The above image represents an atypical landscape in Appalachian Ohio. I hesitate to start off the series with this image, but even I, a humble man, can’t ignore its power. To be clear, McMansions are not a common sight in the hills of Southeast Ohio. Presumably the owner of this home works for the coal plant in the background, higher up in managment. It wasn’t the first time I had visited the site, and as you can see, shooting at noon and not 5:30 AM can make a big difference:
Cheshire is a town locally famous for a rather unfortunate situation. A lawsuit brought on by the town’s residents against American Electric Power, owner of the Gavin Power Plant, claimed (and conclusive evidence points in their favor) that toxic gas emissions and acid rain were damaging cars, homes, and of course the health of the community. AEP bought the town from the majority of its 221 residents for a total of $20 million in 2002.
The town has since been cleared of homes and most streets, AEP making sure to clear even the foundation of the houses. The landscape is subtlety surreal in that something feels off. The density of the trees feels residential, but there is nothing there, save for a couple of houses, a pizza shop, and municipal buildings.
Here is one of the houses with the town’s lonely residents – Canadian geese. More from Cheshire and the area surrounding Gavin Power Plant:
Comments 6
starry night… man that’s the best photo ive seen in quite a bit.
Posted 10 Jul 2010 at 2:49 am ¶hi, your coal mining town shots are amazing, the starry night one as well as others, just so upsetting, i cant even imagine the mcmansion in the area. i had no idea this kind of thing was going on in 2010. it seems so old, so third worldish…such a shame. and though it is coal, every thing about it reminds of nuclear, and chernobyl-(sp?) which i am plenty old enough to remember. wow.
Posted 27 Jul 2010 at 2:00 am ¶Haha, I live across the little creek from the first house. It isn’t exactly what the houses around here typically look like, haha. I’ve seen these sites my whole life, all 18 years of it thus far. These are some good pictures. Have you went down the road that Gravel Hill Cemetery is on and seen the plant from that side at night? It’s actually quite beautiful and lit up.
Posted 29 Aug 2010 at 8:38 am ¶Hayley – Small world, thanks for all the comments on the posts. Always interested to hear from people that are from the towns I’m working in.
I’ve travelled that back road by Gravel Hill many times – some of the photos here are from that area.
Posted 29 Aug 2010 at 8:31 pm ¶Yeah, I was looking up more things about the Cheshire Transaction last night and came across this. Being from such a small town you never really expect to see any pictures of ANYTHING about it on the internet, so I was surprised. I even found an article in the NY Times about the Cheshire Transaction! =]
Posted 30 Aug 2010 at 3:34 am ¶Hey Hayley. The Cheshire transaction has gotten a lot of attention. You’d be surprised at how many photographers travel to the region and specifically Cheshire.
Posted 30 Aug 2010 at 3:49 pm ¶Post a Comment