local officials there is a lot of lead and asbestos mixed in with the dust on the ground. I was also told I was lucky I didn’t disturb any of the local homeless population that uses these abandoned buildings as a home base. Regardless of all that, I’m thankful I ventured in and took these photos. I felt a great deal of sorrow to learn some stories of what happened here, but I also felt a sense of waste in seeing the structures themselves in such disrepair. I can only imagine they were beautiful when they were built. Having said that, if so many bad things happened here, maybe it’s just as well they aren’t being restored, and perhaps they should be torn down? Or, maybe it’s not the building’s fault, and they should be saved? I really don’t know.

You can read more on the story of this facility here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson_Youth_Development_Center?wprov=sfti1

Update, July 13, 2021: The state of NC has transferred the property to Cabarrus County, and new things are in the works. They’ve created an informational page, so I thought I’d include that here: https://location.cabarruscounty.us/jackson_training_site/

Update, October 2, 2023: Added this link to an article about the school: https://theoldhouselife.com/2019/04/24/abandoned-stonewall-jackson-reform-school-concord-north-carolina/?fbclid=IwAR1ClKMhYyjgFhkKnB9_dlX4U8llfbyqCtBJNbw8Gu35fhoK3n9dME50KKQ