YouTube offers many views of US 50 in Nevada, dubbed The Loneliest Road in America, much of which follows the Lincoln Highway. Here are some time-lapse videos, heading west, that show that, if the road is not exactly deserted, it can be lonely.
Ely (look for the Hotel Nevada on the left at 0:42) westward almost to Eureka:
Then westward to Austin (arriving about 2/3 in):
Want those two trips all at once (but kinda fast)?
Since Eureka was lost in the editing of the above, maybe this will make up for it – all I’ll say is “Rawhide” gets sung at the town’s wacky Keyhole bar, right on the Lincoln Highway:
Don’t forget that the one-stop shop and official supplier of Lincoln Highway merchandise is the Lincoln Highway Trading Post. Here’s the mobile post at an event last year:
Books, shirts, pennants, maps, reprinted guides, and the driving CDs are available, and all sales benefit the Lincoln Highway Association.
Lincoln Highway Trading Post
425 Schroyer Ave. SW
Canton, Ohio 44702
330.456.8319
Fax: 330.456.8310
info@lhtp.com
www.lhtp.com
As PBS producer Rick Sebak and crew followed the Lincoln Highway to the Pacific Ocean and back, he snapped lots of photos. Here are a couple from Utah.
And here’s a video clip they made while skirting the Great Salt Desert and Dugway Proving Ground:
Learn more about their travels and the forthcoming show, A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway, on Rick’s blog. Here are some of his other nationally themed shows:
By 1921 it had the usual amenities found in any such western camp. In earlier years [Pioneer S]take leaders had noted the increasing thousands who spent time at the auto camp before passing along, and they realized they had an unusual service opportunity. That summer of 1921 they pitched a large tent at the camp and held church services, both on Sundays and during the week. Meetings were short and casual, and relied on music and the recitations of Sunday School children. The various ward choirs in the stake took turns providing music, and talented instrumental soloists offered their services. Stake officers provided brochures, sold copies of the Book of Mormon, and answered questions. Some 25,000 tourists were served in that first year alone.
In 1922, the project expanded, and stake members build a small chapel, open on one side to face rows of benches in the open air. And word began filtering back from missionaries in the field, that they had been welcomed into the homes of people who had stayed at Salt Lake’s auto camp and changed their opinion of the habits and character of the Mormons.
ABOVE: an image of the auto camp missionaries from the article, which identifies the men.
TOP IMAGE courtesy Russell Rein.
SLC and the 1860s Tabernacle were regular stops for most everyone motoring through Utah. As the author points out, and as seen in period travel journals, many wanted to see what Mormons looked like. Early auto traveler Harriet White Fisher was among those who stopped to see but concluded, “I could find no marks of identification that made them any different from other men in the East.”
The Grand Island Independentreports that Shady Bend, a popular Lincoln Highway attraction on the east end of the Nebraska city, is being partially revived.
The mostly-cleared site has been bought by Craig Woodward, a grandson of founder H.O. Woodward. All that remains from the once-thriving site at US 30 and Shady Bend Road is the former Spanish-Revival gas station, which has been a tavern in recent decades. Still, the Shady Bend Gas Station, Grocery and Diner is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and so Woodward, his wife Karen, and their daughter Jennifer Drapel are working to reopen the bar and restaurant. The business was started in 1929 and grew to include gas, food, and lodging in more than 30 tourist cabins, but the most famous of its attractions was a buffalo herd:
“I grew up thinking that everyone had buffalo in their yard,” Craig said.
He soon realized his grandfather and father’s diner was more than the average family business.
“Everyone I run into is excited to bring this place back,” he said. “They remember the buffalo, they remember eating there and hanging out there.”
For the past few years, the Shady Bend has been rented or vacant. Craig took sole ownership at the beginning of the year.
“We truly would like to have a gathering place again,” he said.
The state LHA newsletter “Linc” Across Nebraska has an in-depth story on it in its July 2008 issue by Lenore Stubblefield, who also provided the top image. She recalls a playground, sandy beach lake, tile tennis courts, and the restaurant’s most expensive meal, a T-bone stteak for 65¢. The cabins (later apartments) closed in 1981, The station was luckily spared in 1994 and 2004 road widenings, and will again be serving travelers.
Scott Berka, city clerk of Colo, Iowa, sent some great photos of the RAGBRAI® — The Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. Yesterday (day 4 of the week-long event), the bicyclists traveled the Lincoln Highway from Ames to State Center. He snapped the photos at the Reed/Niland Corner in Colo about 9:30 a.m.. They show the restored gas station, cafe, and area near the just-reopened motel. CLICK each one to see it larger.
RAGBRAI was started in 1973 as a 6-day ride (not a race) across Iowa by two Register columnists; it’s still planned and coordinated by the newspaper and is now hosted by the Register’s front-page cartoonist, Brian Duffy. The Des Moines Register naturally has numerous daily updates, including news that tacks strewn near Nevada, Iowa, caused at least 100 flat tires. Learn more by visiting the RAGBRAI® site or read a brief story at at WHO-TV.
