The Empty Spaces

I have a love affair with old houses. What others see may just be an old house, but my eyes see these places in a different way, and I try my best to capture what I see with my photography. What I see is a peek inside a tiny piece of history of lives once lived. The house itself often hints of a personality that, if you look closely, shines through the broken windows and peeks out from underneath the peeling paint. 

Within the walls of these old homes are lingering memories of a time long gone but perhaps not too far forgotten. If those walls could talk, what would they tell us? They might tell of happy times with family, watching growing children, laughter and joy. They also may keep deep secrets, hide lingering sadness, and mourning for their losses. An old house is not just a place made of wood and bricks, it's a big box full of emotions and remembrance. I think sometimes the house may hold on to some of these feelings long after their inhabitants have moved on. 

Over the years as the old house ages, the old memories begin to slowly fade away just as she does. Left forgotten and forlorn, slowly, nature begins to reclaim what was once hers. Exposed to the elements, with aging bones, she begins to break down. Her roof weakens and begins to leak, the foundation may begin to show cracks. The doors and windows warp with the changes in the weather and over time, the vines begin to cover her up face as she is entering her final years, months, days. At some point, she eventually begins to crumble completely, or her fate is determined for her, and she is torn to the ground. 

When she was built, she was likely hand made with delicate care and intricate detail. Her wood may have been cut from the lot where she stood, or her old bricks may have been made from the mud she sat upon. The smallest details from hinges on her doors to her beautiful winding staircase would showcase the fine craftsmanship of her time. But left to decay, she is no longer needed, no longer appreciated or no longer has someone to care for and love her. 

I stumble upon many beautiful old houses when I am in search of abandoned places and I spend many hours just driving the backroads seeking out the next amazing place. I have found many along the way, but only a few have really captured my heart. I travel back to visit them from time to time, through the changing seasons and even over the years, I have watched time and mother nature take their toll. I have been heartbroken though, as I have seen too many of these old beauties torn down. It hurts to see such a wonderful piece of history come crashing down, especially by a bulldozer. 

I love these old homes, I have hopes to see them be restored, loved again and put to good use. I wish in some small way that I can save them all, but I know that is only a dream. Reality hits when I go once again to visit, and she is no longer there, and the only thing that is left is the empty space where she once stood tall and proud. I am, however, very thankful for the opportunities to take photographs of these places, because in the end, memories are all we will have. 

Photos above - Top - House on the verge of collapse in Cabell County, WV. Middle - Recently torn down 1830s home in Mason County, WV. Bottom - Recently torn down 1800s home in Mason County, WV. All photos on this site are property of the author, Melissa Stanley, unless otherwise noted. Photos should only be used with permission of the author/photographer.

The Anchorage

If you like old houses that are haunted, well I have the perfect place for you!

Marietta is the oldest city in Ohio and while there are plenty of beautiful old houses in town, one caught my attention about ten or so years ago. The Anchorage, also known as the Putnam Villa, is a beautiful 22 room Italianate style home that was built in 1859 and sits proudly on a hill overlooking Harmar Village in Marietta. The house was built by Douglas Putnam for his wife Eliza and is built from native oak and sandstone. Eliza planned the homes design to suit her personal style and it took ten years for the home to be complete. Unfortunately, Eliza did not get to enjoy her grand new home for long, she died only three years after it was finished. 

Following the Putnam family, other prominent families owned the house over the years. After the last owners, Eddie MacTaggart and his sister Sophia Russell passed away, the house was turned into a nursing home which operated until the 1980s. After the closure of the nursing home, the house sat vacant for many years. Today the home is owned and being restored by the Washington County Historical Society.

I first knew of this home's reputation for being haunted, and that led to the initial visit years ago to see this it for myself. I have never investigated here, but stories of spirits that roam her halls abound. According to Hidden Marietta, the tour company that operates tours of the home, some 20 individuals have died inside the Anchorage over the years, including past owners, their family members and nursing home residents. Some of the reported paranormal activity includes hearing audible disembodied voices, shadows and apparitions and even the sensations of being touched. Up in the tower, the homes original owners, Eliza Putnam and her husband Douglas has been seen. 

I recently booked a tour of the old house to see it inside instead of just the exterior. Due to Covid-19, the only tours that were being offered were self-guided. We (my husband and myself) received a short summary of the history before we started. I was excited to see the inside of the house, although a fully guided tour would have been great, we ended up with the chance to roam the halls alone. I can't say that I was disappointed, this was a perfect opportunity to take lots of photos without having to wait for other tour guests to clear out of an area before I could snap photos. Trust me, I have done quite a few tours and typically hang toward to back in order to get plenty of pictures. 

