Photographing History

We've all passed a cemetery... or two... or hundred in our life time.  More often than not, we don't stop.  We just think of it as just 'another cemetery'.  What most don't think of them as is pieces of history. This photo by chance... Old Hill Cemetery, Brazil, Clay County, Indiana Hundreds of people drive past it each day, and likely few will stop and to see who it is that lies beneath a huge stone such as it. Or the history that dwells just in the stone alone. Austin Willett Knight.  1807-1877 Doctor. Mason. Husband. Father. But unless you actually stopped and looked, you'd never know that... or that there are 2 other people listed on that tall stone that stands out (and above) all the rest. Austin Knight was married to Achsah (1803-1887).  On a third side of the stone is their daughter, Malvina (1835-1854).  The fourth side is a dedication to another daughter, Prudence Hudson (1837-1876). So much history in piece of stone.

If you drive along East Ashboro Road in Clay County, between 300 & 375 East, you'll see a structure unlike one you'd see today.   It looks to be what remains of the Walsh Railroad Tunnel & Abutment according to the 1997 Clay County Interim Report. But what turned it into what remains today?  According to a lengthy article on https://www.ccgsilib.org, John R. Walsh, an Irish Immigrant whose parents settled in Chicago, had 3 ambitions in life: to own a newspaper, a bank and a railroad. He established the Chicago National Bank in 1881.  He bought the Chicago Herald that same year. Later he started the Home Savings Bank and the Equitable Trust Company.  In 1897, Walsh bought the E&R to realize his 3rd ambition, and changed the name to the Southern Indiana Railroad.  He extended the lines from Elnora through the Sullivan-Greene coalfields, and on to Linton and Terre Haute.  The line opened in 1900.  In 1903, the Walsh railroad began building across Clay C

This isn't a local history post... it's a forgotten places post. In 2013, I came across an old abandoned house on CR 500 East in Clay County.  It stood out to me, so I stopped to take photos.  And made me wonder.  Who lived there? What happened to them? Why was the place abandoned.  The more I wandered, the more the place intrigued me. Here are a few of the photos I took that day.  Perhaps they'll pose the same questions in you. I want to go back (once it quits raining) and take some more.  See what other pieces of history that old house holds... 

What do you do when you love photography and have a passion for all things old?  You drive around your area and take photographs of pieces of history that people have forgotten.  And then... you decide to create a blog dedicated to those things.  And tell about the history time forgot.   I can't guarantee I'll stick with this blog... I never have before... but it's my 2016 quest.  To find the old and forgotten... and bring it to light again.   So it begins.   This is a photo I took 7 May 2016:  According to the Clay County Interim Report (published 1997)  page 79, #096 for Perry Township, Clay County, Indiana.  This is a Flood Gate, off of 600 West; circa 1850/1920; Engineering, Transportation.  But what does that mean? what does it entail? What do they mean by Flood gate?  Here's a copy of an area map from maps.google.com  The red is the gate pictured above, orange is another gate, blue is drain pipes, and yellow is the bridge on the mail r