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A presentation about Secret History
Want to support a newly launched series of virtual experiences and lectures and at the same time learn some of the details of my research on the rivers? I gave a presentation on June 5th, 2020 introducing the project and discussing my research. We concluded with a tour of the shantyboat and Q&A. Watch the…
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Shantyboat Dotty looking good in the early spring sunshine.
Shantyboat Dotty looking good in the early spring sunshine. #Shantyboat #HomemadeBoat #DIYBoats #CabinPorn #Cabins #BoatsOfInstagram
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The first step in working on a longer Secret History documentary
The first step in working on a longer Secret History documentary. What are the stories we want to tell? What are the themes that emerge? #MindMap #ConspiracyMap #TooFunToBeRealWork #Documentary #DocumentaryPlanning #Preproduction
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People join us aboard the Dotty at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire
People join us aboard the Dotty at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Hundreds of parents and adults came through the shanty bar to check out the project. #makerfaire #shantyboat #exhibition
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Please join us at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire
Please join us at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in Oakland at Day Park School on Sunday (10/27)! We’ll be there with the shantyboat Dotty and give a presentation on the project. #exhibition #mymodernmet #shantyboat #riverhistory
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Visiting one of our local waterways, Elkhorn Slough
Visiting one of our local waterways. Elkhorn Slough is a 7-mile-long tidal slough and estuary on Monterey Bay. It’s not a shantyboat but, were it not so late, I would’ve dropped the canoe in. #canoe #paddling #elkhornslough
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In Reno, the shantyboat was blocked in so we had to grab a handy forklift to extricate it
In Reno, the shantyboat was blocked in so we had to grab a handy forklift to extricate it. #ForkliftVirginx2
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Louisville’s Schnitzelburg neighborhood at Check’s Cafe
Louisville’s Schnitzelburg neighborhood sitting at Check’s Cafe during Karaoke Night. #louisville #kentucky #roadtrip #singlelinecontour #blindcontour
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Home finally! After a month and a half on the Ohio River and days on the road it feels amazing to be back home
Home finally! After a month and a half on the Ohio River and five days on the road it feels amazing to be back home. 2,375 miles #Home #RoadTrip #CrossCountry #ShowerFinally
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Now our boat hangs out in Reno with the burning man kids until the burn
Now our boat hangs out in Reno with the burning man kids until the burn. #Shantyboat #Storage #burningman #RoadTrip
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Feeling cute, might drive later
Rockin PetShop Boys, Ah Ha! And The Bangles as we cross the high prairies. #feelingcutechallenge #roadtrip #magicrockouttravelmusic #wyoming #80sflashback
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I love being back in the American West. Something about the way the cool morning air touches your skin
I love being back in the American West. Something about the way the cool morning air touches your skin. Walking the wide, charming streets of downtown Laramie, Wyoming. #Laramie #Wyoming #AmericanWest #RoadTrip
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We’re trying a new thing called Preventative Maintenance
We’re trying a new thing called Preventative Maintenance. Word is we will have fewer wheels falling off. #ohioriver #roadtrip #preventativemaintenance #trailer
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Packing up
Packing up. The total accumulation of a six month exhibition and a month and a half river voyage all in one pickup. #Louisville #ArtShow #Exhibition #RoadTrip
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Breaking down the show at the Louisville’s Portland Museum
Breaking down the show at the Louisville’s Portland Museum. #artshow #exhibition #louisville #ohioriver
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Visitors explore the shantyboat at the Portland Museum
Visitors explore the shantyboat at the Portland Museum (@portlandmuseumky), thanks to all the awesome folks who showed up for the closing reception. #Portland #Louisville #OhioRiver #Exhibition #artshow
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Reflecting on the journey here at the end of it
Reflecting on the journey here at the end of it. There were things we meant to do, and never got around to, people we meant to talk to that we never met, places we meant to see that we simply didn’t have time for. But overall, the river was beautiful, life aboard the Dotty was…
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Beautiful day on the Ohio River in Louisville as we make our way up river to take out
Beautiful day on the Ohio River in Louisville as we make our way up river to take out. The shantyboat Dotty on the trailer is headed to the Portland Museum for a closing reception for our exhibit there. #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #Louisville #Trailer