During our tour of the home, I took notice of all the beautiful architectural details throughout the house, no doubt Eliza hand-picked them herself. The downstairs has been mostly restored, but the restoration process is ongoing. I walked throughout each room, simply admiring the work of art this house truly is, and with the restoration work, I can only imagine how much more beautiful it will become. The upper floors are still in need of restoration, but nonetheless, it is still beautiful, even with peeling paint, wallpaper and exposed boards. 

Having the old house almost completely to ourselves allowed for ample observation for any paranormal activity. There was an option to include a small investigation into the tour, but I just wanted to explore and if we happened to encounter any ghosts during our time, that was fine. Unfortunately, we did not have any experiences, it felt comfortable and calm inside the house, nothing out of the ordinary happened. We were told by one of the guides that a girl from the tour the previous day had her hair pulled by something unseen, which is another seemingly "normal" paranormal event that has been reported in the house.

On the second floor, it is still evident that the house was used as nursing home. The stairway was enclosed during the time the nursing home operated there, but if you look close you can still see some of the original character on the old steps. There are seemingly hidden rooms and rooms that connect to other rooms, which is pretty typical for houses built in the 1800s. This house has a section that was used as servants' quarters. The attic area is huge, and it is believed that the children liked to play up there.

The final spot we visited in the house was on up beyond the attic, and into the tower, also known as a campanile, or Italian bell tower. The tower has a breath-taking full view of Marietta. The winding staircase to the tower looks to be in original condition and it has a feel of being straight out of a fairy tale, or creepy haunted house movie, or perhaps just a combination of the two. I imagine this spot in the house was probably a favorite. I can envision children laughing and playing in the tower and running up and down the stairs. I can imagine Eliza and Douglas watching over their town below while having a quiet moment of reflection from their little castle on the hill. I can even picture the faint apparitions of the spirits that wander the halls of the Anchorage, peeking out from the tower windows and keeping watch over the house. 

Want to learn more about the house, take a tour or even book a ghost hunt? Visit Hidden Marietta for more information or to check out other haunts in the area.

Want to see more of my photos from inside the Anchorage? Visit Ghosts of Guyandotte on Facebook and check out my photo album. 

All photos on this site and in this article are property of the author, Melissa Stanley, unless otherwise noted. 

The Cholera Epidemic in Guyandotte

Currently, we are living through a global pandemic. This is not the first time in history that humans have experienced a widespread disease that has killed many and it likely will not be the last. 

While sharing stories on the Guyandotte ghost tours, we talked about a pandemic disease that wiped out millions of people worldwide. A series of seven cholera pandemics have occurred throughout the world over the past two-hundred years. Even in modern times, small outbreaks of cholera persist in parts of the world.

So, what is cholera exactly? It is a very infectious disease that causes watery diarrhea and dehydration. Cholera is caused by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the bacteria from human feces. It was primarily spread through contaminated water in the 1800s due to the lack of sanitation and sewage treatment and was also spread by undercooked seafood that had been in contaminated water. The onset of symptoms would come on quickly and harsh for some, while others only had mild or even no symptoms at all. Death could come quickly for someone infected, often in a matter of hours. 

Cholera was first known in the United States in 1832, likely arriving with immigrants from Europe. Cholera reached the larger cities along the Ohio River by way of travel along the river. Guyandotte was a busy river port on the Ohio River, so it was inevitable that cholera would eventually find its way there and to other nearby river cities. 

In the late 1840s, a cholera outbreak hit the Ohio River area between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, killing several hundred people. The outbreak brought on panic. One of those who would succumb to cholera was Logan, West Virginia resident Anthony Lawson. 60 year old Lawson was traveling the Ohio River as a merchant, on his way home to Logan. He got off the boat at Guyandotte, sick with cholera. He died soon after arriving at Guyandotte. He was buried in the Guyandotte cemetery. 

In 1849, another non-resident of Guyandotte, Harriet "Hannah" Stoddert, 61 year old widow of Senator George W. Campbell of Nashville, Tennessee was traveling to Virginia with her children when she fell ill with cholera and died just a few hours later. She is buried at Nashville City Cemetery next to her husband. 

I discovered a published memoir from a gentleman from St. Louis. In 1850, fearing for his health, he would go to Virginia to join his wife, she had left ahead of him. He made his way to Cincinnati by steamboat, then the next day boarded another boat bound for Pittsburgh, but the Virginia passengers would land at Guyandotte. Many of the passengers were fleeing their home cities due to the cholera epidemic. The gentleman told of how he stayed at a hotel in Guyandotte overnight, and several of the other passengers that were on board with him had fallen ill. His anxiety about cholera kept him up that night, he only fell asleep after he departed Guyandotte by stagecoach to continue his journey on to Virginia.

