Looking Toward The Skies

Marietta, Ohio looking at the Ohio River - West Virginia on the right

A recent sunset over  Beckley, West Virginia

 

Linking to Good Fences and Skywatch 

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

Bridging The Gap and Raven's Wordzzle

Bridging The Gap between the old.....

....and the new.

The old wooden flatboats used to carry cargo down the river and now heavy steel barges do the job.

Last Wednesday afternoon in rainy weather we were out looking for hoses for a garden tractor and any new bridges for this meme when we came across the Sternwheeler Museum in Marietta, Ohio. Even though it was raining I had to take a look around. I liked the footbridge taking us from the sidewalk to the flatboat. A little further up the river I found the barge anchored in front of yet another bridge connecting Ohio and West Virginia. It was wonderful to find both of these in one day.

I have enjoyed the bridge meme with Alice and want to thank her for being our host this week. Although today is the official last day of the meme; you will see at least one more bridge from me on Tuesday.

Be sure to click on the icon at the beginning of the post to visit Alice and the other participants.

***************************************************

Each weekend Raven hosts her Wordzzle Challenge where she gives us words to put in a complete paragraph.

This week I decided to try the mini challenge of five words and eh ten word challenge. The words from Raven are the blue words in my paragraphs below.

Be sure to click on the icon and go over to Raven's and check out her and other participants Wordzzle - she is GOOD and so are they!
Here's my offering for the mini challenge:

Elizabeth sat at her potter’s wheel trying hard to throw out at least something resembling a reproduction of a Native American bowl. The TV in the corner was running through a movie CD of PBS Special Moments. Out of the corner of her eye Elizabeth could just make out an opera singer with a toothy grin and what appeared to be very swollen ankles. The eye shadow, rouge, and lipstick worn by the rather hefty guest looked like it had been applied from a palette of oil paints rather than a makeup case. As her hands manipulated the clay Lizzy’s voice erupted in a high pitched soprano…"Be very quiet, I’m molding clay, I must be patient, I cannot play…." Doubling over in laughter at herself the clay fell in a lump. She’d have to start all over. It was a good thing she actually made money making pottery. Singing was NOT her forte!

Here's my offering for the ten word challenge:

It was four months until Christmas but his Grandma didn’t have to be a psychic to know what Billy wanted to find under the tree come that December morning. He had written his list on a small piece of paper as legibly as he could:

Dear Santa,

I want a pogo stick, an ant farm and a little baby turtle. And can you please bring Grammy a new surge protector for her computer? I’ve been very good.

Thank you, Billy.

He had asked his Grandpa to put the letter in a little tin box that was kept in the wall safe behind the painting in the living room. It would be safe there until it was time to mail it to the North Pole.

Grammy assured herself that neither the arthritis in her knees from the ravages of time nor the threat of pneumonia in the coldest of weather would keep her from seeing that Billy got what he wanted this Christmas. She would see to it with everything she had. It would not; would NOT, be her Waterloo!

Bridging the Gap - A Photo Challenge

This is looking through an old historic rotating B&O Railroad bridge that crosses the Muskingum River where it joins the Ohio River here in nearby Marietta, Ohio. It was built in 1859. If you look closely you can see where the rails have been removed from the tracks. I took a walk across the Harmar Pedestrian Bridge that links the downtown shopping area with Historic Harmar Village. The village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This was where Fort Harmar was established in 1785 as a garrison for U.S. soldiers. Today it’s a neighborhood of brick streets (seven miles of original brick streets – more than any other Ohio town) and quaint buildings housing crafts and antique shops, and a few museums.

A view underneath...

(The piers of the bridge are 150 years old.)

A view of the top of one of the piers...

A view over the side looking down....

After walking across the pedestrian portion of the bridge I turned and this is looking back to the historic Village of Harmar. Community members adorn the bridge with hanging baskets of flowers.

I hope you enjoyed my walking tour of this old historic bridge.

Alice is our host for Bridging The Gap. Click on the icon at the top of my post to check out her blog and all the 'rules' for the meme as well as links to others posting photos of bridges and participating in the challenge this week.

Time Is On My Side

This is one of my holdover images from Project Black. I took this in Marietta, Ohio which is just across the river here from Parkersburg. Marietta is said to be the first 'permanent' settlement of the Northwest Territory. It was founded in 1788 by a Revolutionary War general.

This photo is of the city's local courthouse. The building was built in 1902. The tower rises 158 feet and the bell inside weighs 3,000 pounds.

I thought this photo might be fitting because today it is 'time' to celebrate post number 200!!!

Take TIME to make it a great day!

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.