Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Weathersfield Transfer Station


To those of you who know me well it will come as no surprise to hear that visiting the town dump has become a favorite pastime of mine since moving to the country. We do not have organized city trash removal in the area, so The Weathersfield Transfer Station & Recycling Center, aka The Dump, is where locals bring their trash, recyclables, demo debris, and unwanted household items.

From my perspective, the dump has two things going for it: the "burn pile" and the "Swap Shop."

The burn pile is just that -- a pile of wood, branches, boxes, etc. to be burned by the Transfer Station. Farmers tearing down old barns bring their wood to the burn pile, and each time we go there are piles upon piles of old barn wood siding, doors, crates, palettes, fencing, 2x4s, etc. Granted much of it is not in great shape, but we have found some neat old wood crates and Josh has pilfered palettes to stack cord wood on. A few weeks ago I found a beautiful old barn door to use for photography projects, and yesterday's trip turned up solid hardwood beams to use as side supports on the cord wood stack.

The Swap Shop is where folks leave unwanted household items like furniture, books, toys, and lamps. Instead of dropping items off at the thrift store, around here they go to the Swap Shop. The beauty of the Swap Shop is that it is completely self-service, so you drop off what you want and take what you want. No money changes hands. You like that chair someone dropped off? You take it. Mostly it's a lot of junk, but there are also treasures to be found. Today I found a beautiful vintage Chinese Checkers set with original old marbles, a set of three avocado green enamel pots, and a mid century lamp with a wide fiberglass drum shade. Not a bad haul for $0.



Knowing as I do now the treasures that can be found at the dump, I feel somewhat cheated by all the years of organized trash pick-up in Boston. What happens to all the great old stuff at large city dumps where the general public is not permitted? Does anyone pick out the treasures, or are beautiful antique chairs doomed to sit buried under growing piles of cracked, dirty Tupperware, defunct tape players, and moldy banana peels forever?

1 comment :

  1. I think it's great that you found a place to scour for treasures closer to your home. After your blog about there being no thrift stores nearby I was worried that you would really miss the much easier thrift shopping in Boston. I enjoy trips to the Goodwill (and all it's relatives) as well!

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