ohioriver
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Atlas Obscura: An Artist, a Shantyboat, and the Lost History of American River Communities
Wes Modes is documenting life along Americaâs waterways. Atlas ObscuraBy Jonathan CareyMarch 7, 2019 THE RIVERS OF THE UNITED States have a certain lore and mystique within American culture. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these roaring waterways were home to thousands. Entire communities existed on or near the water in self-made houseboats. The…
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Boating: Wes Modes, Artist/DocÂuÂmenÂtarÂian/ Shanty Boater
Armed with a homeÂmade shanty boat and a video camÂera, Wes Modes has spent the last few years floatÂing down rivers big and small, all for his unique project: âA Secret History of AmerÂiÂcan River PeoÂple.â
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HeraldWeekly: The Lost History of American River Communities, Revisited by an Artist in a Shantyboat
HeraldWeeklyby Mark Villanueva Wes Modes is documenting life along Americaâs waterways. American rivers used to be home to thousands of people, particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Families lived close to these silvery channels, traded, thrived, as chronicled initially by Harlan Hubbardâs Shantyboat Journal. These communities are mostly gone now, but the mystery of…
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Weâre trying a new thing called Preventative Maintenance
Weâre trying a new thing called Preventative Maintenance. Word is we will have fewer wheels falling off. #ohioriver #roadtrip #preventativemaintenance #trailer
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Breaking down the show at the Louisvilleâs Portland Museum
Breaking down the show at the Louisvilleâs 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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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 Louisvilleâs 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 shipâs engineering crew
Aboard the Belle of Louisville as guests of the shipâs 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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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) whoâd 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 Hubbardâs legacy at Payne Hollow
Great to spend a few days with Paul Hassfurder who is carrying on Anna and Harlan Hubbardâs legacy at Payne Hollow. The house is unspeakably beautiful, simple, efficient, and clever. Paul is a gracious and generous host in the Hubbardâs tradition and dearly loves the magic of the old homestead. We talked for hours and…
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The charming streets of Madison, Indiana
The charming streets of Madison Indiana on an overcast morning. and itâs true that everyone in southern Indiana goes to Madison to vacation, but it still doesnât feel touristy. #Madison #OhioRiver #Indiana #SouthernIndiana
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Welcoming committee in Carrollton, Ky
Yesterday as we passed Carrollton, Ky. a crowd whoâd 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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Harlan Hubbardâs Studio and Prints
If you read Shantyboat, you know that Harlan Hubbard build a house and later a studio that he and Anna lived in before they built their shantyboat. We got a tour of Harlan Hubbardâs house and studio in Fort Thomas, Ky. Also, we had a chance to peruse a large collection of prints re-struck from…
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Good homes will be furnished these helpless children
While we were in new Richmond, Ohio, I interviewed Beth Dearwester who told me about several generations of her family who lived aboard a shantyboat in a shantytown at the mouth of Mill Creek in Cincinnati and were considered disreputable riffraff, occasionally charged with fighting, petty theft, and âloitering.â It was common place for children…
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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 waterâs edge and yelled to us, âWhereâd you get one a them thangs?â #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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Rising Sun, Indiana
A few things: I used to live in Indiana 25 years ago so it is nice and a little strange to be back and hear the cadence of Southern Indiana and feel the particular way air feels on a summer day. In Rising Sun, people met us at the dock and knew us by name…
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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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Ordinary scenes from shantyboat living
Ordinary scenes from shantyboat living: a bath in the river, making eggplant and green tomato Parmesan, and doing dishes. #shantyboat #whatdoyoueat #eggplantparm
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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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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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Cincinnatiâs purple people eater bridge, a former street car, pedestrian, and wagon bridge
Cincinnatiâs 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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Whatâs up Cincinnati? We are in you
Whatâs up Cincinnati? We are in you. #OhioRiver #Shantyboat #Hooters #Skyline #Bridges #Cincinnati
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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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Like an Edward Hopper painting in real life
Like an Edward Hopper painting in real life. #lifemirrorsartmirrorslife #edwardhopper #powerplabt #ohioriver
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Join us for an open house in New Richmond, Ohio at Skipperâs River CafĂŠ
Today, we will be hosting an open house in New Richmond, Ohio at Skipperâs River CafĂŠ. Please join us 4pm to 8pm. #OpenHouse #OpenBoat #OhioRiver #Ohio #NewRichmond #Exhibition
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The Seven Wonders of Portsmouth
Post by honorary shipmate Andrew Feight Shanty Dotty on the Ohio, tied up at the Anchor Pad in Portsmouth, Ohio (18 July 2019). Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting for an interview with Wes Modes. Funded with a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, Wes and his two shipmates (production assistants) are…
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Itâs noon somewhere. Jeremiah and I hit the river
Itâs 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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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 Â
