The Gilmary Catholic Retreat Center was a center for youth outreach and adult ministry operated by the Diocese of Pittsburgh near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Archives: Locations
Bob Callihan’s concrete houseboat was constructed in Greenup, Kentucky in 1974-78, and subsequently launched into the Ohio River. It was later abandoned after floodwaters pushed it onto a bank where it remains today.
The Stearns Coal & Lumber Company is a former coal and timber extraction outfit that operated in northeast Tennessee and southeast Kentucky.
The AT&T Long Lines division featured a system of microwave relay towers that transmitted information across the United States.
The Kentucky Stone Company operated a large above-ground and below-ground limestone quarry in Mullins (Withers), Kentucky.
Sand Patch Tunnel is an abandoned 4,777-foot railroad tunnel that was constructed by the Pittsburgh & Connelsville Railroad in Pennsylvania.
Smallwood Pulp Stone Company quarried pulpstones from sandstone mines between 1914 and 1932 in eastern Ohio. The pulpstones were used to grind wood into a paste.
The East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company (EBT) is a historic and mostly abandoned narrow-gauge railroad that operated between 1871 and 1956 in Pennsylvania. The EBT was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The railroad was added in 1996 to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of America’s Most Endangered Places.
Lafayette Bloom School is an abandoned circa 1915 school in Cincinnati, Ohio. The junior high facility featured classrooms for 1,200 pupils, two gymnasiums, a swimming pool, an elaborate auditorium, and an indoor rooftop playground.
The A. E. Burckhardt House is the residence of Bavarian-born furrier Adam Edward Burkhardt in the Avondale neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 1980.
Merchants Ice & Cold Storage is a former cold storage facility in the Smoketown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. The complex was originally a part of the Schaefer-Meyer and Frank Fehr breweries.
The German Evangelical Salem Reformed Church is a formerly abandoned church constructed in the High Victorian Gothic style in 1876 on Prentice Street in the California neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky.
Monarch Tobacco Works is an abandoned plug chewing tobacco, cigarette, and cigar factory in Louisville, Kentucky. It was used for Monarch Tobacco Company to produce plug chewing tobacco between 1901 and 1910, to manufacture cigarettes for the American Tobacco Company until the mid-1920s, and to assemble cigars for the American Cigar Company between 1930 and 1971.
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, which was later renamed Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex, is a former maximum-security prison in Tennessee that has since been converted into a tourist attraction.
Horace Burgess’ Treehouse, also known as the Minster’s Treehouse, was a treehouse and church in Crossville, Tennessee. Work on the treehouse began in 1993. It was closed to the public in 2012 and burned to the ground in October 2019.
Knoxville College is a formerly abandoned liberal arts college in Knoxville, Tennessee. It reopened on a limited basis in 2018.
The American Ice Company is an abandoned ice manufacturing plant along West Franklin Street in Baltimore, Maryland. Constructed in 1911, American Ice served the growing city of Baltimore. A railroad connection enabled it to ship ice to clients in New York City and Washington, D.C. It remained in operation until 2004. The facility is being redeveloped into a mixed-use event, commercial, and community facility.
Uplands, a 42-room Victorian mansion in Baltimore, Maryland, originally served as a summer residence for Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs. It was subsequently repurposed for the Uplands Home for Church Women and the New Psalmist Baptist Church. Tragically, the mansion was destroyed by a fire in October 2023.
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish contains an abandoned church, school, and parish house in the Newburgh neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.