Update: Apparently the smelter was closed in December 2013. Much of the rest of the town around the smelter has been demolished.

I thought I would come and see the Doe Run Lead Smelter myself, and see what Herculaneum is really “like” beyond the suburban area along the interstate away from the historic core.

Honestly, other than the gigantic smokestack, belching a white-yellow smoke on the day I was there, there aren’t a lot of landmarks.

This church is one nice little structure that I saw.

Unfortunately, the demolition of nearby houses around the smelter has left much of the town a ghost town.

Update from the vault: The image below did not appear in the original post from 2010.