Point Pleasant River Museum, West Virginia (GA493)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.

Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 23rd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort in Seaside, Oregon. I’ll depart here later this morning.

 

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

  In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

This entry was posted May 17, 2013…

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 65 miles from Ashland, Kentucky to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Most of the drive occurred on Ohio State Highway 7 that had very light traffic and for the most part ran alongside the Ohio River.

 

 

 

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Ashland we crossed the Ohio River on this blue bridge into Ohio. The green bridge on the left carries the traffic from Ohio into Kentucky…

 

 

 

 

 

On Highway 7 with the Ohio River on our right…

 

 

 

 

 

From Gallipolis, Ohio we crossed the Ohio River on the Silver Memorial Bridge…

 

 

 

 

 

which replaced the Silver Bridge…

 

 

 

 

 

which collapsed in 1967 killing 47 people due to a failure of these components…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can learn all about the Silver Bridge collapse by clicking this YouTube link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGVP5yU6c8

 

 

 

 

 

Point Pleasant is at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. The below Google Earth image shows the area. X marks our camping spot at Krodel Park and M the Point Pleasant River Museum which we visited. The Silver Memorial Bridge is lower left…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a 180 degree panorama view of the Ohio River looking across at Ohio. The Silver Memorial Bridge is on the far left…

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the photos that I took at the Point Pleasant River Museum which, by the way, was excellent…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The below two photos are of live fish swimming in a large aquarium containing fish that came from the Ohio River…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the museum we looked at the large murals painted on the flood wall…

 

 

 

 

 

Looking south down the Ohio River with the Silver Memorial Bridge in the distance…

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Point Pleasant…

 

 

 

 

 

A view from the past…

 

 

 

 

 

After our Visit I drove the motorhome the about two miles to Kordel Park, a Point Pleasant city owned park where we parked for the night while it rained hard for the remained of the day…

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

 

 

To see the other 53 photos that I took you need to click this Picasa Web Album link which is best viewed in full screen mode…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/PointPleasantWestVirginia

 

 

You can read all about Point Pleasant by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Pleasant,_West_Virginia

 

 

We will move along later this morning.

 

 

Enjoying interesting museums is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

 

 

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

 

 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

 

 

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

 

 

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/point-pleasant-river-museum-virginia/

 

 

 

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

Forecast for today is sunny and 71 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Oregon. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

 

 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

 

 

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

 

 

There are more than 700 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110455945462646142273?source=pwa

 

 

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

 

 

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

 

 

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2018

Parkersburg, West Virginia

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 60 miles from Point Pleasant to Parkersburg, West Virginia. I began in West Virginia and ended in West Virginia, but because of the way the Ohio River zig-zags, most of the drive occurred on Ohio State Highway 7 that had very light traffic and ran alongside the Ohio River a good part of the way.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Before leaving Point Pleasant we had some morning fog so I went outside to see what I could see…and this is what I saw…

We crossed back into Ohio over this pretty bridge as seen from a Wal-Mart parking lot…

Going across the bridge…

Along the way we passed through Pomeroy, Ohio with the Ohio River on the right…

On this bridge we crossed the Ohio River into Parkersburg, West Virginia…

Where we ended up at a very friendly VFW Post #1212…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

Getting up close to the dinette window and looking down I could see a small stream and told Mary we are parked on waterfront property! 🙂

Other than the excessive heat and humidity we enjoyed a nice stay.

We will move along later this morning.

Enjoying very friendly VFW Posts is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

POINT PLEASANT RIVER MUSEUM, WEST VIRGINIA

Yesterday, we crossed the bridge from Gallipolis,Ohio to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Practically under the bridge is a complex of State Land devoted to a fort, a War of 1812 memorial and this River Museum.

We don’t see much about the War of 1812. On the grounds is also a mansion, the site of government and all community meetings. You can see it to the left of the monument.

It kind of makes you smile, especially this crooked wall and rustic construction. Originally a tavern, it was the biggest building in the community and to them, it was a mansion. It’s all in the perspective.

The museum is about life on the river in this particular river community of Point Pleasant. The Museum is so full, you need a full day to really see it. And there is a wonderful river walk full of murals, and a fort nearby. Much to see here if you go.

A lot of different types and sizes of river boat models.

The usual artifacts of all things river boat you would expect to see.

You can play this calliope, they even give you the number guide to play country roads.

Ten whistles, but the music was loud and harsh to my ear. I think it needed the river atmosphere to sound right.

The river is life. Boats like this are called shanty boats where people lived. They couldn’t afford to buy land and build a house.

Who snapped the picture? You learn nothing about the family but what you can discern from a random photo.

The boats were owned by the captains of industry, but this captain, Tom Reynolds was a stern wheeler driver. He loved his job and he was known to sit in a chair and steer with his feet in an area where the river was stable.

The Sprague was called Big Momma. She could pull 56 loaded barges in a line.

Men who worked the boats gathered for a picture. They probably never would have had their picture taken in their whole life except for an arranged gathering like this.

All river towns face flooding at some point or another and Point Pleasant had a big one in 1903.

Amid hardship,  the theatre owner employed a bit of humor.  The town has since built a huge river wall, but the river wall couldn’t protect them from their very worst disaster that still affects the townspeople today, one of whom we met.

A new bridge in 1928, built in a style never tried before was called the Silver Bridge by the locals. It crossed from Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio. One horror filled night in 1967, the bridge gave way and toppled into the river, killing 47 people. Five men were rescued from the cold waters and lived to tell the tale.

