Archive for May, 2009
May 29, 2009
A new custom Visa Platinum® Rewards Card offers scenes from the Lincoln Highway and benefits the national Lincoln Highway Association. Five different scenes representing the coast-to-coast road are available.
Some of the specs:
• $50 donation to LHA by the bank when you first use the card, plus ongoing contributions.
• 0% Introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for 6 months.
• Earn points and bonus points at online and neighborhood retailers.
• Redeem points for merchandise, tickets, gift cards or travel rewards.
• No annual fee and no additional cost to you.
Get more information at www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/.
Tags:highway scenes, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, Visa helps an old road
Posted in highways, Lincoln Highway, travel | Leave a Comment »
May 28, 2009
Paving the Way: The National Park-to-Park Highway is 2-part program airing on PBS that recalls the journey of 12 motorists who followed the 5,000+ mile circular highway in 1920. The Park-to-Park Highway connected all 12 of the national parks at the time; the 1920 trip took 76 days. Leading the tour was famous AAA trails “pathfinder” Anton Westgard. Check local listings to see when it will air in your area.
ABOVE: Route map provided by Terry Coolidge, Wellspring Digital Studio.
ABOVE: Photo by A.G. Lucier, provided by John T. Hinckley Library, Northwest College, Powell, Wyoming.
Producer/director Brandon Wade told me that the video was inspired by Lee and Jane Whiteley, who wrote about the highway and the famous tour in their 2003 book, The Playground Trail: The National Park-to-Park Highway. Lee and Jane are known to Lincoln Highway fans for their pioneering work researching the LH route through Colorado, including a small but info-packed book, The Lincoln Highway in Colorado. To learn more about the film, visit pavingtheway.tv where you can also purchase the DVD for $24.95.
Tags:1920 auto trip, AAA pathfinder, COlorado, Lincoln Highway, National Park to Park Highway, National Parks, park highway, PBS, Westgard
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »
May 27, 2009
The third Roadside Giant sculpture along the Lincoln Highway in western Pennsylvania will be unveiled today. The Community Installation Celebration for the Central Westmoreland Career & Technology Center’s “Packard Car with Driver” will take place at 1 pm at the entrance to the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and the Mt. Odin Golf Course, on the original Lincoln Highway. Guests will enjoy a “giant” Packard Cake, in the same shape as the giant, but edible! Photos of the installation courtesy Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.
Tags:Greensburg PA, highway history, highway sculpture, history, Lincoln Highway, PA, Road trip, roadside giants, travel
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May 26, 2009
Parts of New York City’s Times Square, the real and symbolic eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, have been closed to traffic to make the busy crossroads more pedestiran friendly. Specifically, portions of Broadway between 42nd and 47th Streets have been closed to cars. The plan, partly inspired by the redevelopment of downtown Copenhagen, was conceived by the city’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says he will decide in December whether to transform the plazas into something more permanent. Click the image below to read more from The New York Times.
As the NYT reports, “So far the pedestrian mall in Times Square is marked by little more than a few wobbly tables and metal chairs. A row of orange barriers frames the mall’s northern edge, where a half-dozen police officers patiently redirect traffic heading down Broadway.”
Tags:eastern terminus, highway history, Lincoln Highway, pedestrian friendly, Times Square
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation | 3 Comments »
May 22, 2009
This Sunday, May 24, Paxton, Nebraska, will celebrate the centennial of its incorporation as a village. The celebration will include a community pageant recalling Paxton’s history and a chuck wagon feed. Paxton, on the Lincoln Highway/US 30 west of North Platte, has a population of just 614. and one flashing red traffic warning light.
Russell Rein sent a link to a North Platte Telegraph story that gives details. The pageant —with 48 cast members and 30-voice choir — is at 3 p.m. at the Paxton High School with the chuck wagon feed at 5 p.m. in the high school’s bus barn. Tickets for the pageant and feed are $10 for adults; $5 for children, under 5 free.
Among Paxton’s businesses, there are three that have been serving the village for more than half the town’s existence. Kildare Lumber began serving the town and its rural farming and ranching population even before Paxton’s incorporation. Hehnke’s, a meat market and grocery on Paxton’s main street, has served the village for nearly 90 years. Ole’s Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge, in business for more than six decades along main street, has long been known throughout the United States.
Tags:big game steakhouse, centennial, highway town, Lincoln Highway, Nebraska, Paxton NE, rural America, steakhouse, US 30
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs, travel | Leave a Comment »
May 21, 2009
UPDATE: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports the 30 signs will be placed along the route by mid-June. Clikc the image to read more and see a photo of the unveiling.
Lincoln Highway route markers will be dedicated this morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at 11:30 a.m. Mayor Henry will dedicate the new markers at the Lincoln Highway Bridge — Harrison Street at the St. Mary’s River. The markers will allow motorists to follow the historic corridor through the city. Call (260) 427-1127 for details.
