A visual and historical record of the railroads, mills, asylums, and lost communities that reveal a vanishing chapter of America's past.
New York
The Catatonk Creek Bridge carried West Candor Road over Catatonk Creek in Tioga County, New York.
West Virginia
Kenova's H. K. Porter 0-4-0T No. 1 locomotive — built in 1918, displayed for decades in West Virginia, and relocated to Kentucky in 2024 for restoration.
Ohio
The Lake Shore Electric Railway's history — from its 1901 founding through its peak connecting Cleveland to Toledo to its 1938 shutdown.
Ohio
The C&O Railroad branch to Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant — built in 1954 to serve uranium enrichment operations before its dismantling in 2001.
Indiana
Gary Union Station's history — from its 1910 Beaux-Arts opening through decades of decline to preservation efforts and a stalled 2023 restoration.
Harrisburg State Hospital, Pennsylvania's first public asylum, has been mostly torn down for a $450 million state lab complex—and taking a harder…
Read MoreSherman Cahal is an author, historian, and photographer who has spent more than two decades documenting the overlooked corners of America — railroads, industrial ruins, abandoned institutions, and the small towns left behind. His work pairs archival research with field photography to keep a record of places most people never see.
The Monongahela Railway’s Dunlap Branch was an 18.6-mile coal-hauling line extending from Dunlap Creek Junction at Brownsville to Browns Run Junction at Huron, Pennsylvania. Built to serve the coal mines and coke works along Dunlap Creek, the branch operated from 1903 until 1975.
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