A video shows the type of attachment that held up the uprights on the bridge.

A hairline crack, after 41 years, snapped and sent the bridge to the bottom in seconds.

All the tons of steel and concrete were nothing in the end. Visible is the rusting old railroad bridge in the back ground that our local fellow told us everyone worried would fall into the river some day.

But it was their bridge that fell. He told us he lived four minutes from the bridge. His wife and her visiting mother had gone shopping and were planning to cross over to a favorite restaurant, but they were tired, the traffic was heavy so they chose a local cafe instead. The lights blinked in the cafe. It was reported all over town the lights everywhere blinked as the bridge toppled. And, of course, the drama is, they would have been on that bridge. He told us of dozens of stories of people who would have gone, were supposed to be on it, and those who felt the shaking and were close enough to back up, or get out of their cars and run to land. Feelings were so raw, their loss so great, no one talked about it for years. They finally put up a memorial in the 1990s, if my memory is correct.

I particularly enjoyed a story about vaudeville and entertainment that made riding the boats up and down the river one of those glorious experiences.

One family, the Bryants worked vaudeville/melodrama aboard the paddle wheel steamers. Josephine, on top of the piano, married into the family and was a born entertainer.  You had to have a villain to boo, a heroine to save and a hero. The audiences didn’t tolerate intermissions. And if the show was short of two hours, they felt cheated and let you know it.

Billy Bryant was known for his wicked antics, he’d dance and hop all over and became an acrobatic thespian, much loved by audiences.

The Bryant family, as it grew, spent most of their lives aboard the boats. Sam and Violet, back center in the photo, came here from England. He had a traveling medicine show where he sold kerosene and red peppers made into a liniment. They got jobs working the Water Queen and decided they needed a boat of their own, which they did accomplish by 1907.

They sold cigarettes, candy and snacks, much like the nightclubs of Hollywood and New York while they sang and danced up and down the rivers. Such a life.

Jim and I walked the River Walk, and enjoyed the murals, some pastoral scenes of Virginia.

Others of a political nature.

And all within view of the gorgeous, cooling  Ohio River.  (And that rusting old railroad bridge still standing.)

Point Pleasant, West Virginia

Yesterday I drove the motorhome the about 65 miles from Ashland, Kentucky to Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Most of the drive occurred on Ohio State Highway 7 that had very light traffic and for the most part ran alongside the Ohio River.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Leaving Ashland we crossed the Ohio River on this blue bridge into Ohio. The green bridge on the left carries the traffic from Ohio into Kentucky…

On Highway 7 with the Ohio River on our right…

From Gallipolis, Ohio we crossed the Ohio River on the Silver Memorial Bridge…

which replaced the Silver Bridge…

which collapsed in 1967 killing 47 people due to a failure of these components…

You can learn all about the Silver Bridge collapse by clicking this YouTube link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGVP5yU6c8

Point Pleasant is at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers. The below Google Earth image shows the area. X marks our camping spot at Krodel Park and M the Point Pleasant River Museum which we visited. The Silver Memorial Bridge is lower left…

Here’s a 180 degree panorama view of the Ohio River looking across at Ohio. The Silver Memorial Bridge is on the far left…

Here are some of the photos that I took at the Point Pleasant River Museum which, by the way, was excellent…

The below two photos are of live fish swimming in a large aquarium containing fish that came from the Ohio River…

After the museum we looked at the large murals painted on the flood wall…

Looking south down the Ohio River with the Silver Memorial Bridge in the distance…

Downtown Point Pleasant…

A view from the past…

After our Visit I drove the motorhome the about two miles to Kordel Park, a Point Pleasant city owned park where we parked for the night while it rained hard for the remained of the day…

Here’s the usual dinette window photo…

To see the other 53 photos that I took you need to click this Picasa Web Album link which is best viewed in full screen mode…
https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273/PointPleasantWestVirginia

You can read all about Point Pleasant by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Pleasant,_West_Virginia

We will move along later this morning.

Enjoying interesting museums is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of West Virginia. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

Ashland, Kentucky – Day 2

The motorhome is still parked at Eagles Club #2329 in Ashland, Kentucky. We will depart later this morning.

Yesterday I drove the Bronco the about one mile downtown to the Highland Museum, Here’s their official website link…
http://highlandsmuseum.com/

Here are some of the photos that I took…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Since Mary is still having problems regarding stairs, we rode the only manually operated elevator remaining in Kentucky to the second floor…

Some thoughts from Daniel Boone…

Kentucky long rifles…

A replica of a one room schoolhouse…

There was quite a display about the women’s suffragette movement…

And displays about the Civil War…

The biggest display was about the history of Country Music from Kentucky…

Their biggest claim-to-fame is that Ashland is the birthplace and home of The Judds…

Other famous Kentuckian’s include Loretta Lynn born in Butcher Holler near Van Lear, Kentucky. Here’s a photo of the cabin Loretta was born in that I took when I visited Butcher Holler in 2000…

Patty Loveless is also from Kentucky…

And finally a painting of the City of Ashland on the bank of the Ohio River…

You can read all about Ashland by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashland,_Kentucky

Enjoying interesting museums is another joy of the full-timing lifestyle!

In the afternoon Mary had a one hour massage and then a visit to a Chiropractor trying to relieve her pains. This morning she reports feeling a little wobbly and sore. He’s hoping she will feel better as the day progresses.

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Kentucky. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust