Magdalen Mae
The Land Of Missing Socks
I want to go to Old Bryce out of morbid curiosity. I think visiting an abandoned mental institution is something I must do at least once in my life. My friends say it’ll scare the living daylights out of me, though.
PattyTrish
Las Cruces
for a “history of psychology” course and found the website “Historic Asylums.” If you want more info on Old Bryce (and lots of other asylums in America) see:
http://www.historicasylums.com/
(photo below is of Bryce from that website)
Click on Al for Alabama of course….
and be glad things have changed overall…
Magdalen Mae
The Land Of Missing Socks
“Old Bryce” I think is actually in Northport (which is listed here as part of Tuscaloosa? It is its own city). It was built around the 1940’s and abandoned I think in the 1970’s. Bryce Hospital (always referred to as just Bryce or Bryce Hospital), a historic asylum that dates to before the Civil War, is in Tuscaloosa right near the UA campus (in fact, during the war the astronomy department hid their state-of-the-art telescope under the flooboards at Bryce Hospital). It’s still in operation today. Thanks for that website, though…it looks fascinating.
PattyTrish
Las Cruces
But glad you like the website.
A classmate and I went to “Spring Grove” in Maryland, interviewed a retired psychiatrist who had worked there and filmed the buildings and some of the old instruments of treatment (a restraining chair and a straight jacket, for instance.) Her husband pulled it together on a power point presentation and we presented our trip and what we’d learned to the class. This website was a big help!
PT
alabama6
0 places
i have visited the “old bryce” a few times…and it is in northport. it actually isnt “old bryce”, the real name was Jemison Center. It is really hard to find information about it, but from what i have found it was used starting in the late 1800’s to house african american patients and was abandoned in the 60’s when everything was desegregated. The building was then deemed obsolete, and hasn’t been used since. The building, and everything inside was virtually untouched, that is until it caught on fire almost 2 years ago.
alextuscaloosa
0 places
If anyone would like to see some pictures of the old Jemison Building check out my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99063508@N00/page4/
