I like massive, hulking ruins as much as the next guy. Portland, Indiana, has one that’s absolutely worth slowing down for: rising high above East Votaw Street on the way to the Jay County Fairgrounds, what’s left of the old Haynes Mill still dominates the landscape. Once I noticed it, I knew I had to learn more.

Whether it’s every historic courthouse in the state, all the old schoolhouses in my area, or the full lineup of Indiana’s Long Line towers, I’ve always been drawn to big, sweeping projects. There’s something irresistible about trying to see the whole picture! It looks like old county infirmaries are up next.

Yesterday morning, a flurry of posts lit up social media with unsettling news: the Little Salamonie Christian Church in Jay County was about to be torn down. I grabbed my camera and keys. An hour later, I was standing in front of the old church, trying to take in as much as I could before it slipped from the landscape for good.

I went on a mission to visit every historic courthouse in Indiana about a decade ago. Along the way, and especially toward the end, I began to notice how many old county jails survived as well. I only managed to take photos of a few of them, but I did stop in Greenfield for a look at Hancock County’s. The Second Empire structure remains impressive more than a century and a half after it was completed!