Remembering Santa Fe…
This picture was taken last year on our trip to Santa Fe. It is one of my favorites from that vacation. I still have Santa Fe on my mind. It is so different from my usual stomping grounds. Continue reading Remembering Santa Fe…
Category: ISOA
In Search Of America
Oh, Its a Duzzie…
It’s time for a lighter post here so what could be better than an “On The Road Again” report. Last week I spent two days in northeastern Indiana particularly around the Ft. Wayne region. This was my first visit to the Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg Museum in the city of Auburn Indiana which is just north of Ft Wayne. The amount and quality of cars there is simply amazing!! For this post I am concentrating on my favorite car there which is a 1931 Cord. Since orange is my favorite color I guess I should not be surprised by my selection. I also … Continue reading Oh, Its a Duzzie…
Diner/Gas Station from the Past…
In the old days, during my college years that is, State Road 52 was the main route between Indianapolis and Lafayette Indiana. I know I traveled it several times going back and forth to Purdue. Since gas mileage was so poor back then it had many gas stations and such along the route. I recently took a trip that included that section of highway and came across this past gas station/diner combination that has probably been abandoned for years now. (click on any picture to see a larger slideshow) I’m sure it was open during my college years but I … Continue reading Diner/Gas Station from the Past…
Rendezvous – Vincennes
I had the pleasure of attending the Vincennes Indiana Rendezvous over the past weekend. I just love re-enactments with all the muskets blazing and this is an especially good one. All the vendors, food and otherwise, were selling things that were common for the period (early 1800s). Continue reading Rendezvous – Vincennes
Re-Purpose…??
The above scene it all too common on main street in rural America. Buildings which once housed thriving small businesses are now abandoned to the ravages of time. I wonder what it would take to re-purpose these sites to bring them back into use. It takes a creative person to figure that out but it is being done in some small towns… Continue reading Re-Purpose…??
Part of Americana…
Mail Pouch signs are part of Americana. They might be faded now but still show up on many rural buildings. This one was recently found in the small town of Lyons in southern Indiana. But chewing tobacco is really a dirty messy habit.. :) Continue reading Part of Americana…
Rust Belt
Rust Belt is a appropriate term used to describe the once thriving mill towns of the Midwest. As Wikipedia says: The Rust Belt is a term for the region straddling the upper Northeastern United States, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest States, referring to economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once powerful industrial sector… Pittsburgh is perhaps the epitome of that term. During my youth and beyond they were simply know as the “Steel Town”. They like many others in the area are gradually becoming a more diverse economy but Pittsburgh in particular … Continue reading Rust Belt
I Love Reenactors
I love to visit historic sites that have reenactors that is people who play roles of the historic event or site. Fort William in Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada is one of my top ten in that category. Yes Canada is very much in my search for America…. Continue reading I Love Reenactors
Small Town Life
You don’t know America if you have never eaten at a small town cafe. This one in Ennis Montana like so many others is proud of its heritage. We had breakfast there, a big place of sausage gravy and biscuits so didn’t have a change to try their strawberry pie… The biscuits were kind of hard but the gravy was very good. Continue reading Small Town Life
The Corn Palace…
Nothing could be more American that the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota. My first time there was on a family vacation in the 1950s. I have been there three other times and except for the date on the front of the building it has not changed one iota over the years. Continue reading The Corn Palace…
Finger Lakes…
The finger lakes region of New York State was one of those unexpected pleasures in life. I happened across it in the late 90s while exploring that region of the country. It is almost surreal in its beauty. It was wine country long before the California vineyards ever existed. Continue reading Finger Lakes…
WTC 1999
This picture of the World Trade Center was taken lying on my back looking up at that the steel and glass buildings. We later had dinner at the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of tower 1 that evening. It was the last time I visited there… Continue reading WTC 1999
Colonial Williamsburg…