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Shantyboat Dotty arrives in Augusta, Kentucky
Shantyboat Dotty arrives in Augusta, Kentucky. #shantyboat #kentucky #ohioriver #augusta
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Scenes from around Ripley, Ohio
Scenes from around Ripley, Ohio The Beebe Chapel CME Church whose pastor Rev. James Settles is the great-grandson of ex-slave, courageous Underground Railroad conductor, and church founder Joseph Settles. #ohioriver #ripley #ohio #slavery #church #undergroundrailroad #abolishion #emancipation #ruins
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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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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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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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Looking at Portsmouth history through flood wall murals
Amazing flood wall murals in Portsmouth by renowned Louisiana artist Robert Dafford A great look back at Portsmouth history. My only disappointment was that with all of Portsmouth abolitionist and Underground Railroad History, there were no murals reflecting that proud tradition. #FloodWall #Murals #PublicArt #OhioRiver #Portsmouth
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Tuesday Farmers Market in Portsmouth
Tuesday Farmers Market in Portsmouth #farmersmarket #ohioriver #portsmouth
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Gallipolis Daily Tribune: Shantyboaters seek river people secrets
Gallipolis Daily Tribuneby Dean Wright GALLIPOLIS â A trio of shantyboaters landed in Gallipolis Tuesday to speak with locals about the life and culture of the region as they continued a journey from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and on through Louisville, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. Jeremiah Daniels, Wes Modes and Adrian Nankivell are three companions floating…
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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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Scenes from a Sunday morning walk around Portsmouth
Scenes from a Sunday morning walk around Portsmouth ? #SundayMorning #Walkabout #StreetScenes #SmallTown #OhioRiver #RainbowFlag
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The Portsmouth Marina and the Kentucky hills. Whereâs Dotty?
The Portsmouth Marina and the Kentucky hills. Whereâs Dotty? #shantyboat #marina #ohioriver #ohio
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Who wouldnât want a luxury home beside the river?
Who wouldnât 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 familyâs 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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Clutch MOV: A Secret History of American River People
Clutch MOVby Sarah Arnold Though once abundant along the shores of the Ohio River, shantyboats are no longer a common sight. These small, crude houseboats were often built and lived in by itinerant workers, miners, dockworkers, and displaced agricultural workers during the late 19th century and into the 1940s, but largely disappeared from river life after…
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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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Remoâs Dogs
Everyone we met in Gallipolis told us Remoâs had the best dogs in the area. A humble little place where many of the people in this little town stop in for lunch. Rob Rocchi, the owner, already knows your order from last time. The secret, he says, is the sauce that is his Grandmaâs recipe. …
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Gallipolis, One of those mysterious towns thatâs full of generous welcoming people
Gallipolis, One of those mysterious towns thatâs full of generous welcoming people. When we pull in unannounced, uninvited to the Gallipolis Boat Club, Bill greets us at the dock: âDo you need gas? Dock anywhere is fine. Need electricity? Need water? Use our showers! Hereâs some beer couzies, Gallipolis Boat Club windbreakers, A list of…
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American Electric Power on the shores of the Ohio River and a Mystery
American Electric Power on the shores of the Ohio River. Researching how clean these coal-fired power plants are lead me to another less straight-forward story. Try googling âmodern coal power plants pollution.â Your first half dozen hits will be the Institute for Energy Research whose optimistic outlook is featured in a google sidebar: Modern coal plants,…
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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
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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,â she said. âI 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.â
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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 heâd 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. âWe deal with it and move on.â A sensible approach considering how often…
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Mariettaâs 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 Mariettaâs First Friday
Open house and pop-up exhibition of the Secret History project during Mariettaâs First Friday. #OpenHouse #Exhibition #Shantyboat #OhioRiver #Marietta
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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 Mariettaâs Harmar Village are killing me. Beautiful, old and unprecious.
The textures of Mariettaâs Harmar Village are killing me. Beautiful, old and delightfully unprecious. Busy Bee diner, Laborerâ Local 639, Harmar Tavern, all used and well loved. #ohio #marietta #ohioriver #shantyboat
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A landed shantyboat at Mariettaâs Ohio River Museum
A landed shantyboat at Mariettaâs Ohio River Museum, itâs 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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A shantyboat trip down the Ohio
A video created by Post-Gazette staff photographer Andrew Rush.
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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 McSketchersonâs sketchy homemade dock
Sketchy McSketchersonâs 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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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 Modesâ 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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Itâs a two knee knocker sort of day
Itâs 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: âShanty Boatâ 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. â 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 âriver peopleâ along the way.…