It was a raint, dreary day in Pittsburgh, and after a Penguins loss last night, we were in the mood to get out there and do something. The only thing is this...with poor weather, it really limits what we can go and do. SO, we found a tour. Our kind of tour is not one of a museum or of a historical home these days. Yes, we toured a lunatic asylum. Down to West Virginia we drove, to the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. It was pretty awesome. Let me tell you what we saw.
The building and all the land is huge, and old, and really Gothic. We started the tour on the first floor and we went outside for just a wee bit to see what the exterior looked like and to get to The Civil War section. This, the oldest section built prior to the Civil War, was really cool. We got to see the kitchen, rooms, dorm rooms, and nurses stations. Our guide was really awesome. She had lots to say about the area and the best part about it was that she had actually worked at the hospital when it was a working establishment. We left that area and went into the one section that housed the most well of the patients. This was a amazing because we saw two parts of the ward, one that was left for the natural state it was in and one that was refurbished. Many of the elements they used were as close to the authentic they could find. They did have actual furniture left behind and they also cleared way down to the bottom layer of paint and matched that color. The rooms were all different pastels, as the doctor who first stated the asylum thought light colors were helpful to the mind. Each room was decorated with a bed and nightstand and there was often only one to a room. From what the guide has to say about the whole place was that the curses and doctors actually tried really hard to help these people. It was not one of those places that was shut down because of cruelty, but because it was too expensive to run and most of the patients, with the new drugs invented to help those with mental disorders, were being released. We did hear lots of different stories about the arts produced there and many of the miracle patients.
We had Little Girl, so we did not do the long tour. This would have taken us to the TB ward and the criminal ward and to the morgue. I think we will be getting a babysitter to go back and to really check out the darker side of the place. But for now, we saw some beautiful architecture and a glance at what it must have been like to have been a part of this institution.
The building and all the land is huge, and old, and really Gothic. We started the tour on the first floor and we went outside for just a wee bit to see what the exterior looked like and to get to The Civil War section. This, the oldest section built prior to the Civil War, was really cool. We got to see the kitchen, rooms, dorm rooms, and nurses stations. Our guide was really awesome. She had lots to say about the area and the best part about it was that she had actually worked at the hospital when it was a working establishment. We left that area and went into the one section that housed the most well of the patients. This was a amazing because we saw two parts of the ward, one that was left for the natural state it was in and one that was refurbished. Many of the elements they used were as close to the authentic they could find. They did have actual furniture left behind and they also cleared way down to the bottom layer of paint and matched that color. The rooms were all different pastels, as the doctor who first stated the asylum thought light colors were helpful to the mind. Each room was decorated with a bed and nightstand and there was often only one to a room. From what the guide has to say about the whole place was that the curses and doctors actually tried really hard to help these people. It was not one of those places that was shut down because of cruelty, but because it was too expensive to run and most of the patients, with the new drugs invented to help those with mental disorders, were being released. We did hear lots of different stories about the arts produced there and many of the miracle patients.
We had Little Girl, so we did not do the long tour. This would have taken us to the TB ward and the criminal ward and to the morgue. I think we will be getting a babysitter to go back and to really check out the darker side of the place. But for now, we saw some beautiful architecture and a glance at what it must have been like to have been a part of this institution.