People are fascinated with abandoned sites. Sometimes it’s because they bring back memories of places they once loved. Or they are shocked by the waste of still-useful homes and buildings. Other times, it’s merely because they are so haunting and raise the questions: Who would leave such beautiful places to rot? And why?
See the last slide for links to more photos of abandoned sites in Alabama.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
By KELLY KAZEK
Here is a look at 21 of the most photographed abandoned sites in Alabama.
NOTE: These homes and buildings are located on private property. Trespassing is punishable by law. If you go, drive by only.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
1. The Norwood Community
Norwood, a community in Birmingham, is known among photographers and urban explorers for its crumbling abandoned mansions. The stately relics are located, oddly, on the outskirts of a neighborhood of beautifully restored turn-of-the-20th-century cottages, a beautifully restored 1925 elementary school, churches and a few businesses.
Kelly Kazek
To visit Norwood, take exit 126B off Interstate 20/59, just north of downtown Birmingham. Remember, the majority of homes are occupied, private residences and those that are abandoned are marked "No Trespassing" and are a hazard. Click here to see more photos.
(Source: Josh Box/Steel City Urbex)
2. Prattville Cotton Gin Mill
Prattville was founded by Daniel Pratt, a manufacturer of cotton gins. Several abandoned mill sites remain in the town, although historic groups hope to re-purpose some of the factories. See more on Steel City Urbex's Facebook page.
NOTE: This site is continually monitored with video surveillance. No trespassing.
(Source: Josh Box/Steel City Urbex)
According to Prattvilleal.gov: Pratt's "love of beauty is evidenced in Prattville in his manufactories which feature graceful arches, soaring ceilings and vast open spaces, interesting brick and stonework and a picturesque site alongside Autauga Creek. Several of the brick structures that Pratt built are still used today for an industry manufacturing cotton gins. These buildings are the longest continuously occupied industrial buildings in the state."
(Source: Josh Box)
Inside Prattville Cotton Gin Mill.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
3. Chalkville Training School for 'Incorrigible' Girls
For 75 years, the stone structures built by the Works Progress Administration in Chalkville sheltered girls labeled "incorrigible," "delinquent," or "wayward," although most arrived at the Alabama Training School for Girls because of behavioral and emotional problems and had committed no crimes, according to its superintendent in 1966.
(Sources: Alabama Department of Youth Services, left; Kelly Kazek, right)
The training school, shown when it was in use at left, was abandoned after a tornado destroyed several buildings and a new facility was built in 2015. It is the property of the Department of Youth Services. This site was visited with permission. Trespassing is illegal.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
An old well house at the Chalkville Training School for Girls. Click here to see more photos.
(Source: Jeff E. Newman)
4. Pratt City Church
This church on Avenue U in Pratt City has been empty since it was struck by a tornado. Jeff E. Newman of Steel City Urbex took photos.
(Source: Jeff E. Newman)
Interior of the Pratt City church.
(Source: Jeff E. Newman)
Interior of the Pratt City church.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
5. Jemison Center, former insane asylum for African Americans
The Jemison Center was built in the 1920s as part of Bryce Hospital, which opened in Tuscaloosa as the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane at the outset of the Civil War. The building was constructed in Northport on what was once called Cherokee Plantation, owned by Robert Jemison.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
After the Jemison Center was built, the hospitals were kept segregated. The able-bodied patients at Jemison worked on a hospital farm. After the main asylum became known as Bryce Hospital in 1900, the Jemison Center was often called "Old Bryce Hospital," despite the fact that Bryce was built first. The Jemison Center changed focus in the 1970s because of desegregation laws and closed in the 1980s. The property is still owned by the Department of Mental Health and is trespassing is illegal. This is one of the outbuildings at the site.
(Source: Namaan Fletcher/What's Left of Birmingham)
Inside the Jemison Center.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
6. Dicksonia Plantation
Dicksonia Plantation in Lowndesboro had a reputation in its day as a stately mansion in picturesque surroundings. But, after burning twice in its 186-year history, the elegant mansion is more famous in its ruinous state than it ever was as a family home. The burned-out shell of the Dicksonia mansion was left after a 1964 fire because the damage to the foundation was too extensive for repairs.
