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Sometimes firefighters decide a building just isn't worth it. Such was the case in October of 2009 when the roof caught fire at the Atlanta Prison Farm. A defunct prison said to have been in operation from 1945 to 1995. The firefighters felt that is simply wasn't worth the risk to aggressively try to stop the fire, and to let the fire burn itself out, which eventually it did.
Such is the fate of the Atlanta Prison Farm which has been slowly rotting away for the last two and a half decades. What remains of it now is covered in graffiti, and kudzu, the ubiquitous and infamous "vine that ate the South."
The site recently received some new interest as the possible location of a 500 acre regional park, but the issue is complicated by the fact that while Atlanta city owns the derelict prison it is in another county, who is less gung-ho about the project. In the meantime the site continues to sit unused, except by urban explorers, and occasionally the homeless. The recent fire points to just how precarious the site really is.
Visitors are advised to take SERIOUS precaution. It is a no trespassing area and there are dangerous areas, such as obscured holes that open into the generator house many feet below.
Update as of October 2021: The location is closed.
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Visiting this place is now strictly forbidden, as the fire department still uses parts of it as a training demo for fires. Local businesses have taken to calling the police on people who park there and walk over.
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Published
March 23, 2010
