Contributed
Stories sent from the shore—voices from beyond the river, sharing memories, histories, and unseen narratives that weave into the larger tapestry.
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Coeymans Landing Marina
While eating dinner with my son, I received the most interesting text. Hey Jena this is on your docks. It was a picture of the most amazing boat I have ever seen in my life. I immediately finished eating and rushed out of the restaurant to make my way to Coeymans Landing Marina. Running down…
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Vintage 1880s albumen photo of a young family living on a houseboat
I recently bought a vintage albumen photograph of a young family living in (what I believe to be) a shantyboat on the banks of a frozen river. The seller told me that this particular image was included in a lot of 1880s photos of Cincinnati, and that the river is most likely the Ohio.
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Ashworth shanty boat trip
Nancy E Buell shared this story with us about her family: Lewis Harrison Ashworth and wife Georgetta sold their farm in West Virginia and bought a houseboat. It was tied up near Charleston [West Virginia on the Kanawha River]. They waited for the spring floods to come and floated downriver to near Point Pleasant [at the confluence of…
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The adventures of Peggy Sanford’s Aunt Jonnie
My Aunt, Jonnie Ruff Vailes, taught in a one room schoolhouse on Island 40, located near Memphis on the Mississippi River. Although Island 40 was in Tennessee the only way to get there by road was by going through Arkansas.
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One of the last mom and pop stores
After World War II around 1955, my dad got a job with TVA. He would have made a lot more money but he wanted to do something else. So he opened up a small country store in Courtland Alabama.
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Susan Stewart’s grandpa was chief clerk on a packet boat around 1910
Susan Stewart’s grandpa was chief clerk on a packet boat around 1910
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Family Shantyboat Photos
One of the many folks we met in Florence Alabama shared these photos of their family shantyboat with us.