Providence resident Jason Allard is a documentary filmmaker who records abandoned places in Rhode Island.
Allard, who calls himself an “urban explorer,” has been filming forgotten places and landmarks in Rhode Island for nearly 13 years. The title refers to the exploration of hidden components or off-limit areas of the manmade environment.
“So, picture almost anywhere that has a no trespassing sign out front,” he says. “Chances are you can do some urban exploration there.”
You can watch his full interview here.
Allard said that the Ocean State offers “a little bit of everything” for aspiring urban explorers.
He is correct. The Ram Tail Mill in Foster, which burned down in 1873, was officially designated as haunted in the 1885 Rhode Island state census. An abandoned Gilded Age mansion in Newport is “just rotting away,” and an empty milk can building stands in North Smithfield.
“That (milk can) was a crazy example of roadside vernacular architecture, which is when people would build these huge gaudy structures to try to attract people to come in and spend their money,” Allard says.
Interest in explorations picked up after the recession in 2008, when many businesses shut down. The popularity of exploring these sites ballooned with the advent of social media.
“There was a group of urban explorers who got into the Superman Building,” Allard says. “It’s the tallest building in Rhode Island and it’s like a famous picture in the Urbex community of these guys at the very top of the Superman Building overlooking the city of Providence.
“They’ve still never had their identities revealed. Police don’t know who they are.”
Because of that, Allard notes there are rules that urban explorers should follow.
“Probably the biggest one, especially with social media right now, is don’t share locations online because that attracts oftentimes the wrong type of crowd,” he says. “Vandals, arsonists, and it’s happened time and time again.”
There was a drive-in theater on Route 146 in Sutton that had the largest drive-in screen in New England, Allard says, adding that he took photographs and shot video at the site in 1994.
“But in 2022, someone went there and lit the screen on fire and it just burned to the ground,” he says. “And now it’s just gone.
“So that’s why we keep locations close to us because we’re afraid that something like that will happen again.”
Allard documents many of his searches on his YouTube channel.
“I try to give people a new appreciation for the history around us,” he says. “I at least want to let people know why they were important and why they mattered and give them a new appreciation for it.”
