A project site documenting abandoned buildings throughout Georgia

Return to Sparta

So as most of you probably already know I did a video on Sparta, Ga in Hancock County for my Youtube channel for this project talking about all of the suffering in Sparta since the loss of the Sparta Furniture Factory at the end of the 1990s. Many of the old small business buildings in Sparta now sit empty and decaying and it’s really sad, but after I posted my video I had a comment from Robert Currey, the owner of Currey & Company, who is now a resident of Sparta and he was not happy with me for my …

Read more

Old Holiday Inn in Marietta, Ga

So an item that has been a point of contention in the City of Marietta, Georgia is this old Holiday Inn hotel that sits along Delk Road off I-75 in Marietta. Built in 1975, this hotel sported 193 rooms on six floors and was in service up until an electrical fire in 2006 forced it’s closing. This is an especially tragic story as 1 hotel guest was killed in the fire and 20 others were injured. Over the years the property has been owned by a few different owners and many times the city has been promised that the hotel …

Read more

Continuing Work, Working with New Partners

So now that I have expanded the Forgotten Pieces of Georgia project to include mini-documentary films as well as still photos, I have been asked by the Sparta Ishmaelite, which is the local newspaper in Sparta, Ga, to do some original content for their paper in the hopes of fostering a sense of community again in their small city. Over the last few decades, in addition to losing the Sparta Furniture Factory, there has been a LOT of increased tensions between the citizens and the local government. I have not gotten the entire “skinny” on the issues, but I believe from …

Read more

Expanding the Project

So as I am wrapping up my Bachelors in Digital Photography at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, I just finished my e-Portfolio class and as part of that class my Professor and I decided it would be a good idea to expand this project’s web and Social Media presence. Originally I only had a Facebook page for this project and a single portfolio of images on my main Liam Photography website. So now my project has it’s own Instagram, Twitter, Website and Youtube Channel and I finished and uploaded my video on Sparta, Ga in Hancock County. What this means …

Read more

Sparta Furniture Manufacturing Company

This week as part of my Sparta, Ga project I completed my Youtube video on the city. Sparta is the County Seat of Hancock County and was once a very prosperous and thriving little city. Founded in 1795 Sparta became a large part of Georgia’s cotton industry. The building shown above was originally the Sparta Cotton Warehouse which sat along the all important rail line, but with the arrival of the boll weevil in the 1920s the cotton industry was decimated. The building was later bought in the 1950s and turned into the Sparta Furniture Manufacturing Company. The new company made …

Read more

Central State Mental Hospital – Milledgeville, Ga

One of the spookiest places I have come across in my travels for my Forgotten Pieces of Georgia project is the Central State Mental Hospital in Milledgeville, Ga. This facility was opened in December of 1842 and is still partially used today. The complex includes 200 buildings on 2,000 acres and at one time was the largest mental health facility in the world. The hospital was  run by Dr Thomas A Green from 1845-1879 and the care of patients in those days was a “family” environment. During his tenure, Green ate with the staff and patients and abolished all rope …

Read more

Category Archives

photography