Wes Modes
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Hundreds of people came to visit us in Marietta
Hundreds of people came to visit us in Marietta during First Friday. #shantyboat #openhouse #exhibition #firstfriday @mariettamainstreet
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Full house(boat) in Marietta Harbor. Kids, grown ups, and grown ups excited as kids
Full house(boat) at First Friday in Marietta Harbor. Kids, grown ups, and grown ups excited as kids asked one million questions about the shantyboat and about the Secret History project. Thanks to @mariettaadventurecompany, @justajar, @clutchmov, @rtafest @mariettamainstreet, and @mariettaharbor for making it happen. #shantyboat #exhibition #openhouse #ohioriver #muskingumrive
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OYO killing it at Just A Jar Design Press on First Friday in Marietta OH.
OYO killing it at Just A Jar Design Press on First Friday in Marietta OH. #ohioriver #bluegrass #ohio #muskingumriver
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The Valley Gem makes way up the Muskingum River at the Marietta waterfront
The Valley Gem makes way up the Muskingum River at the Marietta waterfront #Sternwheeler #MuskingumRiver #OhioRiver #shantyboat #excursion
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The textures of Marietta’s Harmar Village are killing me. Beautiful, old and unprecious.
The textures of Marietta’s Harmar Village are killing me. Beautiful, old and delightfully unprecious. Busy Bee diner, Laborer’ Local 639, Harmar Tavern, all used and well loved. #ohio #marietta #ohioriver #shantyboat
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A landed shantyboat at Marietta’s Ohio River Museum
A landed shantyboat at Marietta’s Ohio River Museum, it’s older grandpa, the flatboat, and finally the famous W.P.Snyder sternwheeler tug. #Ohio #Shantyboat #FlatBoat #Sternwheeler #Steamboat #Tugboat #Marietta #Ohio
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An interesting docking at Marietta tested our mettle
The public dock at Marietta is challenging. Two of the fingers point up the fast-flowing Muskingum River, tangled around the complicated currents off the railroad bridge pier. We had to ease in backwards to ensure that we had enough control and steerage, the whole time being pulled toward the jagged snags near shore or toward…
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A shantyboat trip down the Ohio
A video created by Post-Gazette staff photographer Andrew Rush.
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Shantyboat anchored in our secret little hidey hole
Shantyboat anchored in our secret little hidey hole. #shantyboat #fishingspot #anchoredout
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Sistersville is a classic adorable small river town laid out parallel to the river.
The classic adorable small river town is laid out with its primary commercial district parallel to and a couple blocks up from the river. This also kept Main Street safe from periodic flooding. Historically, the blocks along the river were a busy neighborhood of warehouses, wharves, barges, oil derricks, shipping, drayage, coal and grain elevators,…
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Sketchy McSketcherson’s sketchy homemade dock
Sketchy McSketcherson’s sketchy homemade dock. Note the interesting piles of trash, skillet-hot sizzling sheet metal, and hull-skewering protruding metal pipes. #HomemadeDock #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #Ohio
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Hazel doing what she does best
Hazel doing what she does best. Charming us. #hazel #cattledog @gooddoghazel
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Age came from New Zealand to shipmate
Age came from New Zealand to shipmate on the Shantyboat. He also joined me on the Tennessee River in 2016. Now I will have someone to talk to beside myself, Hazel, Nd Squirlsey. #shipmate #shantyboat #ohioriver #age #adrian
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Just got 20 on my turn though Age is still kicking my ass
Just got 20 on my turn though shipmate Age is still kicking my ass #cribbage #cardgame #ohioriver #shantyboat #westvirgina
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Collecting, making history on the Ohio River
Pittsburgh Post-Gazetteby Christian Snyder When Wes Modes arrived in Pittsburgh, it had been raining nearly every day. But by the time Modes’ homemade shantyboat dips into the water Tuesday, the summer sun shines with a blinding glare. Dotty, as the shantyboat is called, is parked at the Brilliant Boat Club on the Allegheny River in…
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It’s a two knee knocker sort of day
It’s a two knee knocker sort of day. While a barge bottom boat tends to be stable, the little bit of freeboard we have allows bigger waves to slosh over our deck. We have removable knee knockers we can install to prevent those waves from washing into the cabin. A little later the river calmed…
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This is a pipeline cut
This is the beautiful Appalachian Plateau in the West Virginia hills. And this is what it looks like when oil and gas companies cut a broad and bloody swath through the hills to lay a pipeline to support fracking. #fracking #westvirginia #appalacian #pipeline
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WTRF: “Shanty Boat” sails away today in Moundsville
According to Wes Modes, the project hopes to uncover the social and economic impacts that river people have had on their local communities and beyond.
