Built before 1900 in Chester, South Carolina, the Coleman-Aiken-Balser is a striking house that has caught the imagination of photographers and passers-by. I first photographed it in 2022. While it doesn’t look worse, it doesn’t seem better either. I thought I saw signs of potential work, but there are still windows open to the elements.
I hope to see it restored one day.
Mount Carmel A.M.E. Zion Church & Campground was founded in 1866 in Heath Springs, South Carolina It is a historic African Methodist Episcopal Zion meeting site. The grounds include a brick church, about 55 cabins, an open-air arbor for worship, and a cemetery. The annual camp meeting begins the first Wednesday in September and lasts 4–5 days.
I did not explore the grounds due to several no trespassing signs. Below are images from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. These images are part of the National Register of Historic Places nomination. It was listed in 1979.
African Cemetery No. 2 is the earliest recorded cemetery organized, owned, and managed by the Black citizens of Lexington, Kentucky. Purchased in 1869 by the Union Benevolent Society No. 2 and chartered in 1870, it served as a burial ground until 1976.
The cemetery’s notable residents include Oliver Lewis, the first Kentucky Derby winner, and Isaac Burns Murphy, a three-time Derby-winning jockey. It also contains graves of over 150 U.S. Colored Troops, including soldiers from the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments.
After decades of neglect, the site was declared abandoned in 1973. Plans for development ended when surveys revealed over 5,000 burials. In 1979, Rev. Horace Henry Greene lead the restoration efforts of the cemetery and founded the non-profit to manage the cemetery. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Buck Creek School is a one-teacher schoolhouse near Finchville, Kentucky, in Shelby County. It was built for $1800. Completed in 1920, it was used until 1957. It was converted to a residence in 1959. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Ouerbacker-Clement House, located at 1633 West Jefferson Street in Louisville’s Russell neighborhood, is a historic mansion built in 1860 in the Richardsonian-Romanesque style. Originally owned by George Moore and later by steamboat captain Alexander Gilmore, the home was expanded in the 1890s by renowned architects Arthur Loomis and Charles Clarke.
Over the years, it housed local figures such as Samuel Ouerbacker, a coffee merchant, and Reverend George Clement and his son Rufus Clement, who later became the president of Atlanta University, now known as Clark Atlanta University.
Eventually the mansion served as a tax service office for 70 years until the city seized the property for unpaid taxes. The property languished until the city sold it for $1 in 2014. The company that purchased it restored and converted into six apartments.
The Italianate located on Chestnut Street is also known as the Doerhoefer-Hampton House. It was built in 1887 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The local chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity purchased the home in 2019 and restored it. It now serves as their local headquarters and meeting space.
