I’m a sucker for deserted places–old buildings, sometimes entire towns that were once bustling but have been left and forgotten. Hand me my camera and drop me by an empty factory or a house with trees growing through its roof; I’ll be content for hours.
Part of the thrill for me is imagining these structures at their prime. I picture them on the day they were finished, when they are new and clean. I try to remember that someone was proud of each and every one of them, even the must utilitarian shed.
I try to figure out the original configuration of rooms and the ways they were used. A summer kitchen, for example, is the setting for a thousand meals, but it surely hosted as many conversations, some gossipy stories, maybe arguments or an unexpected kiss. At the very least, it must have heard someone unleash a string of curses, long ago, at badly burnt food.
I also see potential. As long as their foundations are strong, each building could be put to good use. They could be homes, shops, restaurants, mechanics’ garages, offices, or banks. Any function that a new, prefab building could serve, I can’t help but think that an old one could do better.
This series will explore some of Appalachia’s most interesting deserted places. Some have been restored; others are in the last stages of decay. Some are deep in the woods; you could drive right up to others.
We’ll start with lost buildings in coal country. Photographer Jim Lo Scalzo took his camera into hollers and up hillsides to uncover the remains of shuttered coal operations. In his introduction, he explains “in some cases the remains are barely noticeable: a concrete foundation, a larry car, a coal tipple. In other cases entire towns lay abandoned and overgrown.”
Below is a video of what he found. During this series, it would also be great to hear about your discoveries. Maybe it’s an old family house that has fallen into disrepair or a place you played as a kid. Where are your favorite abandoned buildings and forgotten structures?
Share your stories and post your photos as we explore deserted Appalachia.
I am really enjoying your blog since finding it a couple of months ago. I am eager to see what you have prepared for us in this new series on deserted places.
One such place that readily comes to my mind is Thurmond, WV. I was doing a project in my “Appalachia and the Media” class at RU re: the real Matewan vs. “Matewan” the movie, so of course a visit to Thurmond was a must. It was just my mother and me on a snowy St. Patrick’s Day in 2004 (I think that was the year). There were no signs of life except for the trains passing through, and we couldn’t get over to the town except by driving across the train bridge with the car lane “appendage.” It made me wonder how many ghost towns and abandoned places that engineers & conductors pass by on the old train paths… places that are completely hidden from most folks. Very interesting.
Thanks for a great blog, Mark.
This is wonderful…absolutely haunting…I can never forget summer weekends as a child, lying in the backseat of my parents car as it wound its way over mountain roads in the dark, the only light coming from the headlights. I would lay there, listening to my mother in the front seat telling stories about old abandoned tunnels and tipples and the ghosts you could see, and their wailing cries echoing through the hills..I just knew that if I raised my head to look out the window, one of them would run down the hill and out of the woods and stop in front of car…it was a wonderful, frightening thrill. These pictures and places brought that back to me. Thank you.
I am similarly a sucker for such places.
I loved the video. As a coal miner’s granddaughter it makes me remember my grandpa. He was a coal miner in WV. I have an old picture of me and my grandma standing in front of a coal pile. Thanks, Mark Lynn, for the memories!
The happiest memories I have had were in Thayer, West Virginia. That is where my childhood lies. I have many childhood memories of riding the bus home from school. and walking up the the hill to Thayer top to catch the bus. Picking black berries in route. Picking Bears grass and chewing on Sour vine or wild onions while walking home from the bus stop. Thayer is where that road that turns to the right in Thurmond. You cross a little bridge over a creek continuing down the paved road beside the New River until you cross Stone Cliff Bridge. Home : (
Thurmond is where I attended my first Halloween party, and was the place that had the closest General Store. That video shows only a pale shadow of the Thurmond I remember from my childhood. So many buildings are missing, or changed purpose. I went back there and the place looked barren. The bank that the party was held at was gone, it used to be before the railroad bridge. You Know Thurmond had more than one bank. The General Store and Wild Water Rafting, Gone. It now is the location of part of WSDOT. The New River and Thayer have changed the least. If you would like to see more history go to Thayer Hospital It was a teaching hospital for Nurses. It’s remains are on the right side of that dirt road. It was covered in vines, and it had only a few standing chimney,s made of brick left. Or at least it was. My childhood home is dissappearing and being replaced by what is marketable. That is in line with West by GOD Virginia’s history. We have a habit of taking the priceless and selling it for a few dollars just to survive. With that being said realize that you will not get the whole picture only shadows. I guess you really can’t ever go home.
I was born and raised in English, W.Va., McDowell Co.. I was a coal miner’s daughter. I really enjoyed this video.
Read, enjoy, and pass it on to others from WV
gw/Ocala, FL
Thanks, Gene!