Abandoned tells the story of a forgotten America.
Sherman 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. Born near Ashland, Kentucky and now based in Indiana, Cahal specializes in Appalachian architecture and culture, with additional work in historical research and project photography for architectural and engineering firms and statewide organizations. His work pairs archival research with field photography to keep a record of places most people never see.
The project began in 1998 as Ohio Valley Abandoned, covering abandoned and historic sites in northeastern Kentucky, southern Ohio, and western West Virginia. Today, Abandoned is one of the largest and most comprehensive websites chronicling abandoned and historic sites in the United States.
Since then, content from the site has been featured on a circa 2003 album cover for Texas band Bishop Harmony, in the 2004 and 2005 editions of Limestone, a journal of art and literature published by the University of Kentucky Press, in a 2004 edition of Athens Si magazine for Ohio University, and in a 2005 article for Cleveland Scene.
In 2022, Cahal co-authored Abandoned Kentucky alongside photographers Adam Paris and Michael Maes, a 133-page hardcover published by MacIntyre Purcell Publishing that takes readers inside sites like the historic Columbia Theatre in Paducah, the shuttered Union Station depot in Henderson, the Old Crow bourbon distillery along Glenn’s Creek, and the Parker Tobacco Company in Maysville. The book has been covered by outlets including Lexington’s WTVQ (ABC 36), Louisville’s WLKY (CBS 32), the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, and the Owensboro Times, and Cahal has appeared at events like the Kentucky Book Festival to discuss the project.