Watery Wednesday: High Atop Fort Boreman

In this photo I'm standing atop Fort Boreman in Parkersburg, West Virginia looking down upon the Ohio River. The Fort was built during the Civil War. The bend here in the river provided a wide ranging view. Standing up on the hill looking upriver I could see the white sternwheeler to the right and hear its horn. The river you see merging with the Ohio is the Little Kanawha. The Ohio flows from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to Cairo, Illinois. It will eventually empty into and is the greatest tributary to the Mississippi River.

This is a view looking downriver. You can see it was a great day to be out on a boat.

In the first image you may have noticed a wall behind the sternwheeler. I zoomed in to get a closeup of the floodwall that surrounds the city.

The sternwheeler had blown its horn because it was going to be moving. I watched as it backed out and eventually headed underneath the bridge. Time to go.

Guess we could stop off at Kokomos!

History Under The Bridge

The Bridging The Gap photo challenge hosted by Alice officially ended yesterday but I found this wonderful blue bridge and a sternwheeler that I wanted to share. These were taken the same day as yesterday's post. They were taken at a Sternwheelers Museum in Marietta, Ohio. Some people thought the flatboat (wooden barge) in yesterday's post was an old building. In my mind it reminded me of a wooden ark. The museum sits on the Ohio River. You can see the big 'M' on the bridge for Marietta.

The W. P. Snyder Jr., is the last steam- powered, stern-wheeled towboat in the United States.
The boat was built for the Carnegie Steel Company and she was launched in 1918 as the W.H. CLINGERMAN. During the boat's working life, she primarily pushed barges loaded with coal on the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. She was retired in 1954 and, as was the fate of her kind, she would have probably been scrapped. In 1955, however, the Sons and Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen and the Ohio Historical Society concluded that one example of a steam towboat should be preserved. The boat was donated to the society.

Care to walk the gangplank my friends? You can. There are tours during the summer months.

As you visually walk across the gangplank do you see that little door to your left? You do. Good. This week Jientje is hosting a photo challenge called "Opening Doors." It begins tomorrow and runs through Saturday. Check out her blog for all the details.

St. Mary's Catholic Church

Marietta, Ohio

April 2008

Sunday Blessings Everyone

Shades of Tom Sawyer

This is an old sternwheel riverboat called the Becky Thatcher. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She is moored at the junction of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers directly across the river from here in Parkersburg. I took this photo from the middle of the river while standing on the walkway of an old railroad bridge. Muddy water below for sure but a wonderful vantage point from which to photograph.

Here you can see what was once the captains cabin.

I really liked the design on the smokestacks.

The Becky Thatcher was once the Mississippi III. It was built in 1926 as an Army Corps of Engineers inspection boat. It was retired by the Corps in 1961 and was refitted and remodeled as a restaurant and museum and moored in St. Louis, Missouri where she was renamed. The City of Marietta bought it and it was refitted and used as a restaurant, theatre and riverboat saloon until about two years ago. It is presently for sale for a whooping $299.000.00! That's reduced from $550K. It no longer runs under its own power and would be quite expensive to move from its present location. I have a feeling I'll be able to keep seeing it for a very long time.