Photography in book documents abandoned coal towns

May 22—They served as a makeshift playground during his childhood.

"There were old mining shacks and tunnels that led into caves for the mines," Michael Justice recalled. "I have three brothers, and us and just a bunch of boys from the neighborhood were seeing what we could get into. Exploring like kids do."

Justice said the coalfields — abandoned locations, specifically — of McDowell County were ripe with adventure for a group of young explorers growing up in the 1980s and '90s.

"They were convenient," he said. "It was a place you could go and not be bothered."

Justice didn't think about the history of the mines much during his childhood.

A few family members had worked underground, but he said he wasn't that close to the industry.

But the lack of personal connection didn't stop him from seeing the effect the closures were having on the communities around him.

"It was around middle school when I realized what was happening," he said. "Welch used to be the place to shop, and when the mines started to close, the jobs left."

And though he saw it then as buildings closed up and people migrated for work, it wasn't until he, too, left for school and then for work that he looked at his former playground through a different lens.

----A pharmacist, by trade, Justice started taking photos just for fun.

"This is just a hobby," said the 2001 graduate of Mount View High School who now calls Kingsport, Tenn., home.

Justice said his hobby began about 10 years ago with an attempt to learn nighttime photography.

"But I started traveling a lot for work through Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia and I kept passing by all these places and wondering what happened to them," he said. "Some of them were homes and businesses I could remember being open."

So to help break up the monotony of his long drives, he packed his camera.

"And one day, I stopped and started taking pictures," he said. "I started planning a little extra time and then it just kind of led to almost going from being a hobby into an obsession."

Justice began taking pictures of old houses, businesses, schools and churches along his route.

Unexpected travels back to McDowell County to help his mother who was diagnosed with cancer, he said, are what led to the transition into abandoned coal towns.

"I started taking my mom back and forth from Welch to Bluefield and Princeton for chemo," he said of his mother who has since recovered. "And I kept seeing these places along the way. Places I saw every weekend growing up."

Justice began to plot adventures to coal company stores and abandoned schools.

When he left, he researched the places he visited and wanted to learn more.

"I didn't know about many of them until after I stopped, so I wanted to learn their history," he said. "The coal company stores were the pillars of most of the communities. You can kind of see once all of that shut down what happened to the surrounding areas."

Justice took photos throughout the week as he traveled and planned adventures during the weekends, but had no real plans for his photos.

Eventually, however, he created an Instagram page called Appalachian Travels.

"A lot of people like abandoned photography," he said of the style of photography his work falls under.

Then, in 2019, a representative for Arcadia Publishing reached out to see if he might be interested in publishing a book featuring photos from the abandoned coal towns.

"I never dreamed it (his work) would be for anyone but me," he said.

"Abandoned Coal Towns of Southern West Virginia" features photos from Fayette, McDowell, Mercer and Wyoming counties.

Exact locations are not provided for the majority of the photos, but readers might recognize places like Nuttallburg, Coalwood and Thurmond, which is featured on the cover.

"I'm intentionally vague on where a lot of places are because most have been vandalized," Justice explained. "I don't want to give it away and then the next time I drive by someone will have set the building on fire."

Justice said he often saw evidence that many of the locations had been called home in recent years.

"There seems to be an old mattress in just about every abandoned building," he said. "Sometimes that's a little bit unsettling because you're not sure if someone will actually be in the building with you."

Couches, bedding, roller skates and a baby bassinet were among the finds that caught him off guard, he said.

Beyond the buildings' recent habitants, he said he often thought about the more official history. And sometimes, he said, speaking specifically of an abandoned swimming pool and football stadium featured in the book, the memories were more personal.

"I can remember being in the kiddie pool," he said. "And that food field across from it is where they always did the fireworks in Gary. They would do summer festivals and bring in a carnival and local talent shows. I can remember going in high school and helping paint kids' faces.

"The memories definitely came back and it's sad when you think no one else is going to experience seeing it being active, kids playing, the fireworks and that type of stuff."

But he said he hopes to preserve a little of that history with the book.

"I guess I just hope people enjoy the history and they appreciate the artistry of urban decay and abandoned buildings," he said. "They still speak and they still tell a story. They still have so much left to offer."

----"Abandoned Coal Towns of Southern West Virginia" is available for purchase at www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781634993104.

Justice said he hopes to publish additional books in the future, as he continues to travel and post photos on Instagram at Appalachian Travels.

— Email: mjames@register-herald.com