The Road to Nowhere

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on The Road to Nowhere
Travel

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad-121

After our trip on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad I had one last adventure I wanted to undertake. I had read about the “Road to Nowhere” which starts in Bryson City, and I wanted to find it. Turns out that it was easier to find than I thought, so we were able to explore it.

First a bit of history…

In 1943 the Tennessee Valley Authority began work on the Fontana Dam. 1,300 families were displaced by inundation of the the rising Little Tennessee River. In part to appease the displaced families, the TVA promised to build the 32 mile long North Shore Road so that the families had access to the 28 cemeteries on the north side of the lake.

By 1969 only six miles of the North Shore Road had been completed, including a bridge over Nolan Creek and a tunnel through what’s now known as Tunnel Ridge. An environmental study indicated major damage to the fragile Appalachian cove ecosystem if construction continued, so it was halted – completely. Pavement ends just on the other side of the bridge.

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Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

Posted on By Tom 4 Comments on Great Smoky Mountains Railroad
Entertainment, Photography, Travel

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad-28

It had all the promise of a beautiful, cool fall weekend, and Laura and I decided to take advantage of it. Saturday afternoon we drove up to Cullowhee, North Carolina to savor a delicious victory as Furman beat Western North Carolina 47-21 in football. We stayed overnight in Bryson City, and that Sunday we were able to do something both of us had wanted to try for quite awhile – take a ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad

I had booked our tickets as soon as we decided on a plan of action for the weekend. It was a good thing I did, too, as CNN featured the railroad as its #2 leaf-viewing attraction on its website. We were also just beating the peak fall foliage crowds, so there were tickets to be had. There are several travel options, ranging from first class down to mere mortal. Even though it was supposed to be chilly, we decided on the open-air car, which was described as follows on their website:

The Open Air Gondola is perfect for those photographers craving that perfect scenic shot! Plenty of space to see the great outdoors! Created from retired baggage and flatbed cars, these open cars feature long padded outward-facing seats, perfect for the panoramic views. A great car for capturing the scents and sounds of nature!

More on that choice in a bit…

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Google Image Search

Posted on By Tom 2 Comments on Google Image Search
Internet, Photography

Sometime over the summer, and apparently without enough fanfare for it to ping my sonar, Google announced a new “search by image” service. The idea is that you can either upload an image file, or post a link to an online image, an Google will go out and search either for matches to that image, images that are “visually similar”, or if the image can be identified, links to information about that image. I finally got a few spare minutes to take a look, so I decided to try a few experiments.

Only recently did this new service come to my attention. My fellow Flickr photographer Eric Morris, aka The Rested Traveler, had posted a link on his Facebook page to a blog post where the writer used the image search to see if his images had been used without his permission. Having been the victim of photo theft before, I thought this was a good starting point.

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Cedar Falls Park

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Cedar Falls Park
Local, Photography

Cedar Falls 2

Sunday’s Greenville News had an article about a new park in southern Greenville County.  Cedar Falls Park opened to the public recently, and I decided I needed to check it out.

First, a bit of background…

I’d stopped by this location on the Reedy River several times looking longingly at the shoals and the pool below. I also looked askance at the “Keep Out” signs everywhere, and only took photos from the roadside.

In 1993 Colonial Pipeline had a major oil spill on the Reedy. In 1999 they plead guilty to violations of the Clean Water Act, and agreed to a huge fine. Money from the fine, along with grants, paid for creation of the park.  And finally, twelve years later, the park is a reality, and the “Keep Out” signs meaningless. (Although, if you look closely in the photo below, you’ll see one lingering Keep Out sign nailed to the tree.)

Cedar Falls Sign

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Jockey Lot Adventures

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Jockey Lot Adventures
Local, Weirdness

Beautiful cool morning, and Paul W, Brian G, and I decided to squander it with a trip to the Anderson Jockey Lot.  Paul and I have made frequent forays into the world of flea markets.  While growing up, he and his father would scour the yard sales, then resell their goods at various flea markets.  So, Paul brings lots of experience to this endeavor.  Brian is fairly new to the game.  I’m along as an archivist, equipped with cameras and various sound recording devices to capture a distilled version of Southern culture.  Turned out to be a successful trip on all levels.

When we arrived parking was tricky.  It looked like there were going to be lots of people there.  While there were lots of customers, the outside tables seemed fairly sparse.  There were not as many vendors as usual.

One of the first things Paul noticed was that there didn’t seem to be many prices listed on items. I guess you would have to interact with the vendor and haggle a bit.

Jockey Lot VendorArchaic information

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Union County Photo Trek

Posted on By Tom 3 Comments on Union County Photo Trek
History and Genealogy, Local, Photography

Pinckneyville Panorama

It started with a cryptic e-mail which began as follows:

Hello Tom,
I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but I do know about your fascination with ghost towns.

Mark Elbrecht had contacted me through this website, and he had a proposal. Mark is a fellow Flickr photographer, and it seems that he and I have similar interests as far as subject matter is concerned. He had arranged to meet with a representative of the Union Historical Society and get access to the Pinckneyville site, a ghost town I’ve been wanting to visit for quite some time, and he invited me to come along. There was absolutely no way I was going to pass up this opportunity.

Union

My brother Houston joined me, and this past Saturday we made the trek from Greenville to Union to join up with the group. We arrived a bit early, so we wandered the main street of Union and took a few photos of the architecture, including the spectacular court house…

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Upper State Fair 2011

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Upper State Fair 2011
Local, Photography

Fair Rides

Labor Day marks the advent of the Upper State South Carolina Fair. As I’ve done for the past couple of years, I grabbed my camera and headed out to get some shots. This year I had invited several others to come along and make it a true photo trek. Unfortunately, iffy weather and other conflicts caused problems. So, Wednesday evening I headed out on my own.

My usual plan is to get there early evening and catch the last rays, then hang around to get some night shots. I arrived at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway fair grounds at about 6:00, and it wasn’t too crowded, but starting to fill up.

Fair Midway

I took a few shots, but found myself shooting the same things I’ve shot in years past. I was running out of ideas.

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