Abandoned history spans thousands of years, and it’s not just hidden in the crumbling structures of railroad towns and neglected asylums. Archaeologists’ careers are built on the forgotten elements of daily human life. Some of the most important discoveries about … Continue reading →
The dark history of mental health treatment lingers in untouched buildings and chilling stories. Little was known about the intricacies of the mind until very recently, and it took hundreds of years for less barbaric and more progressive therapies to … Continue reading →
In honor of Black History Month, Abandoned Country is republishing the following article, which originally appeared in The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press on August 21, 2021 as “It’s been 190 years since Nat Turner’s Rebellion. Brutal mysteries remain unsolved.” One … Continue reading →
By Jessica Cole and Ben Swenson You would hardly guess by strolling down the timeworn Main Street in Pamplin City, Virginia that this small hamlet was once renowned as a giant in the manufacture of a very specific product. Today, … Continue reading →
A Wegmans on the edge of suburbia is not the landmark you’d expect to use to find ruins of a noble effort. Yet that commonplace monument of modern living signals the correct path to the remnants of a dream that’s … Continue reading →
A hint of a building sits startlingly against the trees in Hanover County, Virginia, quietly representing the history of our country’s arduous struggle for religious freedom. Polegreen Church was key to the 18th century movement known as the Great Awakening. … Continue reading →
Resting in a dense New Hampshire forest are the stone ruins of a lavish dream. Madame Sherri’s “castle” lies lifeless and silent, but you can almost hear the laughter of socialites softly lilting through the trees that surround the site … Continue reading →
by Jessica Cole Have you ever dreamed of what your past life might look like? To venture back centuries and hear the sound of hooves hitting cobblestone – or at the very least, the opportunity to purchase incredibly cheap groceries? … Continue reading →
Not much happens in Croaker, Va., a rural expanse named for a noisy fish. Yet there on a sprawling property, amid mountains of mulch and tidy lines of row crops, is a curious assemblage of United States presidents. The 43 … Continue reading →
This is the fifth in a six-part, yearlong series called Disappearing Virginia in Distinction magazine. This story originally appeared in the October issue as “Prying a Living from the Water.” There’s no mistaking a place tied to water, even in … Continue reading →
This is the fourth in a six-part, yearlong series called Disappearing Virginia in Distinction magazine. This story originally appeared in the August issue as “The Treasure of the Tide.” The boxy old building hides its importance well. Its weathered clapboard siding is … Continue reading →
When Melcenia Fields failed to retrieve her groceries, railroad workers knew something was wrong. Fields, inexplicably to all but herself, lived in the ruins of Beury, WV, one of dozens of company towns in the New River Gorge that residents … Continue reading →
Ahh, the Carolinas. Known far and wide for barbecue, conservative politics and…nuclear near-misses?? That’s right, the Carolinian legacy you’ve likely never heard of missed annihilating vast swaths of the East Coast’s countryside by just a whisper. Indeed, the only two … Continue reading →
When New England’s tallest elm tree, “Herbie,” succumbed to Dutch Elm disease, craftsmen made the wood into everything from a guitar to a casket. When the dust settled after 9/11, shipbuilders recycled the Twin Towers’ steel into the USS New … Continue reading →
Could you find tuckahoe if you had to? Know when to hook up with a herring? If you’re like most of us, the answer is probably “no.” All our modern conveniences and gadgets insulate us from a world our ancestors … Continue reading →
Thousands of people drive within feet of this forgotten trace of history every day with no knowledge that it’s there. Not that most would give a flying fig. Nevertheless, this site’s very existence is a study in contrasts, an example … Continue reading →
On the forest floor behind a country churchyard near the forgotten village of Winterpock, Virginia yawn two deep holes. One is covered with a square frame of concrete and a metal grate. The bottom is underneath somewhere, but it’s concealed … Continue reading →
John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin, would be aghast to see the spot where he met his end. After all, the vainglorious murderer scoffed at what he was told was the $140,000 price on his head. He thought it should be … Continue reading →
