Good Shepard School & Home

 

I took several drives over the last few days trying to narrow down a list of places I wanted to locate to photograph.  In the end, I only was able to cross off three on the list.  I was thwarted by closures due to the pandemic and what seemed to be an epic amount of road construction.

This is one I was able to find.  It was once the Good Shepard School for Wayward Girls.  It was apparently founded in the 1930's and closed in 1981.  The main buildings have been designated as a historic preservations site in hopes of maintaining the facade.  The property now houses a grocery store and several shops and offices but this front entrance has been kept.

I'm willing to bet that a statue was once sitting in that little alcove near the top of the building.

I took a closer look at all the carvings around the front door.  The one of the pelican was directly above the front door and the angel to the right was along the side.

I did some research about the place and found very little information except for a blog post from someone back in 2011 when the writer related some ghost stories.  Apparently the place has a reputation of being haunted.  

"Wayward girls" has such a troubling undertone to it.  I would imagine that in the 1930's, 40's and even into the 50's any girl who wanted to be independent or wanted to do something only boys did could have been called wayward.  That thought makes me feel a bit sorry for some of the girls who lived here.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.   It's about windmills and castles located in an unusual place.