A newspaper article from the Baltimore Sun in 1854 provided a short listing of cholera epidemic deaths that spanned from Virginia (West Virginia) to Tennessee, citing that two fatal cases of cholera had occurred in Guyandotte. 

Rev. Robert Fox was a traveling preacher from Catlettsburg, Kentucky. He had traveled to Gallipolis in late June of 1873 to preach funerals for cholera victims. Upon his return, he stopped in Guyandotte to preach at the Guyandotte Methodist Episcopal Church, when he fell ill with the sickness. He died shortly thereafter at the home of Andrew J. Keenan. 

The cholera pandemic was frightening for people living in those times. In the early 1800s, people did not know how it was transmitted or even what caused the disease. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that the bacteria that caused cholera was discovered, but it took another 30 years before information on how to fight it was ever published. Cholera was wiping out entire families and hundreds were dying daily in some of the larger cities, and clearly, smaller towns like Guyandotte were not spared. 

The cholera pandemic finally went away, with no new outbreaks in the since 1911. With better sewage and water treatment, quarantines and hygiene practices, cholera was pretty much eliminated in the United States. There have been other widespread epidemics such as Smallpox, Yellow Fever, Typhoid Fever, Scarlet Fever and the Spanish Flu and today's Covid-19. Reading through the articles about the cholera pandemics of the last hundred years, the similarities to today are a little eerie. As they say, history always repeats itself. 

Photo of a grave in the Guyandotte Cemetery. All photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley unless otherwise noted.

Andrew J. Keenan House

Located on Main St. in Guyandotte, this home was believed to have been built in the 1820s by William Stone. The home later was purchased by Mark Russell. Russell was the first Gentleman Justice of the County Court; he was also Sheriff. Andrew Keenan purchased the home from the Russell's in 1845. 

Andrew was born in Nicholas County in 1819 and was a saddle maker by trade. He first married in 1838 but his first wife died in 1849. Keenan then married again in 1850 in Cabell County to Sarah Scott. In 1865, he married for the third time after yet again becoming a widower. His third marriage was to Mark Russell's daughter, Melcena. According to census records, it appears that Andrew Keenan married for a fourth and final time in 1867.

On November 10, 1861, Guyandotte was stormed by Confederate troops and a total of 98 Union soldier recruits that were camped in town as well as citizens known to have Union sympathies were captured and taken prisoner during the raid. The Keenan home was used to house these men overnight. The next morning, the men were tied together, two by two, and marched out of town heading to Richmond. 

Andrew Keenan was noted as being an exemplary Christian gentleman. He was a member of the Guyandotte Methodist Episcopal Church, south and he was a leader in that denomination. In 1873, a cholera outbreak that started in New Orleans, reached the Ohio Valley by way of steamboat travel along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. A preacher by the name of Rev. Robert Fox, had just returned from preaching funeral services for cholera victims in Gallipolis, Ohio. He preached services at the Guyandotte Methodist Episcopal Church upon his return, then fell ill with cholera himself. Rev. Fox died the following day, July 1, 1873 at the home of Andrew Keenan. It is said that during the cholera epidemic, that the Keenan home was used as a temporary hospital for cholera victims. 

The house is one of the oldest in Guyandotte still standing. In the 1980s a fire damaged the interior of the home and destroyed a back addition. During the early 2000s, it housed the KYOVA genealogical society before being vacated and used as a storage building. In recent years it was sold off and has been converted into apartments. The condition of the building has since deteriorated since the above photo was taken in 2011. 

All photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley unless otherwise noted. 

Bruce Chapel Church & Cemetery - Mason County, WV

Bruce Chapel Church was built in 1842 and was the first Episcopalian church in Mason County, West Virginia. The church was built on land that was sold by the Moore and Stephens families. The church was named for Eliza Bruce, for her charitable contributions to the church.

The church sits on a hillside and located on the adjacent property is a cemetery which has graves dating back to at least the 1840's. There are several unknown graves only marked with fieldstones and likely some slave burials exist here as well. Some slave burials are believed to be underneath the newer back addition of the church.

I first came learn about Bruce Chapel in 2006 during my search for haunted locations in West Virginia. I had just started a paranormal group and was seeking some places we might be able to investigate. The information included a nearby location known as the Mai Moore Mansion. The old Mansion, which was once located near the church, was believed to have been built around the time of the Civil War, it was home of Charles Page Thomas Moore and family. The house burned down in 1960s. The Moore family members are buried at Bruce Chapel Cemetery.

