From a family home, to a Nazi retreat, to a children’s home, this crumbling castle in rural Belgium has a lot of stories to tell.

From a family home, to a Nazi retreat, to a children’s home, this crumbling castle in rural Belgium has a lot of stories to tell.
The Dutch began building this fort in 1818. The Belgians used it as a barracks. The Germans used it as a prison for the Belgians. The Americans used it as a hospital for the Allied Forces. It was abandoned in the 1980s.
For 130 years, the coal beneath Cheratte, Belgium was unearthed by its intrepid miners. Here’s what it was like for me to visit where they worked.