‘Abandoned Kentucky’ book preserves state history through photography

Abandoned Kentucky authors

Photographers Sherman Cahal, Adam Paris and Michael Maes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

Three Kentucky men are preserving the state’s past through photography.

They’re bringing history to life in a new book called “Abandoned Kentucky,” using cameras and drones to capture abandoned properties across the Commonwealth.

The book combines words and images to tell the story of long-forgotten locations like the former Merchant’s Ice and Cold Storage Tower in Smoketown.

Award-winning photographers and historians Sherman Cahal, Michael Maes, and Adam Paris traveled thousands of miles across the state to photograph a variety of vacant properties including homes, schools, and cemeteries.

They said the goal of documenting them is to show readers there is more to these sites than what meets the eye.

“We hope that people at least take away from the book that there is beauty in decay, and that there is more behind these walls than what people might envision,” said Cahal, who lives outside of Ashland.

Maes is from Louisville, and believes people are genuinely curious about the mystery behind abandoned properties.

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