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Archive for the ‘Road trip’ Category

Lincoln Highway Experience plans unveiled

February 24, 2009

A new mailer/flyer details plans for the museum building being planned by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor in western Pennsylvania. The Lincoln Highway Experience will be the largest and most prominent site documenting the Lincoln Highway.

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To be located just west of Ligonier, Pa., the Lincoln Highway Experience will tell the story of the highway both in the state and on a national level. Interpretive exhibits will focus on the years 1912-1940 but the emphasis will be on what is still along the corridor, encouraging visitors to get out and drive the road.

The building itself was designed by Venturi Scott Brown Associates, familiar to roadside fans for their pioneering work, including publication of Learning From Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form (1972, revised 1977) by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. The 10,000 s.f interior was handled by Maude Group and Kissiloff Associates and will include two films.

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The LHHC has helped secure and administer grants for dozens of regional projects and is now launching its own capital campaign for the Experience. Donors at the $2,500 level will bceome members of The Lincoln Circle, with naming opportunities. The LHHC was designated in 1995 to promote economic development through tourism. Visit www.lhhc.org for more information about the Corridor.

Tags:heritage corridor, highway history, Learning from Las Vegas, Ligonier PA, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, Venturi Scott Brown
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, transportation | 5 Comments »

New York's Times Square signs Lincoln Highway

February 13, 2009

LHA director for New York Jerry Peppers joined Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and NYC Commissioner of Transportation Janette Sadik-Khan to unveil a Lincoln Highway street sign in Times Square yesterday, the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. It is said to be temporary or at least the first until a larger one can mark the spot as the Eastern Terminus of the coast-to-coast road.

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Peppers says the sign is “on a post at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street just a few feet from where I posted the marker in the WQED special. It simply reads Lincoln Highway and is not exactly what we want [a plaque with an explanation], but it is a start.” The New York Times ran the above photo and a short blog entry, including this quote:

“As a wonderful tribute to the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birthday, we have placed a historic marker to celebrate the construction of our nation’s first transcontinental highway,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “It memorializes Times Square’s connection with the route’s storied history, and reminds all of us that New York City remains the gateway to the rest of America.”

It also quoted Peppers, who has worked at bringing this to fruition:

The Lincoln Highway brings together the ‘Main Street Across America’ and the nation’s most famous intersection — Broadway and 42nd Street. It’s particularly important to mark the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, where it will serve as a reminder to millions of New Yorkers and visitors from all across the globe who pass through here of our nation’s history and the City’s connection with the rest of the country’s early highways.

In the 95 years since the establishment of the Lincoln Highway, there has never been a sign or marker at the Eastern Terminus, unlike the Western Terminus which has had various signs over time. The Lincoln Highway’s identity was never strong in urban areas, where streets and street names were already entrenched.

Tags:Abraham Lincoln, historic highway, Lincoln Highway, New York City, Times Square, unveiling
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 4 Comments »

New Forum features postcards, Bedford Springs

February 11, 2009

The just-published Winter 2008-09 Lincoln Highway Forum is as always packed with info, including a fascinating cover story (OK, written my me!) on postcard collecting in full, beautiful color. Other features include the story of Beaverdam, Ohio, the restoration of the Bedford Springs Hotel in Pennsylvania, and info on the June 2009 conference in South Bend, Indiana. Become an LHA member here and start receiving it today.

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Tags:LHA, Lincoln Highway, old roads, postcard collecting, quarterly magazine, Road trip, roadside
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »

Walk, Don't Run — on the Lincoln Highway

February 9, 2009

Suddenly everyone is on foot along the Lincoln Highway. Following up on my last post about running the LH (with a quick reference to the 1960 song by the Ventures), Dennis Crowley has announced his plans to again walk part of the route this fall. (I reported on his first leg last October 6 and 8.) Walking America the Lincoln Way will take him from Sacramento, California, on September 14 to Eureka, Nevada, by October 29.

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He’ll depart from the Shell Service Station, 4900 W. Capitol Ave in West Sacramento, and make 6 miles that day, reaching the intersection of Capitol and 26th St. He’ll soon be making it twice as far daily. Dennis says:

The preparations to get things ready to deal with the desolation of Nevada have been more than I realized so I backed things off. AAA didn’t name U.S. 50 “The Lonliest Road in America” for no reason. Walking this stretch and on to Salt Lake City next year will make my walk across the Mojave on old Route 66 in California seem like a picnic. Thanks to technology, however, I should be able to make this walk safe and comfortable. I am doing a lot of research into satellite personal locator beacons, satellite phones, gps, and other such things such as portable lightweight solar panels to keep batteries charged and allow me to run my portable DVD player. Afterall, I need something to do on my days off right?

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Tags:Crowley, Lincoln Highway, Loneliest Road, Mohave, Nevada, Running across America, Sacramento CA, Ventures
Posted in highways, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, travel | 1 Comment »

More overnight stops for L Hwy News lodging

February 6, 2009

I’ve added about a half-dozen more places to the Lodging on the Lincoln Highway link to your right.