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The Tillers – Shanty Boat at Payne Hollow Kentucky
By and by, I’ll be coming up on Payne Hollow, the holler where Anna and Harlan Hubbard settled out after 5 years spent floating their shantyboat down the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers in the 1950s. I’ve heard great things from my shantyboat friend Faith about Paul who was the Hubbard’s young friend and is…
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Wheeling News-Register: California researcher travels Ohio River in shantyboat to learn about river life
The Intelligencer, Wheeling News-Registerby Mike Jones WHEELING, W.Va. – Wes Modes was stunned by the scenic beauty of the Ohio River as he floated down the waterway in his shantyboat this week on the first leg of a 600-mile voyage from Pittsburgh to Louisville as he collects personal stories from “river people” along the way.…
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The Grave Creek Indian burial mound, at 70 feet high, dominates the skyline of Moundsville
The Grave Creek Indian burial mound, at 70 feet high, dominates the skyline of Moundsville, WV. At the visitor center where I did my talk, there was a great deal of archaeological information, including about the human remains and artifacts that were found in and around the mound. I knew that Lenape, Erie, Shawnee, Munsee,…
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Shantyboat at the Prima Marina in Moundsville WV.
Shantyboat at the Prima Marina in Moundsville WV. #ohioriver #westvirginia
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Outdoor evening concert in Moundsville, a delightful Midwest summer phenomena
Outdoor Friday evening concert in Moundsville, WV. This is a delightful summer phenomena that I’ve only seen in the Midwest and East Coast. Before air conditioning, staying indoors on hot evenings was not an option, so people fled to the porch, the stoop, or the park where there was a chance of catching a cooling…
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Shantyboat morning with wildflowers
Shantyboat morning with wildflowers #Shantyboat #Wildflowers #poster
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We thought you was a shed that had come adrift
As I made coffee and checked my email drifting down the river in the morning fog, a tugboat crew came to check on the shantyboat. “We thought you was a shed that had come adrift.” #OhioRiver #Tugboat’s #Tow #WestVirginia #Ohio #Shantyboat
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Scenes from a sunrise walk around Wellsburg, West Virginia
Scenes from a sunrise walk around Wellsburg, West Virginia. #OhioRiver #Rivertown #WestVirginia #Shantyboat
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Harvey pulling in a 10lb cat from the Wellsburg WV docks
Harvey pulling in a 10lb catfish from the Wellsburg WV docks told me in detail how he lost his mom a year ago to heart disease after he moved here from Tennessee and that things happen in God’s time even if it doesn’t suit our timetables. #shantyboat #fishermen #westvirginia #wv #ohioriver #fishing #catfish
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See ya, Steubenville. Given the highwater and the decrepit condition of the marina, exhibition canceled
See ya, Steubenville. We had an exhibition planned in Steubenville for the last year, but given the high water and the decrepit condition of the former Marina, they had to cancel. In fact, there isn’t even a place to land a boat safely. It makes me sad that this former river town has so little…
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Shantyboat in Toronto Ohio. We were rocked by tugboats and tows all night.
Shantyboat in Toronto Ohio. We were rocked by tugboats and tows all night. #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #Ohio
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Shantyboat breakfast with cheesy grits. We eat well.
Shantyboat breakfast with cheesy grits. We eat well. #shantyboat
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Beaching the shantyboat for a quick pitstop for Hazel.
Beaching the shantyboat for a quick pitstop for Hazel. #Pitstop #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #River
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Montgomery Locks on the Ohio River
Montgomery Locks on the Ohio River #shantyboat #lockanddam #locks #ohioriver #pa #pennsylvania
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As everyone knows, when you drive under a train, it’s good luck.
As everyone knows, when you drive under a train, it’s good luck. Doubly so if you do it on a boat. #goodluck #shantyboat #sailorsuperstitions
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Do you need power? Water? Do you need any money? Do you need anything? Groceries? My keys are in my truck.
