The story of a forgotten America.

Category

History

Category

History

New Salem Baptist Church

Winding Gulf Churches

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.

Friars Club Mural by Lumen Martin Winter

Friars Club Murals

While living in the now-demolished Friar’s Club in Cincinnati, Ohio between 1941 and 1944, Lumen Martin Winter painted murals on the walls of the residents’ lounge. The 1,600 square-foot scenes, painted in tempera emulsion on a casein ground, depicted regional highlights of industry, music, religion, and literature.

Palmer Park Apartment Buildings

Palmer Park

The Palmer Park Apartment Building Historic District, well regarded for its ornate and varied examples of active and abandoned apartment buildings, is located in the Palmer Park neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan.

Grab a copy of the Abandoned Kentucky hardcover book, available in stores and on Amazon.

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