Creepy Abandoned Wonders in Connecticut: The Sunrise Resort
This popular summertime family destination lay ignored and abandoned for five years.
The Sunrise Resort was born in 1916 in East Haddam, which was soon to become the resort mecca of Connecticut. It was such a popular family destination, that a direct train line was built from New York City to Colchester and East Haddam.
According to an article in the Middletown Press, dated in February of 2013, during its heyday, Sunrise Resort would house 500 vacationers at a time. The 144-acre resort was well known for its theme weeks, meals, parties, and music, along with its excellent family atmosphere. There was maid service, boating, sailing, horseback riding, and special programs for the kids.
Around the beginning of the new millennium, Sunrise Resort slowly was becoming shabby and outdated. Loyal customers began to complain about how the resort was out-of-date, musty, and in disarray. In the year 2008, the resort was shutdown and sold to the Connecticut Government, who seemingly let it wither away where it sat abandoned for five years.
Connecticut talked about turning the resort into a camp for the disabled, but dropped the ball until it was so far gone, nothing could be saved. In 2013, the order was given to demolish everything. When it was abandoned in 2008, the resort was left like it was still open, with children's drawings on the wall, brochures and bill stubs were left on office desks, and folded bed sheets left on the beds, ready to welcome new campers who would never arrive.
When the property was left to the elements beginning in 2013, many people would wander in with video cameras to capture the demise of this once thriving resort. The best video I discovered on YouTube was the last resort owner from 1986 through 2008, Bob Johnson, who gave us the walk-through:
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