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It was humbling to watch the expert at work
It was humbling to watch the expert at work. The Belle of Louisville’s keyboardist channels Leonard Cohen on the only surviving brass calliope keyboard aboard a steamboat. #OhioRiver #Steamboat #Calliope #BelleOfLouisville #Hallelujah #LeonardCohen #Louisville
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Aboard the Belle of Louisville as guests of the ship’s engineering crew
Aboard the Belle of Louisville as guests of the ship’s engineering crew. The Belle is one of the very last authentic steam powered sternwheelers. #Steamboat #OhioRiver #Sternwheeler #Louisville
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The beer fairy came to visit us! Thanks, Louisville
The beer fairy came to visit us! Thanks, Louisville. #BeerFairy #Beer #OhioRiver #Louisville
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We love art! Thanks to Piper who made art for our gallery
We love art! Thanks to Piper who made art for our gallery and came by with Trapper Haskins (@trapperhaskins) to visit from Tennessee. #visitors #oldfriends #ohioriver #louisville
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More Edward Hopper scenes from around Louisville
More Edward Hopper scenes from around Louisville. #edwardhopper #ohioriver #louisville
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On a beautiful sunny morning, I interviewed Paul Hassfurder
On a beautiful sunny morning this week after a day and night of thundershowers, I felt honored to interviewed Paul Hassfurder who lives at Payne Hollow. Paul worked with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard at the house for nearly a decade before his death in 1988 at age 88. Paul talked to me about Harlan…
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Things afoot in Louisville while you are drinking your morning coffee
Things afoot in Louisville down by the river while you are still drinking your morning coffee. #OhioRiver #Riverfront #Louisville #Kentucky
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Little-known facts about Louisville, Kentucky
Little-known facts: Louisville, Kentucky has more bridges than Hamburg, Germany (4,048) and is often called the Versailles of the Ohio River. Louisville has more plumbers per capita (1 out of every 100) than any other city in the Western hemisphere. #Dennis #Venice #Louisville #OhioRiver #Kentucky
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See you in Louisville at an artist talk and closing reception
See you in Louisville. Join us for an artist talk on Thursday 1 Aug at 7pm at Endless Summer Paddle and Coffee and/or the closing reception of our Portland Museum exhibition on Saturday 3 Aug at noon to 4pm. #exhibition #artshow #artisttalk #kentucky #ohioriver #louisville
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We call it a Mitch McConnell or a Redneck Russian
We call it a Mitch McConnell or a Redneck Russian, bourbon fire whiskey, homemade Kahlúa, and cream. Here at the end of the trip, our bar stocks are diminished and we have to get creative. #mixeddrinks #cocktails #mixingpoliticsandcocktails
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After the river was cleaned up areas that would be unthinkable real estate investments became desirable
After the river was cleaned up in the 1970s, areas that would be unthinkable real estate investments became desirable locations. As riverside houses, condos, marinas, and parks were built they displaced folks (often poor people and people of color) who’d made the river their homes for generations. #ohioriver #gentrification #displacement #condos
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Interviewing Paul Hassfurder at Payne Hollow surrounded by butterflies
Interviewing Paul Hassfurder at Payne Hollow surrounded by butterflies. #ohioriver #paynehollow #interview #harlanhubbard #harlanandannahubbard #butterfly
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Flowers from the lower garden at Payne Hollow
Flowers from the lower garden at Payne Hollow #flowers #ohioriver #paynehollow #harlanhubbard
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Great to spend a few days with Paul Hassfurder who is carrying on Anna and Harlan Hubbard’s legacy at Payne Hollow
Great to spend a few days with Paul Hassfurder who is carrying on Anna and Harlan Hubbard’s legacy at Payne Hollow. The house is unspeakably beautiful, simple, efficient, and clever. Paul is a gracious and generous host in the Hubbard’s tradition and dearly loves the magic of the old homestead. We talked for hours and…
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We met the American Queen again near Madison, Indiana
We met the American Queen again near Madison, Indiana. This was sent to us from a fan. #sternwheeler #shantyboat #playingchicken
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Welcoming committee in Carrollton, Ky
Yesterday as we passed Carrollton, Ky. a crowd who’d been waiting for the arrival of the shantyboat gathered to welcome us and entice us shoreward. But we had had a very social morning in Warsaw and needed to anchor out and get some quiet time. We headed up the Kentucky River upon whose shores many…
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People ask us all the time, “What do you eat?”
