There are many fascinating ruins still noticeable in Illchester and The Patapsco River Valley, many of them ruins of the many old mills that thrived at one time in the area such as 'Thistle Mill, & Grays Mill to name a few, but high up on a hill over looking the Patapsco River in Illchester there are several ruins (small structures mostly, and not really defining a particular building of what it might have been at one time) on the grounds of what was St Marys college which served as a seminary for the Redemptorists , a Catholic order . The seminary was open from the 1880s until 1972 when it closed after stuggling in its last years. After closing it was abandoned and became a place of fascination for explorers and photographers such as myself and unfortunately vandals too. In 1997 the many buildings of St marys still standing were set ablaze by these vandals and destroyed to ruins. In 2006most of the remaining ruins still standing were torn down. Now what remain are small ruins here , some ruins of long sets of staircases going up to the old grounds, but probably the most prominent is this one with a huge wrought iron cupola over an alter with a very large black cross still intact too. A very long set of stairs led me to it when I discovered this fascinating gem while hiking last Nov. That day I took many photos and will share some of them in this post.