I have never been able to locate the exact location of the remains of the Mai Moore Mansion. The mansion is within the vicinity of the church, up on a hill, so we have been told. The area is likely on private property and was told by a local that there were several cisterns around the ruins, posing a hazard to any explorers. The old mansion was also located near a large prehistoric Adena burial mound known as the May Moore Mound. The mound was named for Charles Moore's daughter. Today, the mound is located on private property and lies near the Ohio River, there are also several other smaller mounds said to be in the area.

Bruce Chapel is a known haunted location to many. I have come to believe that the claims are potentially true. The possible burials under the church, the local family connections to the church and graveyard, and even the proximity to the Adena burial mounds could have contributed to the stories. However, I wouldn't claim this rumor might be true unless I had experienced for myself.

In 2006 my team went to check out the church and cemetery for the first time. What we found was an abandoned church with a slightly overgrown cemetery. It was daylight, it was summer, it was hot,

and the bugs were biting. We were recording, hoping to catch EVPs right at the front door, and upon review we captured a voice that was not anyone that was with us.

In 2012, the team secured permission to investigate inside the little rural church. It had a new owner and they were starting the process of restoration work. It was bitter cold, 17 degrees, snow on the ground, no heat in the church and bull running loose in the area. We had a really quiet evening, thankfully, until I reviewed the photos. As we were packing up, I snapped some final photos and I captured something that I cannot explain even 8 years later. It may be something, it may be nothing.

The bottom photo was taken with a point and shoot IR camera. It looks as though something, or someone is peeking around my friend who is winding up cord from our video cameras. Again, I don't claim it is paranormal but you are welcome to draw your own conclusions.




Photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley unless otherwise noted. Photos on this page were all taken in 2012.

Judge Henry Clay Warth House

This home is probably one of the lesser known historic houses in Guyandotte. During the time my old team and I were offering the Guyandotte haunted history walking tours, we only had this home as a stop for a couple tours. When people came to our tours, even if we were offering a history only tour, people wanted to hear ghost stories. Not every home has a ghost story, not every home is haunted. To my knowledge, this home is not haunted but the first owner did have a relatively significant place in Huntington's history.

Judge Henry Clay Warth was President of the Central Banking Company and the Mutual Land Company of Huntington, WV. Warth served on the House of Delegates and during that time, he introduced a bill that would create juvenile courts in the state. He later was elected to the bench of the Cabell County Common Pleas Court, he served in that position for 28 years. He as known was a no-nonsense Judge.

His wife Ruth was the daughter of Chester Parsons, a philanthropist who had made a fortune in retail and wholesale hardware. The couple had one son together and resided in Guyandotte for a time. His Guyandotte home was built in 1905 and once overlooked the Ohio River, however in the 1940s, a floodwall was installed blocking that view. Judge Warth's father resided with them in the Guyandotte home at the end of his life, his father passed away there in 1937.

I happened upon his father's gravesite during a paranormal investigation of the Bruce Chapel Church in Mason County, WV. The little historic country church located on a hillside near Gallipolis Ferry was once abandoned until a few years ago. There is a graveyard surrounding the church, and Judge Warth's father is among those buried there.

During the Flood of 1937, Guyandotte was hit particularly hard. Men surveying the flood arrived to Guyandotte in Coast Guard boats, and Judge Warth had not been heard from in several days. They approached his home and saw a candle flickering in the window. The judge climbed out from a window and onto the roof, he spoke to a reporter that was in the boat. The reporter offered him a copy of the local paper and his reply was "no thanks, I have mine". Warth died in 1952 at the age of 72 and is buried at Huntington's Woodmere cemetery,

In 1960, Judge Warth's grandson, Henry Warth III, would find himself on the other side of the law. He was a gunsmith by trade. One evening, while his wife was attending a baby shower with a friend, she had left the care of her children to her friend's 12-year-old daughter and 13-year-old niece. Upon their return, the women found deceased bodies the both teen girls in the home, shot to death. The Warth children were missing along with their 29-year-old father. Warth was later found with his children and arrested for the murder of the two young girls.
                 

Top photo - Warth house front view taken in 2011.Middle photo - John Warth headstone at Bruce Chapel Cemetery. Bottom photo - Warth house side and back view taken in 2020. All photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley unless otherwise noted. 

Historic Travels - Williamson, West Virginia

 I want to post this article from my own personal perspective a little more than some of my other posts. This is the area whereI spent the first few years of my life. While my memories of Mingo County are few, I know that my heritage runs deep here. My mom was born and raised in Mingo county and my grandmother was too.

