If you have ever driven down Interstate 68 in western Maryland, you have likely seen the unfinished Noah’s Ark.
Tag: Church
A sleepy community lies at the southern terminus of the long-defunct Eastern Kentucky Railway in eastern Kentucky. At its center was the Sulphur Springs United Baptist Church.
On March 28 of this year, a fire destroyed the former Pentecostal Determine Church of God in Cleveland, Ohio.
A fresh snowfall presented an ideal opportunity to explore the region’s back roads, capturing both familiar and new landscapes adorned in fresh snow.
On a brisk, gray day, I set out to traverse the less-traveled paths of north-central West Virginia, a journey through time and history.
West Virginia may be regarded as a state centered around the coal industry, but it was the oil and gas industry that provided the state’s first economic boom and drove the development of the north-central part of the state.
In the isolated hills of West Virginia stands the forgotten and dilapidated Dusk Camp Methodist Church.
The bleakness of the winter landscape in south-central West Virginia was a constant reminder of the season’s harshness. It was a perfect time to visit some abandoned bridges and churches.
A late autumn trip to West Virginia’s Greenbrier Valley isn’t complete without a visit to a few abandoned or forgotten landmarks.
Autumn swiftly descended upon the South Fork South Branch Potomac River valley in West Virginia’s Potomac Highlands. The season transformed the landscape into a stunning scene, with sprawling family farms, charming country churches, and idyllic homes set against a vibrant backdrop.
In my travels through West Virginia, I frequently encounter abandoned roadside churches, relics of a bygone era.
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 the morning making an impromptu visit to the Prince train station as the Amtrak Cardinal line made a brief stop to allow for the departure of a few passengers. Constructed in 1946 for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, the Art Moderne depot was designed by the Garfield, Harris, Robinson & Schafer architectural firm of Cleveland. It features Streamline Moderne stainless steel lettering spelling out Prince on the exterior, and terrazzo flooring inside with an embedded “Chessie” kitten logo. Up the hill from the Prince train station along Route 41 is the ironic Laurel Lodge No. 104 with its iconic lettering set in blond brick. What I assumed was an older building was actually built in 1964 to replace a burned Masonic facility in Lawton. Interestingly, furnishings and floorings for the new building came from the Thurmond Lodge in Thurmond, while brick, roofing materials, and slate came from the old McKendree Hospital. We…
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.
Regretfully, the roof of the long-abandoned Church of the Transfiguration in Buffalo, New York collapsed during a storm yesterday.
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish contains an abandoned church, school, and parish house in the Newburgh neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.
The Rust Belt defines a vast declining industrial corridor of the United States roughly between Chicago and Albany, New York, and dominating many of those once-bustling communities are churches. Many were built as domestic steel mills were being constructed across the country in the early 20th century, and many were closed with the collapse of the steel industry.
Towering over the modest residences in its vicinity, the soaring blue limestone and Ohio sandstone faced Roman Catholic church is one of the most recognizable symbols of Albany, New York’s rich history. It’s also one of the most endangered.
The abandoned St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Church, situated in Cleveland, Ohio’s Union-Miles Park neighborhood, has been recently demolished.
Western Pennsylvania is the industrial heart of the Rust Belt, as once-mighty steel mills, coke plants, and machine shops scattered alongside railroads, rivers, and highways have downsized and closed. A globalized economy and increased automation led to many jobs overseas; what remained was a shell, unable to be self-sustaining without government intervention.