I visited two former Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad branch lines in eastern Kentucky that have been transformed into rail trails on a pleasant spring afternoon.
Category: Mid-Atlantic
In the isolated hills of West Virginia stands the forgotten and dilapidated Dusk Camp Methodist Church.
The warm spring weather of April 2022 was perfect for a hike along the former South Side Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway.
On a cold and rainy day, we encountered a charming house nestled along the Dry Fork of the Cheat River in West Virginia.
Many of the abandoned “beehive” coke ovens of the Davis Coal & Coke Company are still visible today in the company town of Coketon, West Virginia.
Last month, news emerged about the planned transformation of the closed Merchants Ice and Cold Storage tower in Louisville, Kentucky, into an office building.
I stumbled upon a circa 1970-71 Chevrolet Corvette Stringray, abandoned on the side of a road in Kentucky.
Sherman Cahal and Adam Paris, authors of the newly released book Abandoned Kentucky, recently visited the former Old Taylor Distillery complex near Frankfort, Kentucky, to compile a series of before-and-after photos. Colonel Edmund H. Taylor acquired property along Glenn’s Creek and Versailles Pike and established Old Taylor Distillery in 1887. It was intended to be different from the distilleries of that era which had little confidence from consumers due to product quality. From its iteration, Old Taylor was designed to be a showcase for bourbon. Drawing heavily from his travels through Scotland, England, Ireland, and elsewhere, Taylor designed his distillery…
Work progresses on the massive Grand Patrician Resort & Country Club development in Milton, West Virginia. The complex was once the Morris Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children that was built in phases from 1936 to 1941 by the Works Progress Administration for children stricken with polio.
Earlier this year, I revisited the Lonaconing Silk Mill, a significant historical site as one of the last intact silk mills in the United States. This mill, operated by the Klotz Throwing Company and General Textile Mills Company, was in active use from 1901 until its closure in 1957.
If you are traveling along the West Virginia Turnpike, you may have noticed the portals to Memorial Tunnel.
The New Salem Baptist Church stands as the sole remaining structure in the now-deserted town of Tams, West Virginia.
Red Ash, established in 1891 by the Red Ash Coal & Coke Company, was a significant coal camp located along the New River in West Virginia.
In my travels through West Virginia, I frequently encounter abandoned roadside churches, relics of a bygone era.
Nestled along a quiet side road in the heart of Appalachia, there lies a relic of times long past, a two-story house that whispers stories of the bygone era.
My friend Ben and I were excited to explore West Virginia, aiming to visit locations featured in the Fallout 76 video game. Despite Ben’s tight schedule, we hoped to see key sites like the New River Gorge, Seneca Rocks, Mollohan Mill, and Dolly Sods. However, the extensive driving distances and winding mountain roads required us to condense our plans.
The mountains and hollers of West Virginia are dotted with the remnants of communities past, reminders of earlier times when gossip was exchanged at post offices, when general stores were locally owned, when education was tailored, and when neighbors knew their neighbors. Braxton County is no exception, with the region’s heyday coming in the early parts of the 20th century when employment was mostly centered around extractive industries: coal mining, timbering, and natural gas production. Its population peaked decades ago with nearly 24,000 residents. Today, just a few small cities call this mostly rural county over 12,000 home: Sutton, Gassaway,…
The Irish Corner district of Greenbrier County, West Virginia is dominated by large family farms, the remains of early mills and industries, country churches, and stately residences. Initially isolated by rough terrain and a lack of good roads, the rural setting is seeing an uptick in residential development that could potentially change the character of the region. Many years ago, I visited the Irish Corner region and documented some of the churches and houses I came across while randomly driving down the back roads. More recently, I trekked through the area with my girlfriend to see what’s changed. We started…