While traveling late at night to a campsite between Wheeling and Fairmont, I did a double take when I passed what looked like an abandoned general store and hotel. I snapped a quick phone photo, the building briefly illuminated by my brake lights.
While traveling late at night to a campsite between Wheeling and Fairmont, I did a double take when I passed what looked like an abandoned general store and hotel. I snapped a quick phone photo, the building briefly illuminated by my brake lights.
Hendrysburg, Ohio, was founded in 1828 along the National Road. The small Belmont County community is best known as the birthplace of William Boyd, the actor who became famous as Hopalong Cassidy in film and television westerns. Like many older road towns, Hendrysburg was gradually left behind by highway realignments: U.S. Route 40 bypassed the village in 1935, and Interstate 70 followed the valley in 1966, shifting through traffic away from the old road corridor.
I've posted more photos and narrative from my trip along the National Road here.
This is an abandoned section of the National Road and U.S. Route 40 in Morristown, Ohio. It was built in 1828, bricked in 1918, and bypassed in 1940. The National Road had been completed through the area in 1826, with U.S. Route 40 designated along the corridor in 1926. I've posted more photos and a narrative of my travels along the National Road here.
The Adena Branch of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway was completed in 1904 for the Adena Railroad, which had been organized to connect the coal fields of Harrison and Belmont counties in Ohio to larger railroads. It included the construction of several tunnels and trestles. The branch remained in service until 1993, when the Saginaw Mine south of St. Clairsville closed. With its principal remaining customer gone, the Adena Branch was abandoned soon afterward. I've posted more photos and the history of the W&LE, including the Adena Branch, here.
This cramped, narrow valley in Belmont County, Ohio, felt quiet, almost too quiet. A one-lane gravel road followed the hollow, passing an abandoned Wheeling & Lake Erie rail line that is slowly being converted into a rail trail. Nearby, old strip mines marked the hillside. Only a few occupied houses remain along the road before the hollow opens into more fertile farmland. Under deeply overcast skies, with intense snow squalls moving through, the whole scene felt even more isolated. I've posted more photos here.
This is along the National Road and U.S. Route 40 in Hendrysburg, Ohio, which was realigned in 1935 and widened in 1947, only to be bypassed by Interstate 70 in 1966. The National Road had been completed through the area in 1826, with U.S. Route 40 designated along the corridor in 1926. I've posted more photos and a narrative of my travels along the National Road here.
The Stillwater Creek crossing east of Hendrysburg, Ohio, was improved in 1935 and widened in 1956, only to be bypassed by Interstate 70 a decade later. The National Road had been completed through the area in 1826, with U.S. Route 40 designated along the corridor in 1926. I've posted more photos and a narrative of my travels along the National Road here.
The Adena Branch of the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway was completed in 1904 for the Adena Railroad, which had been organized to connect the coal fields of Harrison and Belmont counties in Ohio to larger railroads. It included the construction of several tunnels and trestles. The branch remained in service until 1993, when the Saginaw Mine south of St. Clairsville closed. With its principal remaining customer gone, the Adena Branch was abandoned soon afterward. I've posted more photos and the history of the W&LE, including the Adena Branch, here.
Not exactly abandoned, but not especially well cared for either, the former WWVA transmitter site near St. Clairsville, Ohio, remains an important piece of Ohio Valley broadcasting history. I captured these photographs between snow squalls back in March.
WWVA began broadcasting from Wheeling, West Virginia, on December 13, 1926, using a 50-watt transmitter built by founder John Stroebel in the basement of his home. The station expanded rapidly, and in 1941, the Federal Communications Commission moved WWVA to 1170 kHz and authorized a power increase to 50,000 watts. To support that upgrade, WWVA built a new transmitter facility east of St. Clairsville, which went on the air in 1942 with a three-tower directional antenna array that gave the station a powerful regional and nighttime signal.
The St. Clairsville transmitter site helped make WWVA one of the best-known AM stations in the Ohio Valley, carrying news, public-service programming, and the Wheeling Jamboree to listeners across a wide area. After Clear Channel Communications acquired the station, it briefly sought to move WWVA’s 1170 AM operation to Stow, Ohio, a proposal that would have shifted the Wheeling signal toward the Cleveland-Akron market; the application was later withdrawn. On August 4, 2010, a severe thunderstorm and downburst toppled the three-tower array, temporarily taking the station off the air.
WWVA still broadcasts today, but much of its historic local character has faded. The Jamboree is no longer part of the station, and the current iHeart-era schedule is largely built around syndicated news-talk programming, including national hosts such as Glenn Beck, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, Sean Hannity, Jesse Kelly, and Coast to Coast AM, alongside limited local or regional programming such as Bloomdaddy.
Back in March, I took a tour of the National Road in eastern Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania. Light was fading quickly, so my suspension bridge photos are from a prior visit. See the top comment for full text.
This cramped, narrow valley in Belmont County, Ohio, felt quiet, almost too quiet. A one-lane gravel road followed the hollow, passing an abandoned Wheeling & Lake Erie rail line that is slowly being converted into a rail trail. Nearby, old strip mines marked the hillside. Only a few occupied houses remain along the road before the hollow opens into more fertile farmland. Under deeply overcast skies, with intense snow squalls moving through, the whole scene felt even more isolated. I've posted more photos here.
This cramped, narrow valley in Belmont County, Ohio, felt quiet, almost too quiet. A one-lane gravel road followed the hollow, passing an abandoned Wheeling & Lake Erie rail line that is slowly being converted into a rail trail. Nearby, old strip mines marked the hillside. Only a few occupied houses remain along the road before the hollow opens into more fertile farmland. Under deeply overcast skies, with intense snow squalls moving through, the whole scene felt even more isolated. I've posted more photos here.
Hendrysburg, Ohio, was founded in 1828 along the National Road. The small Belmont County community is best known as the birthplace of William Boyd, the actor who became famous as Hopalong Cassidy in film and television westerns. Like many older road towns, Hendrysburg was gradually left behind by highway realignments: U.S. Route 40 bypassed the village in 1935, and Interstate 70 followed the valley in 1966, shifting through traffic away from the old road corridor.
I've posted more photos and narrative from my trip along the National Road here.
Located at Fox Creek west of New Concord, Ohio, this is one of the remaining original mile markers along the National Road, the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway and a vital route for westward travel and commerce. They were built of solid stone in Ohio, but later, cast-iron markers were used.
This is one of the few Masonic symbols I've found along the National Road in Ohio, though I'm sure there are others. This particular bridge, over Barkcamp Creek in Belmont County, was built for the National Road, the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway and a vital route for westward travel and commerce. It was restored in 2015.
The Barkcamp Creek Bridge, built in 1826 in Belmont County, Ohio, is one of the distinctive masonry spans constructed for the National Road, the nation’s first federally funded interstate highway and a vital route for westward travel and commerce.
At Old Washington, Ohio, Zane's Trace was built through the area in 1796 and became part of the National Road in c. 1826. The town was bypassed in 1932 and again with Interstate 70 in 1965. Originally platted as New Washington in 1805 along Zane’s Trace, the town grew rapidly after the National Road followed the earlier corridor and reached its peak around 1850. I've posted more photos and a narrative of my travels along the National Road here.
This is a remnant of the National Road east of Cambridge, Ohio. It was built in 1828, bricked in 1918, and bypassed in 1932. I've posted more photos and a narrative of my travels along the National Road here.