Into the Hills
Descending into the hills of Kentucky, which is my home territory, is something of a ritual.
Or a fix. It's similar to a drug that you need frequent doses of to really admire. The forested hills, the rural, dated landscape, the small towns, the 24-hour diners serving up the greasiest of foods and loads of straight black coffee. Out here, the faux city life is not wanted; it's all about basic attire, hardworking folks who toil to make electricity for us, rustic trucks, and a hometown warmth.
As I descended into Irvine, a town of several thousand, I came upon their
high school which had recently closed. Constructed in 1930, the building is an excellent rehabilitation candidate into apartments.
Nearby was Ravenna, which was essentially a town developed around the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Tucked into a corner was the
Ravenna Graded School that was constructed in 1927 and housed grades one through eight.
I knocked on the door of what I thought was an abandoned addition, only to find it occupied. A wary individual stepped outside and we chatted for a few minutes about the old building, its past and its future, and he indicated that at one point after its closing in the early 200s, that it was used as a haunted house. Portions were set to be renovated into offices, but that work has seemingly stopped.
Below: A classroom was converted into a makeshift kitchen.
Below: The interior had mostly been stripped into a haunted house.
The school structure itself is sound. It could use some TLC and some money, but is also a good candidate for rehabilitation.
Exiting out of Ravenna, I detoured to visit
Texola to see what remained of the former Texas Oil Company refinery. Also known as Pryse, the town of 800 was located along the Louisville & Nashville Railroad about five miles southeast of Irvine, and was named for pioneer David Pryse who had immigrated from Wales to Lee County. Pryse had later moved to Estill County where he purchased several hundred acres of land along the Kentucky River.
The company constructed a refinery in 1920 that operated until 1945. A post office was established under Pryse on June 3, 1924 which later closed.
I also explored a bit of the backroads towards Heidelberg. It's ideal, rural and isolated. I also found a nice cottage worthy of some work if I make it down there more often.
It's also for sale: 270-200-0287 or 560-8414 or 606-560-8414.
Down that way was a branch of the
Richmond, Nicholasville, Irvine & Beattyville Railroad (RNI&B, Riney-B), which once existed between Versailles to Irvine. It was acquired by another railroad in 1899 and extended to Beattyville and Airedale. Another acquisition extended the line west to Frankfort, giving a total mileage of around 110 miles.
A branch was constructed by the Kentucky Coal Development Company from Heidelberg to Ida May via Sturgeon Creek. The 2.98-mile was built from March 1907 to January 1908, and the line was acquired by the L&A on November 1, 1909, only to fall into the hands of the L&N a year later. The Sturgeon Creek branch provided a connection to the Kentucky, Rockcastle & Cumberland Railroad. But a lack of traffic on the branch caused it to be discontinued on April 13, 1935.
Below: Piers from the Kentucky River truss still exist at Heidelberg.
Below: The Sturgeon Creek right-of-way is now used by Kentucky Route 399.
Below: An old general store at Brandenburg, just south of Heidelberg.
Below: What may be the former Ida May station.
After photographing some rural bridges (covered in a
Bridges & Tunnels update), I came across the old Booneville Theatre on Mulberry Street in Booneville.
This quaint rural Appalachian residence was located in Turkey at the junction of Kentucky Route 30 and 1114. Before the arrival of manufactured homes that are a blight on the landscape, these hand-built homes were the mainstay of the hills. Understated, simple, authentic.
Closer to Jackson is the former
Big Rock School along Cane Creek. The two-story structure was constructed of load-bearing sandstone by the Works Progress Administration and was closed in the 1970s. A neighboring church now owns the building and has plans to rehabilitate it.
I asked a neighbor, a former coal miner, if he had any information on the school or access. While he didn't have keys, he was more than happy to remiss about the olden days inside his small but tidy residence in a hollow. Warmed by a wood-fired stove, I felt at home as we chatted about the history of the area and the school.
After photographing Breathitt County's seat of Jackson, I ventured further south to Hazard and came across the abandoned
Broadway School along Broadway. Constructed in 1912 as the first Hazard public school specific to high school students, it was built as a partnership between the city and county. Prior to its completion, Perry County did not have any public high schools. Kentucky's legislature passed a law in that year that required every county to have a high school, though attendance was optional.
In 1925, a new high school was constructed on Baker Street, and the Broadway School Building was used as a grade school and became known as the Lower Broadway Building. At the time, the city school system was using the former Hazard Baptist Institute for additional classroom space, but when the Roy G. Eversole School was completed further up Broadway in 1963, both the Lower Broadway Building and the Hazard Baptist Institute Building was no longer needed.
The structure was then reused for Hazard Community College in its infancy. It remained at the site until a new facility was constructed along Kentucky Route 15. The Broadway School Building was then used as an administrative office for Hazard Independent School and Kentucky Valley Education Cooperative. The administrative offices for the school district relocated on October 16, 2006 and the Cooperative vacated in 2007.
In July 2012, the school board elected to sell the building due to its deterioration with the condition that the new owners demolish the structure.
The lighting was not that great for a frontal shot of the school, so that will be covered in a future update.
I spent some time exploring Hazard's barren but historically interesting downtown - to be covered in a future update, and headed northward, visiting several coal camp communities including Krypton. My goal was to obtain some good vantages of mountaintop removal operations, but all of the abandoned residences, wayward sights and disorienting roadways hindered my schedule.
Exploring the hills of Kentucky. I got my fix that was long needed, and now I need more. A return visit is definitely in the works.