Once there was a factory and a guard's tower....

We were hiking up through the woods when we stumbled upon this....

I was captivated immediately, but before I jump into this find, I will start at the beginning...

A few months ago, we decided to visit one of those places "I always meant to visit." We were thrilled to discover nice hiking trails, and remains of buildings long since forgotten. There wasn't much left, a fireplace and chimney, foundation of a house, but they were still beautiful.

We decided to go back because I knew there were more ruins, supposedly those of a factory.  I knew the factory opened around 1881 and closed in the 1920's. I wasn't sure how much was left, or what we would find, but I was definitely curious to find out what was there.

We immediately found the remains of an old incinerator.

 As we wandered we found more and more. Lots of bricks, an old beer can.

I thought we had found most of it, but the trail curved around and we found there was so much more to see.

I was content we saw the remains of the factory, and we decided to just explore and enjoy.  We were climbing up a hill when, through the overgrown plants, I saw this.  We wonder if it was some sort of guard's tower?  It sat high up on a hill overlooking the river.