While vacationing in Cape May, New Jersey earlier this year, I stumbled upon the remnants of an old military battery that played a pivotal role in the Cape May Military Reservation.
Abandoned Posts
I’ve always been curious about this cool neon sign on the side of some concrete silos in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
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, b
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.
The Chevrolet C series of pickup trucks were manufactured by General Motors between 1960 and 2002 and competed directly against the Ford F-series and Dodge D-series. For the second generation of the C series, the body was redesigned to improve its capability as a multi-purpose vehicle and included more convenient features, such as automatic transmissions, AM/FM radio, and carpeting.
While the truck has been mostly protected from the elements inside a pole barn for decades, the structure is facing imminent collapse. It doesn’t appear to be faring much better than the house next to the barn.
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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!
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!
While traveling down to Holly River State Park and its many wonderful waterfalls, I came across a seemingly forgotten cascade along Flatwoods Run. It isn’t the tallest in the state, nor is it the grandest, but it offers serenity that’s easy for anyone to get to.
The waterfall is located in the small, unincorporated community of Wilsontown which was settled by Gideon Hall Wilson in the mid-1860s who operated a grist and sawmill along Flatwoods Run. A small chapel was erected in 1887 which is loosely surrounded by stately active and abandoned residences.
Time has seemingly passed Wilsontown by. The grist and sawmill were destroyed by fire in 1890, and many of the once-stately residences are abandoned or heavily modified.
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.
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.
Designed in the Gothic Revival and Tudor Revival styles by Baltimore architect Richard Snowden Andrews, construction on the hospital began in 1858, and the first patients were admitted in October 1864. Extensive wings were added in 1872-73. At 1,295 feet in length, it was the most massive structure built from hand-cut stone in the United States and the second-largest worldwide after the Kremlin.
In 1986, Governor Arch Moore announced plans for an entirely new mental treatment facility; the circa 1880 facility would be converted into a prison. After numerous court battles and petitions, the new William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital opened in 1994. In 2007, the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources auctioned the vacant hospital. Joe Jordan, an asbestos demolition contractor, was the highest bidder who planned to preserve and restore the complex.
As of 2021, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum offers a variety of tours and experiences, including heritage, paranormal, and photography events, ghost hunts, and the annual Asylum Ball.
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.