Colonial Williamsburg is one of my favorite places to visit. I have been there on four separate occasions. If you want to get a hands-on view of early American history this is the place to get it. This picture was taken during my 1988 visit. I wonder what kind of men those boys grew up to be? Continue reading Colonial Williamsburg…
GDL…
I was browsing through my photo archive and decided to pull out some pics from my Guadalajara Mexico trip of twenty years ago. (how could it be that long ago!!; seems almost like yesterday). I spent quite a lot of time there in the 1990s on business. The “America” in the category is not just the United States but also includes Canada and Mexico. I love both of those countries as well as my own. I did it a little differently this time as I added some captions to indicate why I picked these particular pictures. As usual click on … Continue reading GDL…
West Baden Springs…
The West Baden Springs Hotel is a historic landmark hotel in the town of West Baden Springs in Orange County, Indiana, United States, known for its vast domed atrium. It is currently part of the French Lick Resort. Prior to the completion of the Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1955, the building had the largest free-spanning dome in the United States and was the largest in the world from 1902 to 1913. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, became a National Historic Landmark in 1987, and is a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The … Continue reading West Baden Springs…
Museum of Indian & Art Culture – Santa Fe NM
The pictures shown in the slideshow are from the grounds of the Museum of Indian & Art Culture in Santa Fe New Mexico. It is a fantastic place to visit. Santa Fe is quickly become my favorite city on Native-America … Continue reading Museum of Indian & Art Culture – Santa Fe NM
Lincoln Museum – Springfield IL
Abraham Lincoln is one of my favorite presidents. His library in Springfield Illinois is and impressive place. The pictures here are life-like figures from his cabinet. Most of these guys thought he was just a yokel who could be easily … Continue reading Lincoln Museum – Springfield IL
Distressed…
One thing that spreads across the U.S. landscape are distressed rural buildings. Now that corporations pretty much have taken over the old small farm buildings have been abandoned. I have more than 800 photos to help document them before they … Continue reading Distressed…
Steel Mills..
Youngstown, OH – Steel Town Let’s spend this week on ISOA looking at one historical center. This is a picture of a picture found in the Youngstown Historical Center of the conditions in the shantytowns that were close to almost … Continue reading Steel Mills..
Mustard Museum??
Madison, WI – Mustard Museum Who would have thought that mustard is very American. If you don’t believe me just visit the Mustard Museum in Madison to see how many companies there are in the U.S. that make mustard. There … Continue reading Mustard Museum??
Ghosts from the past…
Southern Indiana – Feed Mills Feed mills were once a very integral part of America. It is where farmers took their grain to be processed into something edible. There aren’t too many small ones around now, but the ghosts still … Continue reading Ghosts from the past…
An Ode To Pumpkins
To maybe entice you over to my pictorial blog site I am pulling another post from there for this Saturday’s picture day. Click on the mosaic map to the right to see some more entries… A nip is definitely in the air here in Indiana so that takes my thoughts to Pumpkins. Halloween is the first event related to pumpkins but since that is a pagan holiday I don’t celebrate that one :) so that leaves Thanksgiving. I can’t imagine a Thanksgiving meal with a healthy slice of pumpkin pie. Pumpkins are very American. They were grown by native Americans … Continue reading An Ode To Pumpkins
57 Varieties…
Pittsburgh PA – H.J. Heinz Company Museum It is unclear just who invented ketchup but as usual an American perfected the process. As shown in picture taken of a mural at the museum H.J. Heinz was making it on a large scale. Here is a little about it from Wikipedia: Tomato ketchup was sold locally by farmers. A man named Jonas Yerks (or Yerkes) is believed to have been the first man to make tomato ketchup a national phenomenon. By 1837, he had produced and distributed the condiment nationally. Shortly thereafter, other companies followed suit. F. & J. Heinz launched … Continue reading 57 Varieties…
Man On The Moon
Washington DC – Smithsonian Institute When John Kennedy started the mission to put a man on the moon he caused a technological revolution in America that still lingers today. The Space Shuttle as shown above was an important part of … Continue reading Man On The Moon
All That Corn….
Mitchell SD – Corn Palace One thing America is known for is corn. Anyone who has ever driven through the middle of this country has seen acre after acre of it. Don’t ask me where we use all that corn … Continue reading All That Corn….