Click the map above to see it larger. Note that the exact original route can no longer be followed in parts, such as east of town near the cloverleaf.
Tags:Fort Wayne IN, highway history, highway marking, IN, Lincoln Highway, markers, signs
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May 20, 2009
Three Somerset County Technology Center students who designed and built a giant “Bicycle Built for Two” sculpture saw their creation installed on May 6, 2009, at the Second Time Around shop along the Lincoln Highway/US 30 near Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. The steel and iron sculpture — 17 feet high, 22 feet wide, and weighs 1,800 pounds — depicts a man and a woman on an antique bicycle. The project took eight months, including the design time. It is the second of five pieces of art to be installed as part of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor’s “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” project.
The [Somerset] Daily American writes that The Sprout Fund of the Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections initiative paid for the project.
“I love art and education,” said Olga Herbert, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. “The Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway project combined the two and involved the community.” Highland Tank and Manufacturing Co. assembled the sculpture and transported it to the site. Weyand Sign Co. installed it.
The [Johnstown] Tribune-Democrat also covered the story, as did the Johnstown Our Town site.
The sculpture sits on land belonging to Georgia and Vic Sheftic at the Second Time Around shop just west of the intersection of Route 219, near the shop’s beloved praying mantis — a giant itself!
The Roadside Giants were envisioned by Olga Herbert, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. The sculptures were developed to draw attention to the historic roadway and provide a learning experience for high school students.
Set to be installed within a month is an oversized quarter with George Washington’s profile near the Down River Golf course east of Everett, a replica of a 1921 apple truck in Franklin County, and a Packard car in central Westmoreland County. A 1940s gas pump was installed in April in Ligonier Township.
Tags:art projects, bicycle sculpture, Lincoln Highway, PA, roadside giants, Somerset County PA, student works
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May 19, 2009
Libraries in five Ohio counties along the Lincoln Highway now have the new PBS DVD, dedicated in memory of a Mid-Ohio Lincoln Highway League member and advocate of the road’s history.
Wayne (Wooster), Ashland, Richland (Mansfield), Crawford (Bucyrus) and Wyandot (Upper Sandusky) libraries were given a copy of the national PBS documentary A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway produced by Rick Sebak and WQED Pittsburgh.
The show’s final segment features Esther McNaull Oyster Queneau, an Ashland native and founder of Ohio’s Lincoln Highway League in 1993.
In its statewide meeting held in Massillon on May 2, the Ohio League voted to provide the DVDs to honor the late Howard Donbar, a long-time member of the Mid-Ohio chapter. The five counties receiving the gifts are in the Mid-Ohio membership area.
Anyone interested in joining the advocacy group can contact President Mike McNaull at (419) 281-3064. The DVD is available for purchase at www.lhtp.com/.
Tags:DVD, historic highway, libraries, Lincoln Highway, Ohio, travel
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, roadside, travel | Leave a Comment »
May 18, 2009
I asked Jan Morrison, owners of the Lincoln Motel in Austin, Nevada, how travel and business are this spring along the Lincoln Highway — here aka US 50 and “the Loneliest Road in America.”
Yes, things are slow, but the Lincoln Motel is open and will stay open. We are taking advantage of the slower times to paint each room and do repairs.
Actually, things are beginning to look up in Austin. It seems we slid into the recession early, and are ready to climb out of it sooner. Traffic on the highway has definitely increased.
I think people are returning to the country and driving. The price of gas certainly helps. But with these difficult times, I think people need to re-connect with the basics in life, and small towns along Highway 50 offer them a calming trip to “Mayberry.” Whether they actually grew up in a small town, or did so through TV, rural America is comfort food for the recession-weary!
For more info on the motel and town, see www.goaustinnevada.com/.
Tags:Austin NV, calming travel, Lincoln Highway, Mayberry, Nevada, Road trip, rural America, small towns, travel, vintage motel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, Road trip, roadside, travel | Leave a Comment »
May 15, 2009
LHA president Bob Dieterich reports that Clarksville Day was a huge success with between 2000 and 3000 attending the celebration. The ghost town along the Lincoln Highway in California is set to be redeveloped.
They had horse drawn wagons to transport people from one end of the highway through town to the other end as shown in a couple of the pictures. There was the Pony Express, Mormon Battalion, antique cars, a band playing bluegrass music all day, and the Mormons had a huge cannon they fired every half hour.
There won’t be any work on development there for two or three years, so we should be able to work in one or two more of these. The developer has promised to save the Lincoln Highway as a walking path through there.
Tags:Clarksville CA, ghost town celebration, Lincoln Highway, old roads, Pony Express reenactment, town to be redeveloped
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »
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