When we arrived in Bridgewater, PA along the Beaver River we pulled up to an open space at the very first marina we saw and immediately a few folks came out to catch our lines and help us out. We were parked in someone’s space apparently but it was okay because that boat was out for…
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First day’s voyage celebration. No one was arrested. No one died. And no one lost a limb. Success!
First day’s voyage celebration. No one was arrested. No one died. And no one lost a limb. Success! Unfortunately, I am losing my shipmates already. Christian the nice reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had to return to his desk. And Josh my artist/professor friend had to return to his fam. So now it is just…
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Interview with our trip angel Evan Clark who lives on a shantyboat
Interview with our trip angel Evan Clark who a) does environmental education and cleanup, b) told us about the effects of post-industrialization and global climate change in PGH, and c) lives in a shantyboat. #interview #shantyboat #secrethistory #oralhistory
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Props props props. During my travels some low driveway took a bite out of my prop
Props props props. During my travels some low driveway took a bite out of my primary propeller so I had to travel into the Pennsylvania hills to get another one. #Propeller #BoatProp #Shantyboat
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One of the last things we do before we launch
One of the last things we do before we launch is find a new green friend to join us on our journey. #HousePlant #BostonFernMaybe #Shantyboat
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Shantyboat on the Allegheny
Shantyboat on the Allegheny. Thanks to Evan from Brilliant Marina whose local knowledge and extensive river experience helped a lot. #shantyboat #allegheny
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Hazel at the bow of Evan’s boat on the Allegheny
Hazel at the bow of Evan’s boat on the Allegheny. This is an important step for her. You know it’s only over the last couple years that Hazel became at all comfortable with boats. #cattledogsofinstagram #allegheny
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What I look like after a cross-country drive and repeated visits to Home Despot
What I look like after a cross country drive and then repeated trips to Home Despot to fix the boat. #shantyboat #boatrepair #diy #homedespot
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When you park right next to the tracks
When you park right next to the tracks you experience this disconcerting phenomena. Which looks like this late at night… #train #railroad #shantyboat #woowoo
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For the first time in a week I have a moment to relax
Sunset over the swollen Allegheny River and for the first time in a week I have a moment to relax and smoke a cigar. #endofthetrail allegheny #Pittsburgh #PGH
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Hangin with the PGH boat punx on the swollen Allegheny River.
Hangin with the PGH boat punx at Brilliant Marina on the swollen Allegheny River. #BoatPunx #FloodStage #shantyboat #Marina
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Arrived in Pittsburgh to a warm welcome
Arrived in Pittsburgh to a warm welcome by boat punk friends. #RoadTrip #Pittsburgh #PGH
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Welcome to America.
Welcome to America. Apparently, this is the largest cross in the world. Interestingly, I drove by its only stiff competition in Groom, Texas on this trip. As if God is guiding me to the most kitschy and monumental symbols of His faith. #Crosses #ChristianNation #roadsideamerica #illinois #effingham
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Battened Down. Finally.
After 6 years, I finally got tired of all the shantyboat stuff walking all over the place when I drove. #boatrepair #shantyboat
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Big storm over Vandalia, Illinois
Big storm over Vandalia, Illinois #roadtrip #shantyboat #stormacomin
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Accusatory look. I don’t think either Squirlsey or I thought this trip would take six days.
Accusatory look. I don’t think either Squirlsey or I thought this trip would take six days. #AngrySquirrel #RoadTrip #RoadService #CrossCountry
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Middle of the night truckstop shantyboat repair
Middle of the night truckstop epoxy work to repair the damaged hull of the shantyboat. #epoxy #boatrepair #shantyboat #roadtrip
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First real meal of any kind in three days of travel at the Sunnyside Diner in OKC
First real meal of any kind in three days of travel at the Sunnyside Diner in Oklahoma City. I love stumbling upon places like this. Great peeps, good prices, excellent food. #RoadTrip #Diner #OKC
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There are a lot of abandoned places in the American Southwest
There are a lot of abandoned travel service places in the southwest, gas stations, motels, restaurants. Walking around on the weed-shattered, glass-strewn pavement, the sun pouring through dusty windows, hearing no sound but the crickets in the encroaching vegetation has a very post-apocalyptic feel. #RoadTrip #PostApocalyptic #Route66
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Sometimes you move over the same landscape so many times that you get a sense of déjà vu.
