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NEW CHARLESTON PHOTO BOOK
In "Charleston," (Then and Now) a new photo book that goes on sale Monday, historian Billy Joe Peyton chronicles the history of dozens of the city's famous and lesser-known structures. Leafing through its 96 pages, it's hard not to mourn the loss of many of these buildings. There's the old Capitol, of course, destroyed by fire in 1921. And the once-handsome Hotel Fleetwood, whose demise left a gaping hole on Capitol Street. To show the differences, there are before-and-after photos of each site. Each page has two photos -- a historic one, and a new one taken from the same angle to show what the place looks like today. The book is part of Arcadia Publishing's Then & Now series. Peyton, a history professor at West Virginia State University and chairman of the city's Historic Landmarks Commission, said he got the idea for the book about four years ago. "I've always been interested in the concept of a then-and-now photo montage. I'd been aware of Arcadia Publishing's project. They sent out a blanket invitation for authors. I kind of put it on the back burner. Last year I had the time to get the job done." Once he started, it took him about 10 to 12 weeks to assemble all the parts -- find old photos, take new ones, research and write captions and send the package to the publisher. Peyton tapped a number of collectors to find vintage photographs. "Stan Cohen, the local history author who did the Kanawha County Images books; Jerry Waters, who has an extensive collection of online images; KRT, the WVU library and friends of the family. The bulk are from Jerry Waters, the state archives and the Kanawha County Library. I tried not to use the common images you see repeated." http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201001090182?page=1&build=cache |