(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)
Dicksonia ruins have been used to film an opening scene in the 2003 movie "Big Fish," was the site of a photo shoot by legendary celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who photographed actress Natalie Portman for the May 1999 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, and is now a sought-after venue for artistic photography and weddings.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
the interior, seen here from the doorway, is closed to the public because it is unsafe. The grounds are maintained and the site is available to rent for photography and events from Dorothy Skipper Rental LLC. ADVANCE PERMISSION REQUIRED. For information, call 334-320-5330 or visit the Facebook page. Click here to see more photos.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
7. Robinson's Switch
Across from St. Clair's Bait & Tackle, Grocery and Hardware, a tiny catch-all store at the crossroads of Lowndes County Roads 29 and 40, is a narrow, shaded dirt lane that leads to one of Alabama's best-kept secrets. Railroad tracks run alongside the backs of the surviving buildings, parallel to the dirt lane called Robinson Switch Road.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
At least one of the buildings at Robinson's Switch has the shape of a depot and another long building appears to have been a railroad warehouse. A little farther to the east is a waterway known as Gun Island Chute that leads to the Alabama River. Click here to see Robinson Switch Road on Google Maps.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
Click here to see more photos of Robinson's Switch.
(Source: Wil Elrick)
8. Old Shelby Hotel
Measured by other resorts built in Alabama in the 1800s, such as nearby Shelby Springs Hotel or Blount Springs Resort, the Dennemora Hotel offered a pared-down version of entertainment. It had no ballroom, no gold-leafed interior, no orchestra. What it did offer was good food, comfortable bedrooms, outdoor activities and, according to a history of Shelby Iron Works, the first accommodations with electricity and indoor plumbing in the state.
(Source: Wil Elrick)
The first Dennemora Hotel was built at the height of the Civil War, in 1863, along what is now Shelby County Road 42, five miles southwest of Columbiana. The hotel's location next to the Shelby Iron Works, built in 1842 for access to a spring on the property, made it a popular weekend destination for the public but it was also used by employees of the Iron Works. The hotel closed in the 1970s. Click here to see more photos.
AL.com File Photo/Frank Couch
9. Memorial Mound
When Memorial Mound opened on Dartmouth Avenue in Bessemer in 1993, it was billed as a new method of laying loved ones to rest. Coffins were stacked on racks like a storage facility. However, in the 2010s, no one was managing the site and vandals began tearing up the facility. The caskets were left neglected and families were angry. The remains were removed in 2015. This photo shows a casket on a top shelf that is rusted through the bottom.
AL.com File Photo/Frank Couch
These display caskets left inside Memorial Mound still had price tags on them. The facility on Dartmouth Avenue in Bessemer was abandoned with bodies inside but they were removed in 2015.
(Source: Wil Elrick)
10. Spectre Film Set
Spectre, Ala., is a fictional town built as a set for the 2003 movie "Big Fish." When filming was completed, the owners of the property on Jackson Lake Island near Millbrook told director Tim Burton to leave the sets rather than bulldoze them. The buildings, built only for filming exteriors, were not completed and not built to code. After a fire and years of deterioration, only a few buildings remain but it has become a popular destination for tourists and photographers. Click here for more photos.
(Source: Wil Elrick)
Today, Jackson Lake Island is open to the public for camping and fishing. Owners Bobby and Lynn Bright are refurbishing the film set of Spectre because public interest remains high. Read about the Brights and the plans for the island by clicking here.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
11. Ward's Funeral Home
This abandoned funeral home in Opelika still has hearses and caskets inside its casket showcase room.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
A hearse can be seen inside the garage of the abandoned Ward’s Funeral Home in Opelika.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
12. Winter Place
Winter Place at 454 Goldthwaite Street is one of the most iconic properties in Montgomery and in the state, both because of its Second Empire-style beauty and its history, which includes acting as offices for the Confederate Army and, according to legend, being the place where F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre met, setting off one of the most fiery romances of the Jazz Age.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
Winter Place is actually a complex with two huge homes; the second is that both homes are in dire need of renovation. The property is for sale. For information, contact Craig Drescher, info@historicwinterplace.com
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
13. Gurley Hall Hotel
The abandoned Hall Hotel building is among the loveliest - if spooky - structures in the Madison County town of Gurley. Click here to see more.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
Hall Hotel dates to 1895 and residents of Gurley hope to restore it.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
14. Mt. Vernon Hospital for the Colored Insane
In the small south Alabama town of Mount Vernon, one of the state's greatest historical treasures is slowly being consumed by kudzu, time and apathy. At the site of Mount Vernon Arsenal, founded in 1828, more than 30 historic buildings are rotting where they stand, including those that housed, at differing times, Geronimo, a Civil War militia, Dr. Walter Reed and African American mental patients when it was the Mount Vernon Asylum for the Colored Insane, later known as Searcy Hospital.
(Source: Historic American Buildings Survey/Library of Congress)
Click here to see a five-part history of the Mt. Vernon/Searcy Hospital site, shown here in 1935, with photo galleries.
NOTE: This site was visited with permission and under supervision of the State Department of Mental Health. It is continually guarded and visitors are not allowed without prior approval.