People ask us all the time, “What do you eat?” We eat extraordinarily well aboard the shantyboat. Today an Egg McBenzy, a bagel sammich with cream cheese, eggs, bacon, and strong coffee. #breakfast #bestmealoftheday #Shantyboat #food meals
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A sad goodbye
Today we dropped Age at Aurora, Indiana where he headed for his plane back to New Zealand. He served as shipmate for three weeks on this trip and we are sad to see him go. #shipmate #ohioriver #indiana
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The green rolling lawns of Warsaw, Kentucky and an unexpected encounter
The green rolling lawns of Warsaw, Kentucky. As we came near the public docks, we saw a figure running full tilt down the hill, jumping over picnic benches, pounding onto the docks, right to the water’s edge and yelled to us, “Where’d you get one a them thangs?” #kentucky #ohioriver #warsaw
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Skipper Benzy going hard in rough water
Skipper Benzy going hard in rough water #ohioriver #roughwater
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On the shantyboat Dotty, even the captain swabs the deck
On the shantyboat Dotty, even the captain swabs the deck. #swabbies #shantyboat #mud
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Hmm. Unexpected engine trouble strands us in a backwater
Hmm. Unexpected engine trouble strands us in a backwater. After some troubleshooting, fixed. #EngineTrouble #OhioRiver
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Shantyboat on the Great Miami
Shantyboat on the Great Miami River under a train bridge. #shantyboat #trainbridge #greatmiamiriver #sunset
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Cincinnati’s Roebling Bridge
If you noticed that it looks similar to the Brooklyn Bridge, any Cincinnatian will happily tell you that it was designed by the same person, preceded the Brooklyn Bridge, and its design helped perfect the latter. #Cincinnati #OhioRiverBrooklyn #BrooklynBridge #Bridge
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Mystery ship slowly working its way beneath the waves
Mystery ship slowly working its way beneath the waves of the Ohio River #ohioriver #wreck #sunkenship #concinnati
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Again way to go, Cinci, direct access to the river
Again way to go, Cinci, providing direct access for folks to sit right near the river right downtown. No fences, just steps right to the water. #Cincinnati #OhioRiver
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Bar One on a very very short tired bar crawl, O’Malley’s in the Alley
Bar One on a very very short tired bar crawl, O’Malley’s in the Alley. #Cincinnati #BarCrawl #Cincinnati
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Way to use the riverside, Cinci
Way to use the riverside, Cinci. I wonder what was here before the swanky riverfront park and the ball park. #Ohio #OhioRiver #Riverside #Riverfront
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Cincinnati’s purple people eater bridge, a former street car, pedestrian, and wagon bridge
Cincinnati’s purple people eater bridge, a former street car, pedestrian, and wagon bridge, now turned into a pedestrian bridge and event space. #RustBelt #PostIndustrial #UrbanInnovation #Cincinnati #OhioRiver
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What’s up Cincinnati? We are in you
What’s up Cincinnati? We are in you. #OhioRiver #Shantyboat #Hooters #Skyline #Bridges #Cincinnati
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The Little Miami and the treasure it yields
The Little Miami and the treasure it yields. We imagine there is an old eroded dump somewhere upstream depositing old porcelain and glass bottles into the stream. #LittleMiami #Treasures #Seaglass
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Age on watch as we carefully explore the Little Miami River
Age on watch as we carefully explore the Little Miami River. #OhioRiver #Tributary #LittleMiamiRiver #Cincinnati
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Age messing about in the jonboat while we are anchored
Age fooling around in the jonboat while we are anchored in an inlet. #shantyboat #johnboat #jonboat
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Like an Edward Hopper painting in real life
Like an Edward Hopper painting in real life. #lifemirrorsartmirrorslife #edwardhopper #powerplabt #ohioriver
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The entire crew of the shantyboat Dotty for a few hours
The entire crew of the shantyboat Dotty for a few hours. Soon Jeremiah was to head off to his flight out. #shipmates #crew #shantyboat
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Benzy having a dude seriously with Squirlsey
Benzy having a dude seriously with Squirlsey, who she hasn’t seen since the start of the journey. #reunion #dudesrsly #shipmates #shantyboat
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Join us for an open house in New Richmond, Ohio at Skipper‘s River Café
Today, we will be hosting an open house in New Richmond, Ohio at Skipper‘s River Café. Please join us 4pm to 8pm. #OpenHouse #OpenBoat #OhioRiver #Ohio #NewRichmond #Exhibition
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What happens when you buy exotic vegetables in rural Ohio?