Sometimes you move over the same landscape so many times that you get a sense of déjà vu. I’m nearly certain I have taken this exact same photograph before. #shantyboat #Déjàvu #DejaTruckStop
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30 minutes out of my way to Lake Havasu City to someplace that had fiberglass supplies
30 minutes out of my way to Lake Havasu City to someplace that had the fiberglass supplies I needed to repair the boat. #boatrepair #diy #shantyboat
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As if we need additional confirmation that I am an idiot. Let’s be clear…
As if we need additional confirmation that I am a fucking idiot. Let’s be clear, this was not just a crazy unforeseen unfortunate highway event. I am 100% incontrovertibly unarguably and completely responsible. Mistakes were made: 1) I didn’t get the wheel bearings re-greased and repacked as part of our regular maintenance. 2) When I…
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Chuvas Senior gets replacement tire and rim. Junior packs new bearings with marine grease.
Chuvas Senior gets replacement tire and rim. Junior packs new bearings with marine grease. Meanwhile all the old bearings are replaced and repacked. Chuvas told me he had been in King City for 30 years and spoke little English. He moved from Michoacan to Mexico City where he worked 27 years as a mechanic. #roadtrip…
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: California artist will capture life on the Ohio River in a homemade shantyboat
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Christian Snyder Backyards tell stories, Wes Modes says, and Modes is willing to listen while floating by on what looks like a hut on a raft. On Wednesday, the California-based artist will set off on a shantyboat from the head of the Ohio River to explore the communities along the more than…
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Literally lost the tire on the trailer while driving to the tire shop.
Fuuuuck. Literally lost the tire on the trailer while driving to the tire shop. And by lost, I mean lost. No where to be found. #TrailerTroubles #RoadRepair #RoadTrip
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Shantyboat Drydock
In early June, we took the shantyboat to the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard to do some work on the hull. This requires us to launch the boat in the harbor, motor to the boat lift, and get pulled out. We spent a long long weekend repairing dings in the hull, replacing the skeg elbows, painting…
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The annual posting of the punch list ceremony has been completed. Almost everything checked off.
The annual posting of the punch list ceremony has been completed. Almost everything checked off. #Punchlist #ToDoList #ToDo #Shantyboat
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Squirlsey getting excited for trip.
Squirlsey getting excited for trip. #squirrels #3leggeddog #ToughAsNails
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Rebuilt and refinished the shantyboat’s 5-year old camp stove. New crackle finish.
Rebuilt and refinished the shantyboat’s 5-year old camp stove. New crackle finish. #diy #boatrepair #shantyboat #tripprep
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New art in the Shantyboat gallery thanks to our supporters
New art in the Shantyboat gallery thanks to our supporters. #shantyboat #artgallery #whitejesus #artinsitu
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Lookin good a few days before we depart
Lookin good a few days before we depart. #shantyboat #boatprep #ComingForYouOhioRiver
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Definitely one of those things that only a boat captain would care about, new hull numbers
Shantyboat paint! You know you’ve made the right decision when you are done and it looks like it should always have been this way. #shantyboat #diy #boatrepair Definitely one of those things that only a boat captain would care about, new hull numbers. Six years ago when I went to the department of motor vehicles…
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There is something strangely comforting about auto shops
There is something strangely comforting about hanging around an auto shop that comes of much practice with this project. Perhaps it is the comfort of knowing that whatever problems you may be experiencing, you are in mostly competent hands. #AutoShop #Shantyboat #SecretHistory #RoadRepairs
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Secret History at Santa Cruz Ebb & Flow
Thanks to friends who hung out with us and sent us photos of the shantyboat at Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival at the Tannery in Santa Cruz. Ebb & Flow River Arts Festival is a celebration of our local San Lorenzo River and brings together artists from all over the county. The work of…
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Less terror: The shantyboat is fitted for a new winch post
The Shantyboat takes a field trip down to Watsonville to be fitted for a new winch post. In the meantime the old one is cut off, and the shantyboat is secured by a janky system of ratchet straps. Roy Large of Large’s Fabrication made us a new winch post for the trailer and fixed the…
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Michael Swett – Just One Thing at a Time
This is an excerpt of my interview with Michael Swett. Michael talked to us about the homeless encampment along the banks of the river.
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Important work before we put the boat in the water
Important work before we put the boat in the water. Thanks to Jess for coming by to help. #boatrepair
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Always disconcerting to see a 7000 pound boat hanging in the middle of the air.
