I’ve always been curious about this cool neon sign on the side of some concrete silos in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Author: Sherman Cahal
Over the last weekend, I visited the historic but closed Columbia Theatre in Paducah, Kentucky, with a small group of local historians and talented photographers. Developed by Leo F. Keiler, the 2,000-seat Columbia Theatre opened on April 18, 1927. The elaborately designed facility featured Palladian, Moorish, and Greek architecture with a facade of blue and white terra cotta tiles that included spiraled Byzantine-style columns, classical urns, busts of Greek goddesses, a name sign illuminated with 5,000 lights, and a marquee lit with 2,000 varicolored globes. Inside, the theater was furnished in fashionable shades of green, pink, tan, and blue, the woodwork…
Athol, an abandoned mansion turned sanitarium in Baltimore, Maryland, burned to the ground on September 27, 2021. The mansion, home of Charles J. Baker, was constructed in 1881. Baker was the proprietor of the Baltimore Window-glass, Bottle & Vial, which later became the Baker Bros. & Company. He was also a part of the Baltimore Car Wheel Company, the St. Clair-Scott Manufacturing Company, the Franklin Bank, and the Canton Company. At Canton, Baker was instrumental in securing the construction of the Union Railroad and Tunnel that allowed the Northern Central and Western Maryland railroads access to the tidewater terminals at…
Nestled in the heart of Greenbrier County, West Virginia, the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort whispers tales of its grandeur and subsequent oblivion from a past era.
Tucked away under the dense canopy of McDowell County, West Virginia, lies the forgotten Prunty Trade School.
While taking aerial photographs near the Francis Scott Key Bridge close to Baltimore, Maryland, I unexpectedly came across Fort Carroll, a deserted sea fort situated in the midst of the Patapsco River.
The drive along Zenith Road to the unincorporated community of Zenith, West Virginia is a step back into time.
Work is progressing on the stabilization of the shuttered Sweet Springs Resort in eastern West Virginia.
Charcoal timber, iron ore, and limestone supplied material for numerous furnaces that produced pig iron, munitions, and tools in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. One of the most preserved is the Buckeye Furnace near Wellston, Ohio. The Buckeye Furnace was financed by the Newkirk, Daniels & Company and constructed by Thomas Price in 1851. It initially produced 7½ tons of iron per day, operating 42 weeks out of the year. Output was later increased to 12 tons of iron per day. The furnace was sold to H.S. Bundy in 1862, the Perry Austin & Company in 1864, and the Buckeye…
Between 1922 and 1923, the Virginian Railway laid down what would become the Glen Rogers Branch, a 15-mile track carved into the rugged landscapes of West Virginia.
The American Lung Association was formed in 1904 in response to the epidemic of tuberculosis, a serious infectious bacterial disease that was the leading cause of death in the United States. Commonly referred to as consumption, tuberculosis was characterized by fatigue, sweats, and general wasting of the patient. There was no reliable treatment for the disease. Some doctors prescribed bleeding and purgings while others advised their patients to rest and exercise. Very few recovered and about 450 Americans died of tuberculosis each day. Typically, tuberculosis sanatoriums were privately operated or locally controlled facilities. For Kentucky, Louisville was the only city…
On a sunny afternoon, I explored the remnants of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Lexington Subdivision near Ashland, Kentucky by air. The 109-mile route between Lexington and Ashland had been completed in 1881 by the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Road and its predecessors, including the Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad, the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy Railroad, and the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway. The line eventually fell under the control of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and its successor, the Chessie System. Years of declining traffic caused all but 11 miles of the route to be abandoned by…
often passed by an abandoned roadside curiosity in southern West Virginia for years. During a Sunday drive through the countryside with my girlfriend, I decided to pull off the road and check out a rambling collection of five buildings.
I had expected to come across a waterfall or two along a road that was aptly named Falls Run Road, but instead, I came across a beautiful 1969 Chevrolet C10 step side pickup truck. Based on the license plate, it has not been registered since 1990.
People always seem to gravitate toward the latest “Instagram” hotspot in West Virginia, but there is so much to discover—sometimes even alongside the road!
A deeply overcast morning provided the perfect setting for aerials of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, later known as the Weston State Hospital, in Weston, West Virginia.
Imagine standing in the heart of the Pocahontas Coalfield region of southwest West Virginia, surrounded by the rugged topography of the mountains. Amidst this landscape lies the abandoned Algoma Company Store and Offices.
Tucked away inside an abandoned and collapsing funeral home in the coalfields of West Virginia is a beautiful 1963 Chevrolet Impala. Based on the license plate, it has not been registered since 1989.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, West Virginia had thousands of schools that were gradually closed through consolidations. The isolated Prosperity School atop Great Flat Top Mountain remained open far longer than others.
Mining in the Winding Gulf coalfield of West Virginia began in the early 1900s, producing low-volatile smokeless coal, including metallurgical coal suitable for use in steel making. Mining was centered on the thick Beckley seam until it was economically exhausted by the 1950s, and the Pocahontas seam until the late 1980s.
But after the coal seams were exhausted, these coal camps were all but abandoned and today, only a few reminders of this booming era remain.
I was pretty excited to come across two notable churches in the Winding Gulf that are still extant.