Ohio River
Reports from Ohio River Expedition
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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
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A beautiful day to be on a shantyboat on the Ohio River. Despite everyone upstream promising us apocalyptic weather.
A beautiful day to be on a shantyboat on the Ohio River. Despite everyone upstream promising us apocalyptic weather. #ohioriver #shantyboat
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Marietta Times: Shantyboat historian spends time in Marietta
“It is so cool to be in that space, gathering that storytelling,” she said. “I knew a tiny bit about it before this, from the exhibit at the Ohio River Museum. It makes you realize that the river at one time was just thick with boats like that.”
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Mayflies caught in a spiderweb under the eves of the shantyboat
Mayflies caught in a spiderweb under the eves of the shantyboat. Water quality experts tell us that the return of mayflies on many rivers is a good sign. Way to go Little Kanawha River. Age told me that this was his art installation that he’d worked all night on. #mayflies #ohioriver #littlekanawhariver #shantyboat
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Shantyboat at the mouth of the Little Kanawha River.
Shantyboat at the mouth of the Little Kanawha River. #shantyboat #parkersburg #ohioriver
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Why Marietta endures inevitable floods
Several people told us that Marietta has never seriously considered a levee because it would separate the town and its people from its river roots. People understand that floods come with the territory if you want to live in a river town. “We deal with it and move on.” A sensible approach considering how often…
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Marietta’s Steamboat Landing
Marietta maintains a sternwheeler landing on the Ohio riverfront where historically and currently passenger steamers nose up to the landing and lower their gangplanks for passengers to deboard. Marietta also hosts the annual Ohio River Sternwheel Festival and hosts the W.P.Snyder Jr.; a historic coal-fired sternwheel towboat. #ohioriver #muskingumriver #marietta #sternwheeler
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Pop-up exhibition of the Secret History project at Marietta’s First Friday
Open house and pop-up exhibition of the Secret History project during Marietta’s First Friday. #OpenHouse #Exhibition #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #Marietta
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“Go with the flow” a button made by my new 10 year old friend Iris
“Go with the flow” a button made by my new 10 year old friend Iris who had many many questions about shantyboat living. #kidphilosophy #shantyboat #madebykids #openhouse #buttons
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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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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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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…
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Insider Louisville: Exhibit on America’s river heritage finds berth at Portland Museum
Ahead of a shantyboat trip down the Ohio River this summer, California artist Wes Modes will open a window onto the history and culture of the nation’s rivers on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Portland Museum.
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The “Mad” Ohio: the Great Ohio River Flood of 1937
The greatest natural disaster in Tri-State history happened in January-February 1937 when the river rose to 79.9 feet and floodwaters
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Flatboatmen of the Frontier 1941 Ohio River Valley Documentary
Enjoy this charming (and educational) 1941 documentary covers the process of producing wooden flatboats for use on the Ohio River
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Ohio River: Young Man River 1965 US Army Corps of Engineers
An amazing mid-century educational film by the US Army Corps of Engineers
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Searching for Living Native History in the Ohio River Valley
I’ve been going crazy all evening looking for native people in the Ohio River Valley.
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We’re Headed to the Ohio River
We are happy to announce that in summer 2019 the Secret History project will be doing fieldwork on the Ohio River.