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Steve_Colby

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Posts posted by Steve_Colby

  1. The Ohio Lincoln Highway League had their annual meeting yesterday and punctuated it with the dedication of a new brick pillar. The replica pillar replaces one lost in the 1950s. Some pictures of the dedication and my trip to and from are here.

     

     

    Denny,

    I enjoyed the report and photos.

    It's interesting to note PA Route 30 (aka the Gen. Forbes Road) was in direct competition with the Cumberland/National Road to become the preferred route to the West.

     

    ~ Steve

  2. Thanks, Dave!

    I've added a board to the NationalRoadForum and to Facebook called "Wish You Were Here... Postcards From the National Road." I'm hoping to introduce photography buffs to the joys of photographing the old Road. :D

     

    I working my way through both new and old photos and produced (3) new Deja Views. All three were pretty much happenstance as opposed to premeditated shots...

     

    The first is the old Mckenzie Inn on top of Polish Mountain east of Flintstone, MD. I believe the house on the right is the what's left of the McKenzie.

    polish-mtn-deja1.jpg

     

    I have no doubt the structures in the photos below are the same.

    mountain-plaza-fairview-deja1.jpg

     

    Finally, this shot of Hancock's Main St. is close, and would be closer if I had the original postcard with me for reference.

    hancock-main-st-deja2.jpg

     

    I added a lot of new photos in the Park Head to Fairview Photo section and the Clear Spring Photo section.

     

    In the Park Head section, you'll see, what I believe is evidence of the section of the National Road that ran between the WMD RR and the C&O Canal as seen in this postcard from Alex Burr.

     

    natl-road-e-hancock1_lrg.jpg

     

    ~ Steve

  3. Dave,

    The road is paved and has the requisite concrete shoulders found on many Maryland sections of the National Road, circa 1930s. I believe the road was in use until the current alignment was finished in the 1950's.

    Recent information I've come across notes Maryland embraced the Good Roads movement in the 1930s and improved many sections of the National Road during that period. (As seen in Christopher Busta-Peck's SHA photos of the era.)

     

    ~ Steve

  4. Look at the Coca Cola signs! These little stores and big Coca Cola signs were common. Odds are the bottles were in a big red Coca Cola chest, and submerged in ice. There were Cokes, Hires Root Beer, a Cream Soda, maybe an Orange Crush, and a Pepsi or two.

     

    Just as a hot dog tastes better when eaten in the woods, a Coke is sweet nectar when sipped from a contoured glass bottle pulled from a tub of ice. The whole experience is different with a thin plastic bottle or aluminum can rolled out of a refrigerated robot. (Yah, it was better in the "old" days) ;):P

     

    At the time of that photo Cokes were a nickel. I remember because we took a vacation in 1948 and some places were changing to a dime, which took a big bite out of my 25 cent weekly allowance.

     

    The similarity in design, if not length, of the center building and the building in the old photo make me wonder just a little if they are related. I have seen buildings truncated, though not often. The door and window on the building in the newer photo seem to match up, but not the other window. Pure speculation, and trivial.

     

    Nice Deja View!

     

    Dave

     

    Keep the Show on the Road!

     

    Dave,

    I couldn't find a dead ringer either... Although the first floor on the 2-story building is similar. Unfortunately, the first floor is block and the gas station appears to be frame. There a number of small buildings scattered about this patch of property. I'm thinking it could have been a tourist camp also.

     

    ~ Steve

  5. Dave,

    Vitrolite is glass tile. The tiles used for building exteriors were usually 16" x 16" and about 3/8" thick. For more info, go to the Vitrolite Specialist.

     

    Cumberland still has a fair amount of Vitrolite clad buildings downtown.

     

    BTW... The bathroom in my house, circa 1930, is tiled in Seafoam Green Vitrolite and was one of the features that attracted us to the house.

    The negative side of Vitrolite is that it is a bear to drill or cut, making bathroom upgrades a challenge. (Like hanging a towel bar...)

     

    ~ Steve

  6. The Race Tenant house is a favorite of mine even though I didn't know it had a name. I remember thinking, when I first saw it in 2001, that someone might come along and restore it. Looking a little closer at pictures from that day exposes that as pretty wishful thinking. It looks occupied in the 1974 photo so it apparently went over the edge in the next couple of decades. I've accepted the idea that restoration is all but impossible but dread the day when I drive by and see it collapsed or totally gone.

     

    Denny,

    Close inspection of Race Tenant House "B" on a previous trip revealed the walls to be made of solid stacked 2 x 6s. A most unusual way to build unless you have access to cheap lumber. (And even then more labor intensive than frame building.)

    It took a whole lot of neglect to bring this lady down.