Always disconcerting to see a 7000 pound boat hanging in the middle of the air. #boatrepair #drydock
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Vrinda Quintero – To Me the River Is
Excerpt of interview with Vrinda Quintero about growing up in Venezuela and living along the banks of the San Lorenzo River.
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Jefe supervising the workers.
Jefe supervising the workers. #boatrepair #diy #shantyboat #UnionMandatedCoffeeBreak Jefe supervising the workers. #boatrepair #diy #shantyboat #UnionMandatedCoffeeBreak
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Replacing frayed keel knuckles. Easier than we feared.
Replacing frayed keel knuckles. Easier than we feared. #diy #boatrepair #skegs
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Benzy paints the underside of the shantyboat trailer.
Benzy paints the underside of the shantyboat trailer. #boatrepair #boattrailer #shantyboat
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Jeremiah painting under the boat.
Jeremiah painting under the boat. #secrethistory #shantyboat #boatrepair #hullpaint Jeremiah painting under the boat. #secrethistory #shantyboat #boatrepair #hullpaint
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Stressful fiberglass work today here at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard. Lots of big things got done.
Stressful fiberglass work today here at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard. Lots of big things got done. #FiberglassTheTickingTimeBomb #Shantyboat #BoatRepair #DIY
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Filthy filthy Jeremiah who has spent the entire day on his back underneath the boat sanding the hull.
Filthy filthy Jeremiah who has spent the entire day on his back underneath the boat sanding the hull. #ToxinsAreFun #BoatRepair #DIY #Shantyboat #SecretHistory
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Want to help? We will be at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard all weekend and there are many jobs
Want to help? We will be at the Santa Cruz Harbor Boatyard all weekend and there are many jobs to do. Beer is available. If you just want to hangout though, another time is probably better. #boatrepair #shantyboat #secrethistory
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This weekend the shantyboat is in drydock to do some needed repairs. We put Dottie into the ocean for the
This weekend the shantyboat is in drydock to do some needed repairs. We put Dottie into the ocean for the first time in two years to bring it to the lift which pulled us out of the water. #shantyboat #secrethistory #harbor #drydock
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The Secret History Crisis Cam. Thanks for the fundraiser support that will enable us to capture moments of terror.
The Secret History Crisis Cam. Thanks for the fundraiser support that will enable us to capture moments of terror. #shantyboat #secrethistory #crisiscam
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Marietta Times: Artist will stop in Marietta on Ohio River journey
The culture of people who have grown up and lived on the banks of America’s great rivers has largely been left out of history, and Wes Modes has set out to share them.
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Exploring Our Very Own San Lorenzo River
This year, the folks at the arts council making Ebb & Flow happen wanted to build the celebration around a series of stories from San Lorenzo River people.
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Roland Law’s Wildest Dream for the San Lorenzo River
Roland Law talks about his conservation work along the banks of the San Lorenzo River
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George Ow Jr Tells Us About Chinatowns along the San Lorenzo River
An interview with George Ow Jr. along the banks of the San Lorenzo River where we talked about his growing up in one of the last Chinatowns along the river.
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Interview with Leo Cruz along the San Lorenzo River
Interview with Leo Cruz about growing up near a river in Mexico and coming to live along the San Lorenzo River.
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Interview with Greg Pepping about San Lorenzo River
We interviewed Greg Pepping and talked about the community’s relationship with the San Lorenzo River as part of the Ebb & Flow Festival coming up on June 7th. #ebbandflow #sanlorenzoriver #secrethistory #interview
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We Need Your Help
This year, the project is exploring the rich and important American history of the Ohio River Valley touching on the the dramatic geography, the history of westward expansion and early settlements in the territory, American Indian relations and removal, self-emancipated people, abolitionists, and the Underground Railroad, river modification by the Army Corp of Engineers, the important role…
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Sea King
This is the new SEA KING outboard motor we bought sight-unseen off craigslist for the Louisville exhibition. I believe it is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I’d love to tell you that this 5 hp motor is going to be the new power for the shantyboat, but all things considered, I think we’ll stick…
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An Exhibition at Louisville’s Portland Museum
In early February, we staged an exhibition at Portland Museum in the Portland Neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. This was the full shebang with photographs, video of interview excerpts, and expedition footage, ambient video and audio, and installation components. A full size johnboat and pier were built out in the Portland’s Comstock Gallery. Originally, we were…