I have traced my heritage back many generations, much of that heritage lies in the southern coal fields of West Virginia and Kentucky, and a little in Virginia too. I have some deep roots here so when I visit, it isn't just a random place to explore for me, I have lots of family history here, unlike other areas where I travel.

These locations are places I know and want to share, there is still lots in the area I have not yet explored, but I hope to add a little more to my knowledge of these areas as I travel there to visit from time to time.

Mingo County was named for the Iroquoian Mingo people and it the newest county in the state having been formed in 1895. The largest city in Mingo county is Williamson, with a population of just over 3,000 people. The land in which Williamson was built, once belonged to a man name Anthony Lawson of Logan County (Lawson buried in Guyandotte). In 1858, the land was transferred to Benjamin Williamson. Eventually, what was once just a cornfield was sold off as town lots to form the city of Williamson, which at the time was located in Logan County. The town was incorporated in 1894 and J.B. Williamson was elected the first mayor.

My great grandfather was an Italian immigrant, arriving in the US as a young teen. He gained US citizenship and I first found him listed in the 1910 census, living and working among other Italian immigrants as a coal miner in Mingo county. He was married to my great grandmother before going off to fight in WWI, she was born and raised in the area.

Today, my great grandparents are buried in the old cemetery called Fairview cemetery. The cemetery is over 100 years old and it sits on a hill, some areas are extremely steep with some graves appearing to be near impossible to reach. My grandmother told me of a time she was attending a funeral and had to climb back up the hillside on her hands and knees. The cemetery today looks pretty run down, abandoned even. My last visit was a few years ago and the difference over the years is very noticeable. My grandparents lived just a few blocks away from Fairview cemetery, and my grandmother has told me the story of how my mom "ran away" to the cemetery once, and how angry my grandpa was when he found her hiding there.

One of my favorite buildings in Williamson is the old Williamson Memorial Nursing School that sits right next to the old Williamson Memorial Hospital. It sits high up on the hill and can be seen from the downtown area. It was part of the original Williamson Memorial Hospital was built in 1918. However, that hospital was destroyed by a fire.

In 1928, Dr. George Conley and Dr. Russel Salton co-founded and built a new hospital on College Hill. In 1948, Dr. Salton's son, Dr. Russel Salton Jr. took over the operations at the hospital. My grandmother had both of her children at this hospital. Dr. Salton Jr. delivered both my uncle and my mother here.  My grandmother has always spoken fondly of hospital and Dr. Salton Jr. (he passed away in 1992). The old hospital was used until a newer facility was built in the 1980's, but was still being used for offices until 2014 when it was permanently closed.

The main hospital building it thought to be haunted, however, I have not discovered any specific stories. One tragic event that occurred at the hospital may have led to a ghost story: a man was thrown from the second story of the hospital, and presumably died as a result.  As of 2018, the Tug Valley CVB has opened the building up for to the public for haunted history tours in October.

My grandmother pointed out another cemetery that I was unaware of and is near the old hospital. Just down the hill a very small cemetery, which almost seems out of place today, lies the Williamson family cemetery. It's located on College or Hospital Hill as it is known, and the old section is enclosed by a concrete wall.

Aside from old abandoned hospitals and cemeteries, something else I like to photograph are old bridges. There is a green truss bridge that spans the Tug Fork River from Williamson, WV to Route 119 in South Williamson, KY. The bridge was built in 1950 was called the Tug Fork Bridge. I noticed that the bridge was dedicated to a man named Pete Dillon. I had to ask my grandmother about it, because I recognized the name, as she had spoken about him before. So, she called her first cousin Pete to inquire, and we discovered that the bridge was indeed named to honor him. He had been a long-time employee of the city of Williamson, and they chose to honor his hard work by dedicating the bridge to him. I have never met him, but I think it is great he made such a great impact on the city that he had a bridge named for him.

There is really a lot to this little community that I have yet to explore, I have been many times but never stay very long. I always stop at the cemetery to visit my great grandparents' graves. If conditions related to the Covid-19 epidemic improve, I will likely travel back down later this year to explore more and take some new photos. The history in the area is very rich, there are some very interesting places to explore like nearby Matewan, WV and the Hatfield and McCoy sites though southern West Virginia and Kentucky. I will likely share my travels to these areas in a future post.


Photos on this page - Old Williamson Memorial Nursing School, and abandoned apartment complex. All photos taken in 2020. All photos on this site are property of Melissa Stanley unless otherwise noted.