What happens when you buy exotic vegetables in rural Ohio? This Super Kroger had virtually every food known to humans. But our sweet checkout clerk had never seen nor tasted Japanese eggplant. I gave her the recipe for Eggplant Parmesan. #ExoticVegetables #CaliforniansInTheMidwest #AvocadoToast #Eggplant #FruitsAndVeg
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Shipmate Benzy arrives in Cincinnati
Shipmate Benzy arrives in Cincinnati to join us in New Richmond #cincy #cincinnati #shipmate #arrivals
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It’s noon somewhere. Jeremiah and I hit the river
It’s noon somewhere. Jeremiah and I hit the river in the shantyboat while Age takes the truck to meet us in New Richmond. #OhioRiver #BreakfastBourbon #Logistics #Winter #Ohio #Whiskey
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Reading time from Harlan Hubbard’s Payne Hollow
Reading time from Harlan Hubbard’s Payne Hollow dangling my feet in the river while Age casts fruitlessly in the dusk while the frogs and crickets provide the soundtrack. #harlanhubbard #paynehollow #shantyboat
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Ghost sign in Augusta, Ky. What is Polarine anyway?
Ghost sign in Augusta, Ky. What is Polarine anyway? Our friend Sally Baldwin answered our question. #ghostsign #ohioriver #augusta #kentucky Ghost sign in Augusta, Ky. What is Polarine anyway? #ghostsign #ohioriver #augusta #kentucky
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Shantyboat Dotty arrives in Augusta, Kentucky
Shantyboat Dotty arrives in Augusta, Kentucky. #shantyboat #kentucky #ohioriver #augusta
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Shipmate Jeremiah offers a sharp salute as he steps ashore
Shipmate Jeremiah offers a sharp salute as he steps ashore on an important mission to retrieve the truck far upriver. #mission #shipmate
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Storm coming in at Ripley Boat Club
Storm coming in at Ripley Boat Club #storm #ohioriver #thunderstorm
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The sprawling discussion with Andrew Feight, professor of history at Shawnee State
I had a chance to interview Andrew Feight, professor of history at Shawnee State University. We had a sprawling discussion about the nature of history, who gets to tell it, and whose history gets told. We also talked about Portsmouth history, its role in the Underground Railroad, labor history, and integration, the Shawnee people who…
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The charming and colorful George Hausser
I interviewed the charming and colorful George Hausser while we were in Marietta, Ohio. What does a 14-year-old shantyboat kid say to a townie kid who attempts to bum a cigarette? #Interview #OhioRiver #Marietta #BummedCigarette #BallSweat
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Squirlsey riding out rough seas on the Ohio River
Squirlsey riding out rough seas on the Ohio River. #squirrel #shantyboat #harlemprotocol
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Jeremiah at the helm and the Kentucky hills in the distance
Jeremiah at the helm and the Kentucky hills in the distance downriver. #blindcontour #singlelinecontour #ohioriver #drawing #shantyboat
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A reminder of what happens if you’re not ready for the river to drop
A reminder of what happens if you’re not ready when they lower the water level in the pool. Age and I have had a couple close calls while beached, one in the middle of the night on the Tennessee River that involved digging a channel for the boat, full power reverse, and pulling violently with…
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We are underway again, and the river landscape has changed dramatically
After nearly a week in Portsmith, we are underway again, and the river landscape has changed dramatically. The exposed sandy riverbanks dotted with silver maple, sycamore, cottonwood, and black willow rise to meet an endless plain of corn that roll away to distant green hills. #OhioRiver #SouthernOhio
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Further scenes from Portsmouth Ohio
Further scenes from Portsmouth Ohio #OhioRiver #SmallTown #Portsmouth #Walkabout
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Apparently it rains in Southern Ohio
Apparently it rains in Southern Ohio. 10 minutes later it was sunny and we were drying out #rainstorm #shantyboat #ohioriver #southernohio #rain
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Tuesday Farmers Market in Portsmouth
Tuesday Farmers Market in Portsmouth #farmersmarket #ohioriver #portsmouth
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Shantyboat supermarket run in stolen golf cart
Shantyboat supermarket run in stolen golf cart. #OhioRiver #Portsmouth #AwesomeMarina #BorrowedGolfCart #Shantyboat
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In 1944, artist Harlan Hubbard built a shantyboat on the banks of the Ohio River near Cincinnati
In 1944, artist Harlan Hubbard built a shantyboat on the banks of the Ohio River near Cincinnati. He wrote that he scavenged 12×3 timbers from a building being demoed to build the hull of the boat. A common building style in the area that I’ve noticed is 12×3 floor joists set into the brick on…
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When the captain’s away, the mice will play
Here is what happens on the shantyboat when the captain is away. Sunday shantyboat cleaning! #Shantyboat #SundayCleaning #TimeLapse
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The Portsmouth Marina and the Kentucky hills. Where’s Dotty?