     

    Steve

     

    little-savage-house5_lrg.jpg

  7. Sweet. The area around Elliott's Cabins -- wow, the old road was rerouted here bigtime.

     

    I stopped last spring at that very Park 'n Dine for lunch.

     

    jim

     

    Jim,

    While driving a back road on Martin's summit (Sunset Orchard), I was fortunate to make contact with homeowner who had done significant research on his family's property. He was the one that clued me in to the location of Elliot's. I have passed that building on I-68 numerous times but would have probably never put it together with the postcard. (The cabins are hidden from the road.) In addition, he told me much of the original road on the top and west side of the mountain was destroyed when they built I-68 and Rocky Gap State Park and Golf Course.

     

    ~ Steve

  8. Steve,

     

    Doesn't anything change in Maryland? :) Seriously, you seem to have the dual blessing of good prior documentation and preservation. I remain impressed!

     

    Dave

     

    Keep the Show on the Road!

     

    Dave,

    I've often wondered why the National Road was so well documented through Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The only credible reason I can come up with is the Road was the lifeblood of these communities and they were chronicling their achievements in photos and postcards.

    As the importance of the Road declined, many of these same communities no longer had the money to update or replace their aging structures.

     

    As you drive the old Road now, it's not uncommon to see once magnificent structures wasting away... It's sad.

     

    tenant-house-deja1.jpg

    The Race Tenant Farm House, Little Savage Mountain (Garrett Co. MD), circa 1974 (left) and today (right).

     

    ~ Steve

  9. I got out both Monday and Tuesday this week. The weather felt like mid-summer. Shot lots of pix I'm still trying to edit and upload to the CRP.

     

    We ate at two different restaurants, Bunnie's in Lavale and the Park & Dine in Hancock. I got photos from Hancock, LaVale, Eckhart Mines, Clarysville, Wolfe's Mill, Elliot's Cabins, Flintstone and more.

    Here's a few samples:

     

    A kind of Deja View from Hancock, MD

    hancock-main-st-deja1.jpg

     

    Deja View from Elliot's Cabins - West side of Martin's Mtn. (see more...)

    elliots-cabins-deja1.jpg

     

    Old National Road stone bridge abutment Flintstone, MD (See more...)

    flintstone-bridge1_lrg.jpg

     

    ~ Steve

  10. Denny,

    French & Indian War history is a popular topic in Cumberland. The Ohio Company store (Now Ridgely, WV) and King's Fort (now Cumberland) were the jumping off point for Gen. Braddock's ill-fated campaign against Fort Du Quesne. Fifty-plus years later, Braddock's (and G. Washington's) trail over Haystack Mtn. would mark the approximate path of the early Cumberland Road.

     

    According to local Braddock historian Bob Bantz, Braddock traveled up Haystack Mountain on a trail that would later become Camden Ave... The street I live on. In the woods at the top of the street, deep furrows still mark the pre-Road colonial road.

     

    Bob has found what he believes are pieces of the shattered British wagons described by Braddock's orderly.

     

    colonial-road-east1_lrg.jpg

    Wagon furrows on Haystack Mountain

     

    ~ Steve

  11. We had a great day for exploring yesterday even through it was a bit windy and cool.

    We hit a few places in LaVale, MD where I discovered an stone culvert (probably circa 1830s) I had never seen before. It was on a widened section of road and the north side was concrete. I had never bothered to look at the other side until yesterday while investigating some stone walls a little farther up the creek. (Photos soon.)

     

    We then scooted up to Grantsville where a I shot a Deja View shot. I either going to have to get a wider lens or shoot from farther back.

     

    grantsville-md-main1_deja.jpg

     

    From Grantsville we traveled a mile or so the the Shades Run Stone Bridges to document their deterioration. I got some good shots but, unfortunately, bridges are in sad shape.

     

    I tried to find the old gas station in the picture of Keyser's Ridge but it appears to have vanished.

     

    We stopped at the MD-PA line an got a Deja View of the State Line. (My photo includes the Mason-Dixon marker so it was taken a little farther back than the original. The Road carries a a fair amount of truck traffic so I decided to shot photo from the shoulder.)

     

    pa-md-line1_deja.jpg

     

     

     

    I got some nice shots in Addison, PA including a couple of Deja Views.

     

    While re-shooting the Rush Hotel, I decided to check out the back. Immediately behind the Hotel is the Garage indicated by the sign in the early photo.

     

    addison-rush-garage1_lrg.jpg

     

    I got some other good shoots of Addison I hope to post in the future.

     

    We had a good comfort food lunch at Glisans Restaurant (since the 1940s) and hit Fort Necessity (great exhibit), Washington Tavern, Braddock's Grave, the Stone House (see Deja View), the Summit Hotel and did a turn around in Uniontown. (We are definitely going to explore Uniontown on another trip.)

     

    ~ Steve

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