Saturday, August 28, 2021

Transportation through history

 Getting there is half the fun...

and a journey should be enjoyed as well as the destination...

and "are we there yet?"

Right!

A wagon train going through the mountains! These sepia photos come from FaceBook posts...

A repost of the narrow gauge rail that used to run from Black Mountain NC to nearly the top of Mt. Mitchell.


Ladder three of the Boston fire department, 1919


1920s gas station. I never saw pumps like that (just goes to show I'm not THAT old) But the signs above the pumps were still around when I learned to drive in the 50s

These buildings still stand on State St. in Black Mountain NC...sadly not in this shape!



Sharing this week with Sepia Saturday! The following photos are not from FaceBook sources!


Yay, I found a family photo which has a) a vehicle of transportation (back wheel and fender of a Studebaker) and b) a ship in the background! We moved to St. Louis in 1949, but I think we may have gone to San Jacinto TX for one more Sunday lunch with my grandparents before we left from Houston. At San Jacinto is docked a ship which may be the Texas, or something like that. OK, I'll go look it up.

That's the Battleship Texas. I still remembered! No actually I visited once again in the 70s with my own children. The restaurant there had great southern cooking!  But I bet it's gone. The San Jacinto monument is a monolith of course, and that memorializes the victory of Texans over the Mexican army, gaining their independence. There's a star on the top, of course, being the Lone Star State. There's now a museum there, which is only right.

Photo from Wikipedia

I used to think Texans who left that state were a bit loony about Texas history, food, events, music etc. And I thought people from other states would also have that same pride about their home states. And now I no longer do...the Texans may do things in a big way, and for many years they had the biggest US state (until Alaska came along)...but their state pride does indeed seem bigger than those other states.


Today's quote:

Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides.

ANNE LAMOTT


16 comments:

  1. Some grand old photographs. How rapidly things move on.

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    1. I'm glad someone or another shares lots of these on Facebook, often anonymously. I've just been collecting them, and when they fit into a Sepia topic, there they are!

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  2. Wonderful selection of sepia photos. The family photo is my favorite.
    Take care, have a happy weekend!

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    1. Thanks. Hope your weekend is happy too, and you see many more critters!

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  3. The romance of railways and other modes probably wasn't as wonderful as we think when we see pics. But it is still nice to see them. Wouldn't it be something to time travel and take photos from times when there were no cameras?

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    1. Oh, just like several wonderful time travel movies! I think I'd enjoy the Time Machine again about now!

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  4. Some very interesting photos. I like looking back at old photos to see how times have changed.

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    1. I've since found a chance to get a "now" pic of that little gas station (they were called filling stations) and will post it soon.

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  5. I'm struck by the wagon train going along the mountain pass with just that small barrier.

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  6. Great pix! Especially your own which matches the prompt with the ship in the background. But the one I could really appreciate right now is Boston's #3 fire brigade! What with all the fires we're experiencing out here in California, even a horse-drawn crew would help!!! Especially the latest fire right here in our corner of the woods so-to-speak in Sonora. Fortunately CalFire keeps several helicopters and air tankers at Columbia Airport just 'over the fence' from Sonora so they jumped on what could have been a totally disastrous fire, knocking it back fairly quickly. Still, it destroyed several homes before it could be stopped,caused a few hundred people to be evacuated, and left the rest of us breathing a lot of unhealthy smoke! I had been shopping when the fire broke out and was on my way home in bumper-to-bumper traffic because the power was out and signals weren't working. And as I sat there inching along, ash was floating down on my car. Not a good feeling! (not to mention my groceries included ice cream which was melting! Certain things are important, y'know!) :)

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    1. What a relief that your homes/lives/ice cream were saved from the many awful fires out west. So sorry to hear how close that was.

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  7. Great images. I wish the train line from Black Mountain to Mt. Mitchell was still operational. I'd pay to ride that railline.
    Your snapshot in front of the battleship Texas is a wonderful match for our Sepia theme. When I looked it up I learned that it is presently closed for major repairs and will be moved to a new location! Seems the hull is leaking!

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    1. Me too, going to the top of Mt. Mitchell in style would sure be nice. I had looked up the battleship Texas, but missed that it's going to be moved, and that it needed repairs. Thanks for including that info.

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