The Iowa Lincoln Highway Association’s Third Annual Motor Tour of the Lincoln Highway across Iowa is about to launch. This year’s tour is themed as “From the Wide River to the Loess Hills” because it begins with a pre-tour event on Thursday August 26 at the Wide River Winery in Clinton and concludes on Sunday August 29 at the Loess Hills Winery in Crescent, Iowa. The route travels nearly 330 miles across Iowa. If you’d like to see some of the antique cars participating, or meet some of the entrants, chec the schedule at lincolnhighwayassoc.org/iowa/tour/2010/itinerary.pdf/.
The 13th Annual Lincoln Highway Heritage Festival in Rochelle, Illinois, takes place August 20–22. If it’s too late by time you read this to make the drive and attend at least they have this colorful brochure available online listing the events. Click the link below the image to read it: www.lincolnhighwayheritagefestival.com/forms/brochure_10.pdf
James Devitt Jr., who goes by the name Lincolnhighwayman (in the tradition of a 1917 play and 1919 film), is traveling the Lincoln Highway this summer. He hopes to turn the journey into a book that “will be a mixture of popular history and an old fashioned traveler’s tale … like Shelby Foote meets Mark Twain.” James is already the author of The Malone Chronicles, a novel set in 1939 about a boy who runs away from home. Follow the current trip at blog.lincolnhighwayman.com/. Here’s a video of his Ford Model A touring the battlefields at Gettysburg, Pa.
Project Gutenberg, the first producer of free electronic books, offers more than 33,000 free ebooks of previously published titles, all digitized with the help of thousands of volunteers. Now available is an early road book, Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway by Effie Price Gladding. Other ebook sites have already taken the file and reposted it but without the images (or I assume permission), and PG warns that these are most likely spammers. You’ll find the safe original here: www.gutenberg.org/files/33320/33320-h/33320-h.htm
As I wrote in my Greetings from the Lincoln Highway book:
Effie Gladding had just returned from three years touring the world when she departed San Francisco on April 21, 1914. She and her husband Thomas first drove the El Camino Real 600 miles south before turning and meeting the Lincoln at Stockton. In a 262-page book she titled Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway, she doesn’t reach the focus of her title till page 108, then detours off it for another 47 pages near the end, skipping most of Ohio and Pennsylvania. But it was the first full-size hardback to discuss transcontinental travel, as well as the first to mention the Lincoln Highway.
Click the link above or go to Project Gutenberg’s main page for the book for other ways to download the text and images.
Todd Keeran writes, “Just wanted to let everyone know I set up an (admittedly amateur) website at www.savemistereds.com/. My kids really loved the store and museum and I’m primarily hoping to gather some elephant donations to help the museum rebuild.”
I get lots of emails and some slip by for months. Here’s an interesting one from May from Rick Etchells of Richmond, Texas:
My Friend Ken Rozek and I recently took a trip to follow the Lincoln Highway from San Francisco to Laramie, Wyoming. This was our third trip following the Lincoln Highway and we have now completed it all except for New Jersey and New York.
On all of these trips we used your great book Greetings From the Lincoln Highway and on this trip we also used your latest book The Lincoln Highway Companion. These made it much easier to find Lincoln Highway locations. We were able to duplicate the main photo that you have on the covers of both books.
A highlight of our trip in California was all of the snow we encountered at Big Bend Visitor Center in the Sierras. The section of Asphalt that you say is there was completely covered in snow. We had to walk over about 3 feet of snow just to get to the Lincoln Highway cement post!
Attached are a few photos of our visit at the Big Bend Visitor Center. Thanks so much for your very interesting blog and books about the Lincoln Highway.
West Virginia joined the Lincoln Highway in 1928 when the road between Pittsburgh and Ohio was rerouted through the the town of Chester in the state’s panhandle. Today, the big teapot is the best-known attraction, but back then by far is was Rock Spring Park. Now the amusement park has been given star treatment by Joe Comm, a teacher in Greensburg, Pa., who recently released Rock Springs Park for Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series.
The Review of East Liverpool, Ohio, featured Joe in a story about the books launch along with this photo and caption:
Joseph Comm, author of “Rock Springs Park,” signs a book for Patty Swiger at a signing event held Monday at the Chester Municipal Building. Prior to the signing, Comm talked about how his book came to be. (Photo by Nancy Tullis).
As the article explains, “The park was all but a memory during his boyhood in Chester, and its remnants raised many questions in Comm’s mind. He sought out the answers, and along the way, Rock Springs Park took on a life of its own.” In the early 1970s, the park was demolished to make way for ramps and lanes to the new US 30 bridge across the Ohio River.
From the book jacket:
In its hey-day this unique panhandle playground attracted twenty thousand visitors a day with a number of popular attractions including the World’s Greatest Scenic Railway, the Cyclone Roller Coaster, and the classic hand-carved 1927 Dentzel Carousel. The book features over 200 rarely seen images and portrays the life of Rock Springs Park from its earliest history as a Native American hunting ground to its development as a local trolley park and full-fledged amusement park.
You can find Joe’s book in stores for $21.99 or $14.95 on Amazon.
The fifth annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way, a yard sale that stretches across five states, will be held Thursday–Saturday August 5–7, 2010. The event was launched in Ohio, then expanded to include West Virginia to the east and Indiana and Illinois to the west. This year the sale has grown to include Iowa. “This event has grown to national awareness in just five years,” said Mike Hocker, executive director of Ohio’s byway group, whose mission is economic development. A free Traveler’s Guide includes a map of Ohio’s Lincoln Highway alignments along with listings of many yard sales and community events along the way. Learn about Ohio here or get other state links on the LHA site.
Mike Hocker, Executive Director of the Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway, writes, “I drove by Palmantier’s Motel near Minerva yesterday and saw a sign for an auction Aug 11th. I guess there is nothing else we can do.” The beautiful 9-unit motel is within sight of the famous stretch of Baywood Road paved in red bricks (bottom center of photo).
Palmantier’s Motel, opened 1947, was purchased five years ago by Scott Segeti, “lured to these parts by the beauty of nearby farm fields, grazing cattle, grassy meadows, chirping birds, fresh air and an opportunity to be his own boss.” By last year, slow business forced him to put the motel, swimming pool, two houses, and 3.25 acres for sale at $425,000.
Photographers Eric Mencher and his wife Kass have been photographing the Lincoln Highway since 1997. I reported on their trip last year HERE as they drove Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada. Now they’re at it again! Visit lincolnhighwayseen.blogspot.com to see some interesting takes on familiar (and some not-so-familiar) landmarks.
Eric, a former Philadelphia Inquirer photographer, and Kass are spending 10 weeks driving from San Francisco to Philadelphia and back on the LH. He says, “I’m trying to blog two photos a day (one from each of us), but as the trip goes on that may be cut to 3-4 times a week. The pictures are more esoteric than most people shoot, but that’s how we see! I also have a gallery on my website at: www.ericmencher.com/.”
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Like this blog? You'll LOVE my books!Lincoln Highway Companion features detailed maps and places to eat and stay. Click the book to buy it on Amazon.
Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
Another fun book! The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway recalls the greatest roadside attraction along the coast-to-coast road.
And for those who LOVE diners, click the book below to purchase our completely updated guide to the history, geography, and food of Pennsylvania's Diners!
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