The Portsmouth Marina and the Kentucky hills. Where’s Dotty? #shantyboat #marina #ohioriver #ohio
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Who wouldn’t want a luxury home beside the river?
Who wouldn’t want a luxury home beside the river? Historically, the smelly, polluted river would not be a desirable location and there would have been shantyboats along these banks full of people at the fringes of society. #displacement #wealth #fringe #gentrification #cleanwater #ohioriver
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Derelict ferry or barge or paddle wheeler or something
Derelict ferry or barge or paddle wheeler or something near Greenup, Kentucky. #derelict #kentucky #ohioriver #boats
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People ask us if we swim in the Ohio River
People ask us if we swim in the Ohio River #ohioriver #swimming #underwear
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Nancy tracked us down in Ironton, Ohio
Judy, Karen, and Nancy Buell who you may remember from her story about her family’s shantyboat tracked us down in Ironton, Ohio and regaled us with banjo tunes and stories. #ohioriver #familystories #shantyboat
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Arrived in Ironton, OH a town people upriver suggested we stop
Arrived in Ironton, OH a town people upriver suggested we stop. #ohioriver #smalltown
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Sunset light in Huntington on the Ohio River.
Sunset light in Huntington on the Ohio River. #ohioriver #huntington #sunset #shantyboat
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Bill Martin is the dockmaster at Gallipolis
Bill Martin is the dockmaster at the excellent Gallipolis Boat Club. He treated us with hospitality, generosity and humor. #boatclub #OhioRiver #gallipolis #generosity
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Spent the day with Bobbette Braxton of the John Gee Black History Center
Spent the day with Bobbette Braxton who told us about her family and Black history in Gallipolis, segregation, the color line dividing town, her work on civil rights, and the John Gee Black History Center. She took on on a tour of the Pine St Colored Cemetery and other important locations to Black history. #blackhistory…
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Important business in Gallipolis
Important business in Gallipolis. #BeBest #MilwaukeesBest #DockLyfe
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Look who joined us here in Gallipolis
Look who joined us here in Gallipolis! Here on his sixth Secret History river journey, please welcome Jeremiah! #everyone #shipmate #allriver
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Gallipolis, One of those mysterious towns that’s full of generous welcoming people
Gallipolis, One of those mysterious towns that’s full of generous welcoming people. When we pull in unannounced, uninvited to the Gallipolis Boat Club, Bill greets us at the dock: “Do you need gas? Dock anywhere is fine. Need electricity? Need water? Use our showers! Here’s some beer couzies, Gallipolis Boat Club windbreakers, A list of…
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Age fishing as we lazily drift down the Little Kanawha River
Age fishing as we lazily drift down the Little Kanawha River #horizontalfishing #ohioriver #latergram
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Reminder that this is very much an industrial river.
Reminder that this is very much an industrial river. #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #WestVirginia #Industry
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Swimming in a rain shower at the confluence of Sandy Creek and the Ohio
Swimming in a rain shower at the confluence of Sandy Creek and the Ohio at Ravenswood #shantyboat #swimming #rainshower #thunderstorm #ohioriver
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Shantyboat at the mouth of Sandy Crick
Shantyboat at the mouth of Sandy Crick #swimmers #ohioriver #shantyboat #railroadbridge
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Trouble with tows on the Ohio River
Tows on the Ohio River. People ask us all the time if tows give us any trouble. Nope. Tow skippers are some of the most professional people on the river. #tows #tugboat #towboats #ohioriver
