Tag: School

June 13, 2024 / Appalachia
April 5, 2024 / Midwest
November 27, 2023 / Appalachia
April 17, 2023 / Explorations
November 19, 2022 / Explorations
February 16, 2022 / Appalachia

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.

February 14, 2022 / Appalachia

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,…

September 2, 2021 / Appalachia
April 30, 2021 / Appalachia

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, West Virginia had thousands of schools that were gradually closed through consolidations. The isolated Prosperity School atop Great Flat Top Mountain remained open far longer than others.

December 26, 2020 / Appalachia
April 17, 2017 / Appalachia
September 29, 2016 / Appalachia

Sometimes, I revisit an old friend and discover something new, such as the long-abandoned Jefferson School in Wheeling, West Virginia. I had not discovered much about the historic structure other than its demolition in 2013.

April 28, 2016 / Explorations
May 22, 2015 / Explorations

Concluding a journey through the Rust Belt, the exploration of a temple, observatory, and factory en route to Cleveland, Ohio, provided a fitting conclusion to the trip.

April 21, 2015 / Explorations

From the window of my hotel room in Beckley, I could see the leaves billowing down the street among a fine rain punctuated by dark, gloomy skies. It was perfect road trip weather,

February 13, 2015 / Explorations

Back when it wasn’t in the coldest days of the winter, I walked around the former Sue Bennett College in London, Kentucky. The college, in operation between 1897 through 1997, was affiliated with the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, the national organization of the United Methodist Church. It began as an elementary school before becoming a two-year college.

September 15, 2014 / Explorations

Susan Orlean, of the New Yorker, once said that living in a rural region exposes the body and mind to marvelous things: the natural world, the “particular texture” of small-town life, and the “exhilarating experience” of open space. It’s not difficult to argue that. Located in a remote town in the hills of eastern Kentucky, Hazel Green Academy, set among the hardwoods and abutting flowing pastures, opened to students in 1880. The private school offered a good education to the under-served and boasted low tuition rates and a stepping stone to college and “a higher sphere in life.” The school’s curriculum…

August 26, 2014 / Explorations
April 16, 2014 / Explorations
April 12, 2014 / Explorations

Fairview School is located in Cincinnati, Ohio and was constructed from 1888 to 1890 in the Romanesque Revival architectural style. A three-story addition, designed by local architect Edward J. Schulte, was built in 1957-58. The addition was meant to be expanded once the original structure was razed, but declining enrollment led to those plans never coming to light.