Photo: "Sea Of Green"

Milledgeville was the capital of Georgia when the Georgia Lunatic Asylum, later known as Central State Hospital, was opened in 1842. Overcrowding quickly became a problem and expansion projects began in the 1870's and continued well into the 1960's.  The Walker Building, designed to house male convalescent patients, was constructed in 1884. 

Photo: "Two-Toned"

Blue hour light mixes with sodium vapor streetlamps inside this day room.  

Central State Hospital is the oldest psychiatric facility in the state of Georgia, admitting its first patient in 1842. This building, the Walker Building, wasn't constructed until 1884, but remained in operation for almost a century. Today, much of the top floor of the building has experienced severe damage due to the humid, wet conditions of the area. 

Photo: "Streetlight Cures"

Light from a streetlamp, just before dawn, seeps into a patient room at the Mont Alto Sanatorium in Pennsylvania.

The roots of the sanatorium began in 1901 with one shack in the mountains of Pennsylvania. This building, Unit 2, was constructed in 1938 and designed as a Children's Preventorium, to treat tuberculosis.

Photo: "Light Inside"

I had the opportunity last week to make a return trip to the beautiful St. Joseph's Church in San Francisco. 

In 1906, an earthquake and fire destroyed this building. It was reconstructed in 1913 and remained in operation until the 1989 quake when it was deemed structurally unsound. The church has been vacant since. 

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Photo: "Sorter"

Here's another image from the former coal breaker near Manahoy City, Pennsylvania.

These sorters were located near the top of the facility and helped pick through the coal to weed out the unusable materials. 

This coal breaker opened in 1932 and is currently being demolished after being closed for 50 years. Sad to see her go.  

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Photo: "A Life Lost"

Unfortunately, today's image comes with a sad story of a history lost. The Saint Nicholas coal breaker, just outside of Manahoy City, Pennsylvania, is undergoing demolition as I write this post. 

The plant opened in 1932, but to begin construction in 1930, half of the village of Suffolk had to be relocated to make room for the massive facility. The construction process included laying 20 miles of railroad track, 1.5 miles of conveyor and 118 miles of wire and cable. 

The Saint Nicholas breakers were the largest coal facilities in the world and at the time this was the second largest plant in the world. The factory was constructed with 2 separate sides that are able to operate independently and produced a combined volume of 12,500 tons of coal per day. 

This plant closed since 1963.

I Miss These Places

Since TheSouthern1800 trip to a few Southern states in May, I haven't explored too many abandoned buildings. I miss the asylums and hospitals, waking up at 3am to be in the buildings for blue hour and dawn, the hours spent in the car listening to music and getting to know your travel companions. 

A few weeks ago, some of that longing was fulfilled when a friend invited me to this old shipyard to photograph a few of the buildings I hadn't yet explored.

This is an old military barrack at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, which housed around 100 military personnel when the base was in operation from the late 1800's to the late 1990's. 

Around California, most of the abandoned historical locations once belonged to the military. Land is so expensive here that when most things become abandoned, they are torn down and replaced by something new. The old shipyard and military bases are typically the longest standing abandonments in the area. 

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