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Tags:Butko's motel list, Lincoln Highway, motels, Road trip, vintage places to stay
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, Road trip | Leave a Comment »

Lincoln Highway imagery in Roadside USA book

February 2, 2009

I received a copy of the new Roadside USA book by Shellee Graham and Jim Ross. There are a number of Lincoln Highway images such as this shot of Orr’s Ranch in Utah.

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The book’s 30 main images are made like postcards, with a caption on back joined by a related photo. These are not captioned but are locations closely associated with the front image. The Lincoln Highway is featured in 5 of the main images, a pretty good percentage, but if you like roadside imagery you love them all, from Route 66 diners to a gas pump on the Ozark Trails. At $10.95, you’ll want to buy some as gifts, or get a couple for yourself: save one and mail postcards from the other.

The 64-page paperback is available on <a title=”Roadside USA book by Graham and Ross” href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096774816X?ie=UTF8&tag=boobybribut-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=096774816X” target=”_blank”>Amazon</a>.

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Tags:roadside book, Utah
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, signs | Leave a Comment »

Middlegate and Shoe Tree seen on street views

January 30, 2009

I was fishing around the Google street views for Middlegate and the Shoe Tree east of Fallon, Nevada, while double-checking my Lincoln Highway Companion draft, and captured a couple interesting views. Here’s the Shoe Tree – where visitors hang their shoes:

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Below is a wide-angle view of Middleage – the stage station, bar, and motel are to the left (South-West); the old Lincoln Highway to the right of center heading into the distance (West); and at right, the side road (NV 361) that heads NorthWest to the intersection with US 50. CLICK THE IMAGE to see the large-sized panorama:

Tags:Fallon NV, Lincoln Highway, lonely highways, Middlegate NV, Nevada, overland stage station, roadside attraction, Shoe Tree, US 50, vintage roadhouse
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, Road trip, roadside, transportation | 1 Comment »

Last chance to visit Calif LH ghost town in May

January 29, 2009

The long-abandoned town of Clarksville, just outside of El Dorado Hills, California, is set to be cleared and developed in the next couple years. The town boasts one of the longest sections of original Lincoln Highway along the Pioneer Branch between Sacramento and Carson City, Nevada.

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Philip Wood, writing in the El Dorado Hills Telegraph. reported that the owner will be developing the property this year, though preserving parts for a museum to honor Clarksville’s history. Wood and Don Chaddock got a chance to photograph the land that lies east of Sacramento. Those are Wood’s photos here.

More exciting, a follow-up article in the Folson Telegraph announces that the public will have one last chance to visit the town that time forgot thanks to members of the town’s historical society.

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Betty January, president of the Clarksville Region Historical Society, said Ken Wilkenson, one of the property owners, worked out a deal to hold their annual Clarksville Day at the site on May 9. A large barn that was also once the schoolhouse will be used for the celebration.

January said Clarksville was founded around 1849-50, because of the nearby Mormon Tavern, and quickly became a commercial and social center for the area, eventually home to a few hundred people. The road dates to that period. Wilkenson says the roadway will be preserved.

Only about dozen structures remain but the town once had a Wells Fargo building, general store, school, and hotels. Decline came when the Folsom-to-Shingle Springs branch of the railroad bypassed the town, and really came when US 50 was rerouted, cutting off the town so that it could not even support a gas station. The last resident left in 1952, and when a developer bought 11,000 acres in the 1960s, he renamed the area El Dorado Hills. The ghost town again has one resident — in a new house built atop the site of the general store after it burned down.

Cars will be able to drive the Lincoln Highway during Clarksville Day. The event will feature vintage cars and other activities for the public such as gold panning, and The Pony Express Riders will stage a re-mount.

To learn more about Clarksville Day, visit www.edhhistory.org/.

Check out more photographs of Clarksville in the Telegraph‘s gallery.

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Tags:abandoned town, El Dorado Hills, Folsom CA, ghost town, highway history, Lincoln Highway, touring forgotten town
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, museum, Road trip, roadside, transportation, travel | 6 Comments »

Ship Hotel blueprints show roadside evolution

January 23, 2009

Now that I’ve shifted to working day and night on my book for 2010 — The Ship Hotel: A Grand View along the Lincoln Highway — I’ve dug out copies of the blueprints. Most fascinating are drawings of the original building planned in 1928. The Ship would be built around this basic structure a few years later. Here’s a look at a side elevation of the original stand with some castle ornamentation. You can see how it hung onto the mountainside!

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I’ve seen lots of photos but, oddly, NEVER one during construction of either the original hotel or its conversion to the Ship. Anyone have more information or images from its construction?

Tags:Grand View Point, Lincoln Highway, PA, roadside attraction, Ship Hotel
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, Road trip, roadside, transportation, travel | Leave a Comment »

Two snowy views of Lincoln Highway, Donner Pass

January 21, 2009

Grant Gassman, a member of the Lincoln Highway California Chapter, took these photos on January 10, 2009, of the Lincoln Highway at Donner Pass and Paul Gilger kindly sent them on. The first photo is a wonderful vista of Donner Lake and the road, taken with a zoom lens from the lookout at the end of the Rainbow Bridge atop Donner Pass.

The second photo is the original Lincoln Highway alignment underpass under the Transcontinental Railroad, and part of the adjacent China Wall. You can see how the snow drifts completely over the old road, even from just a modest snowfall.