Yes, usually a staff person would supervise the entire cafeteria from up there, not only to watch for possible choking , but to watch for any disturbances: fights, stealing, etc. There'd be staff at the tables too, but of course the views were more obstructed "on the floor".

Yes. Or we'd be in morgues ourselves!

Wouldn't people still need their wheelchairs for wherever they went next? Maybe these all needed repairs of some kind and just piled up as the place began to shut down.

One day it will be abandoned Walmarts and malls that will be featured on sites like this, beautiful at last in their decay. One kind of modern site that becomes absolutely strange and fascinating in only a few short years are large-scale greenhouses. I explored one in Hadley (since torn down) ; extremely dry heat, huge, distorted plants, broken glass everywhere, dusty, filtered light...

When I worked at Belchertown State School, we had storage areas like this, called "clothing rooms". Unfortunately, back in the 70's, the lower-functioning clients didn't have their own clothes; instead, they were given one-size-fits-all pants with elastic waists, etc. All those box-like shelves would be stuffed with sorted clothes that staff would pull out indiscriminately. (In some of the buildings I worked in, the clothes were soon torn off anyway).

Yeah; a lot of the people at BSS were disabled, unsteady on their feet, impulsive, unaware of danger, etc. In one of the photos here you see a view up to the meazzine and you can see how little protection there was from falling over the edge. Anytime I was there, the mezzanine was off-limits.

Motts, I bet you could sell this one to Autechre or Solvent or Radian (or some similar band) for one of their CD covers!

I used to take people from E Building to the movies here. I remember seeing "The Love Bug", "Daniel Boone",and "The Wizard of Oz", among others. I also remember it being very noisy, with staff being too busy trying to keep people in their seats to be able to watch any of the movie themselves (which is just as well if it's "The Love Bug")

My clearest memory of this room is seeing a local rock band, the Blue Max, playing a dance here, while people with big, happy smiles on their faces, kept banging into my legs with their wheelchairs, all in tune to the music !

What's strange is that during the five years I worked at BSS, no one ever used the mezzanine seating. It was considered a safety risk. I do recall reading somewhere that in its much earlier days, BSS had events open to the entire town- perhaps they used this seating back then.

Sometimes it looked like this after one of those dances they had here in the 70's. Well, maybe not quite this bad... but close.

When I first saw this photo, I thought it was a row of rusty tanks in a factory.

One other thing about "Belchertown"- I grew up there and always knew it's name was a joke for many, but actually it means "good cheer". Bel (good) and cher (cheer). Also, that camp someone mentioned is behind G Building and not a long walk at all... if it's still there!

To Alex: Belchertown was named for the colonial-era MA governor, Jonathan Belcher. The town's original name was Crystal Springs, but supposedly the governor was annoyed that it wasn't named for him; hence the name change. And to Bob: As BSS slowly closed down the vast majority of its population went into group homes. Perhaps some of the more challenged/challenging people did go to other state institutions, like Monson.

I worked at BSS in the 70's and started out by volunteering at dances held weekly in this building. It was rather bland back then; decay has really given it character! I worked in C,D, F, G, and the infamous K Building, torn down as a symbolic act when BSS was still open. K housed profoundly retarded men. Any chance you'll be exploring any other buildings? Some are actually in use as town offices, schools, etc, but others remain empty. I love your site and visit it often.

Back in the 70's, when BSS was open, this building was known as the School Building. On the weekends, they'd have dances there. Usually they'd play records, but sometimes there were live bands. One I remember was called the Blue Max. Despite all the horror stories, those dances were fun; every single person was a true character and the dances were wild. It''s strange to see the building all boarded up and decaying, and all those people gone, all those memories fading away or vanished...