(Source: Matt Glasscock at left; Birmingham Public Library at right)
15. City Federal
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2016/09/amazing_photos_show_abandoned.html
Matt Glasscock, who took the photo at left, and members of Steel City Urbex were invited by the owner to tour some of the closed portions of the City Federal building in downtown Birmingham. Parts of the building have been renovated into living space but the penthouse, basement and old bank area remain abandoned and off-limits, awaiting restoration. At right, a historical photo of City Federal.
(Source: Matt Glasscock)
Members of Steel City Urbex were allowed into the bank area and the basement that are being developed for a business such as a restaurant or wine cellar, he said. “The penthouse is still up for sale,” he said. “We hope to get permission to go photograph it very soon.”
(Source: Josh Box/Steel City Urbex)
16. Empire Building
The Empire Building, one of four that make up the "Heaviest Corner on Earth" in downtown Birmingham, is a 16-story, 247-foot-tall Classical Revival-style skyscraper. It is located at 1928 First Avenue North. It was abandoned for years and is currently being refurbished.
(Source: Josh Box/Steel City Urbex)
A staircase in the Empire building before renovations began. The Empire building was erected in 1909 on the site of the former Bank Saloon, according to Bham Wiki. "When it was built, it was the tallest building in Alabama."
(Source: Josh Box/SteelCityUrbex)
(Source: Josh Box/Steel City Urbex)
Ceiling in the Empire building.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
17. Shelby Chemical Plant
This weathered concrete frame on Shelby County Road 42 was once part of Shelby Chemical Co., a plant owned by Shelby Iron Co. It is located across from Shelby Iron Works Park, which has been preserved as an educational site.
(Source: ShelbyIronWorkds.typepad.com)
Shelby Iron Co. began operations in the 1840s. It produced plating for Civil War-era ironclad vessels, as well as pig iron for munitions and other wartime materials. It was destroyed by Union forces in 1865. It was rebuilt and operated until 1923. The chemical plant was built by the company in 1918 to make wood alcohol from charcoal for World War I. The war ended before the plant went into operation.
(Source: HistoricTuscaloosa.org)
18. The State Capitol in Tuscaloosa
The ruins of the building that served as the Alabama Capitol from 1826-1846 have been preserved as Capitol Park in Tuscaloosa. The city was the capital after Huntsville was the temporary capital city in 1819 so a Constitutional Convention could be held to choose the first official capital, which was Cahawba.
(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)
After the capital was moved to Montgomery, the Tuscaloosa building was used as the Alabama Central Female College. It burned in 1923, leaving only ruins. This photo of the Alabama Capitol in Tuscaloosa was taken in the 1890s or early 1900s.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
19. The Crocheron Mansion
This photo shows the Crocheron Columns, the only things remaining from a mansion built in Cahaba in 1843 by Richard Crocheron. The preserved ruins of Alabama's first permanent capital city can be toured at Old Cahawba Archaeological Site. For tour information and fees, visit the ghost town's website here.
(Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History)
A photo of the Richard Crocheron mansion in the 1880s, when it was already an abandoned ruin. The city of Cahaba, or Cahawba, located where the Cahaba and Alabama rivers meet, was abandoned in 1825 after severe flooding.
(Source: Namaan Fletcher/What's Left of Birmingham)
20. Colored Masonic Temple
Inside a seven-story, Renaissance Revival-style building in downtown Birmingham, framed photos of unknown people linger on desks that haven't been used in three decades. Nearby, a pair of eyeglasses gathers dust, as if the owner were suddenly interrupted in the middle of a workday and never returned. The neglected building is Birmingham's Masonic Temple, also once known as the Colored Masonic Lodge.
(Source: Namaan Fletcher/What's Left of Birmingham)
Since it was erected in 1922, the Masonic building has a public library for black residents and home to offices for prominent black doctors and lawyers, as well as the local NAACP. In the era of segregation, it was central to the cultural life of black Birmingham residents. The building has been abandoned since the 1980s. Groups such as Main Street Birmingham, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation have attempted to find a use for it and funding to refurbish it.
(Source: Namaan Fletcher/What's Left of Birmingham)
Inside the Masonic Lodge building.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
21. Mansion on Goldthwaite
The crumbling house on a hill at 103 Goldthwaite Street was obviously once a beauty. It is located on a street bordering Montgomery's quaint Cottage Hill district, which is filled with refurbished cottages.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
Detail of the abandoned mansion on Goldthwaite. Click here to see more from Cottage Hill.
Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com
More photos of Abandoned Alabama
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These abandoned Alabama bridges will make you wonder what's on the other side
Eerie abandoned campus of Alabama's girls reform school
Ghost boats: Abandoned Alabama watercraft
Inside the spooky skeleton of Bryce, Alabama's historic insane hospital
15 riveting ruins that recount Alabama's past
Crumbling Shelby Hotel gives spooky glimpse into Alabama's resort era
11 creepy abandoned hotels in Alabama
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