Following up from the last blog post, "Beautiful, sunny days," I spent Sunday, March 28 wandering the back roads of Kentucky with a good friend photographing a well-visited tobacco processing plant, a historic residence and a tuberculosis hospital. The day, unlike my prior trip, was speckled with downpours and consistently low- and dark-hanging clouds, although there was interment sunshine mid-day.

 

We headed out very early that morning and headed due east along the AA Highway. We arrived in Maysville, Kentucky and stopped at Parker Tobacco Company, which is currently being demolished. Unlike the last trip, where there was little evidence of work being completed, this time was a bit of a shock. Entire rooms had been emptied out of their contents. Desks, filing cabinets full of papers and furniture were all missing. Random holes in the floor and walls punched through were evidence that a mass-clearing was being conducted.

 

_{Get to know this view while it is still here.}

 

_{The railroad trestle that led into the plant.}

 

_{The rear was damaged in a fire several years ago.}

 

 

 

_{Items from the offices were scattered throughout the plant.}

 

 

_{The smokestack reads "RJ R Tob. Co." for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, the original tenant.}

 

 

 

_{The wooden flooring is very thick.}

 

_Then.

 

_Now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

_{Goodbye, old friend. You were one of the earlier locations that I've explored, and one of the historical abandonments that I've returned to over the years. It's a sad ending to such a storied company that only several decades ago had an international presence. I'm sure that Mr. Parker Sr. is feeling a sense of sadness on the demise and demolition of the corporation he worked tirelessly for, and later petitioned for its survival only a little over a decade ago.}

 

We headed south to conduct follow-up photography of the William Tarr House. To much my dismay, it seems as if minor vandalism has occured. More windows were broken and the front door was left wide open, inviting even more elements into the foyer.

 

_{The small, one-room addition that was built in the 1960s housed a couch, bookcase and probably a television.}

 

_{Remnants of an easy-bake oven -- or just the facade of, lies on the floor.}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Kitchen

 

_{Italianate plaster molding added post-Civil War.}

 

_{The southern facade is nearing collapse.}

 

 

Our final stop of the day was the Paris Tuberculosis Hospital. Despite having been near the facility for nearly a decade, I've never personally managed to get inside the hospital itself due to its proximity to an elementary school and juvenile detention center. All attempts to obtain legal access have failed.

 

_Cornerstone.

 

_Outbuilding.

 

_{Old Chevron pump.}

 

_{Inside one of the outbuildings.}

 

 

_Outbuilding.

 

 

 

_{Inside one of the nurse residences.}

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to Cincinnati after finishing up photography at Paris. Just because I had no immediate need to do a separate post, here is a photograph of Ironton, Ohio's High School, which is nearly complete. Click through to view a timeline of photographs as the building was demolished and rebuilt.

 

_{Taken on March 14, 2010.}

 

Hope you enjoyed this exhaustive post. The next update should be of Old Taylor Distillery, with a first-ever tour inside since its closure in 1972.

Visions of Russia.