The Deseret News had a nice feature on Gregory Franzwa, author of 20 books including a state-by-state series on the Lincoln Highway. His new book, The Mormon Trail Revisited, retraces the 1846-47 route of the Mormon pioneers across the midwest and into Utah. The book mixes history with driving directions to the 1,400 miles of trails and country roads. Its 284 pages include more than 200 photographs of the trail and historic sites.
The article offers some insights into the author’s work and the trail:
“This exodus was the most amazing thing. There’s been nothing like it before or since. You think of the 2,500 humans and 500 wagons that left Nauvoo and camped at Sugar Creek. That has to be the biggest wagon train in history times 10.”
Franzwa and his wife, Kathy, who now live in Tooele, spent three years tracking the trail. They follow the mass exodus across Iowa, where the “adhesive mud so frustrated the pioneers’ plans to cross the Rockies that year that they had to hole up along the Missouri River. That must have been so discouraging for them.”
He then follows the trail that Brigham Young and the lead wagon train followed across the plains and into the Salt Lake Valley. “We found every single campsite,” he says.
His purpose in writing the guide was twofold. He wants to help people get there — “right in the traces. Right where the mules and oxen and wagon wheels left those scars. To get out of the car and stand in those ruts….
A second reason for the guide, however, is equally important, he says — to encourage preservation. “When a person has read that history, stood right on those pioneer pathways and driven or hiked the pioneer routes, it is unlikely that there will be much support for proposals which would damage or destroy the historic trails or sites.
To purchase the book ($24.95 paper, $39.95 cloth) or for more info, check Franzwa’s Patrice Press site patricepress.com/.
A free Lincoln Highway BUY-WAY Yard Sale Travelers Guide is being distributed along the different routings of the Lincoln Highway through Ohio. The fourth annual BUY-WAY Yard Sale will take place August 7, 8 and 9. The guide features a map of all Lincoln Highway alignments and towns in Ohio, plus contains listings and ads for more than 50 of the larger group events. Guides can be found at participating businesses such as restaurants, attractions, and convenience stores.
Ohio Lincoln Highway Historic Byway Executive Director Mike Hocker says, “The guide is very helpful since many people are confused about where the Lincoln Highway ran — it did change alignments through the years from 1913 to 1928.”
In the 1920s, much of the old route in Ohio was marked US 30 but modern 4-lane improvements bypass the old towns and alignments. That means Ohio alone has roughly 350 miles of yard sales, community events, and festivals with lots of food, drink, and fun for kids. Last year saw more than 700 individual and organizational sales just in Ohio. Indiana and Illinois are participating too, and West Virginia’s 2.25-mile segment of the highway through Chester is also part of the BUY-WAY sale.
More information and a printable listing of yard sales and locations can be found at www.historicbyway.com (updated frequently). To get your guide ahead of time by mail (free for the price of a SASE), visit the travel guide page.
The Laramie Boomerangreports that the ashes of sculptor Robert Russin and his wife Adele have been interred at the monument he created in 1959 to honor Lincoln’s 150th birthday. Its location in eastern Wyoming marked the highest point on the transcontinental Lincoln Highway: 8,835 feet. In 1969, the monument was moved to the nearby Summit Rest Area (exit 323) when I-80 opened between Cheyenne and Laramie, and is now at the highest point along I-80: 8,640 feet.
Above is a screen shot from the article and here’s a bit of the story:
Joe Russin, one of the sculptor’s sons, said his father’s wish was to be laid to rest near the statute [sic].
“The Lincoln statute became his calling card,” Russin said. “It was one of his favorite statutes.”
The mighty statute was actually made in Mexico City and then brought, in pieces, to Wyoming….
“My dad hadn’t thought about how low the wires were over Grand Avenue,” Russin said. “So they had to move it through Laramie really early in the morning and they cut the electric and telephone wires for each block as they went through.”
ABOVE: Sculptor Robert Russin and assistants work on the bust of Abraham Lincoln. Courtesy Jim Kearns, Manager, University of Wyoming Media Relations.
We spent last night under a rising full moon at the Twin Hi-Way Drive-In, named for the two roads passing by: the Lincoln Highway and Wm. Penn Highway (later US routes 22 & 30). Opened in 1950 in suburban Pittsburgh, the “drive-in capital,” it had closed in 1996 and sat mostly vacant, hosting volleyball tounaments for the adjacent bar and military-themed haunted attractions at Halloween. Three local partners – Jerry Salnoris, Dan Tice, and Jim Torcasi – reopened it last July 3. Business is OK but they have the usual challenge of rainy weather and that most profits go back to the movie distributor, so they depend greatly on snack bar sales. We did our part with endless trips for drinks, ice cream, french fries, and popcorn!
Visit your local drive-in this weekend to experience a movie under the stars. Their land is always tempting to developers so let’s support them while we can. Check the list at right for a LH drive-in near you or send any I might have missed.
Twin Hi-Way Drive-In
5588 Steubenville Pike
Robinson Township, PA
(412) 494-4999
www.twinhiwaydrivein.com
I have three updates on Sleepy Hollow Tavern near Ligonier, Pennsylvania, a 1939 roadside landmark along the Lincoln Highway that burned in February.
An article in today’s Tribune Review reports that the contractor demolishing and rebuilding the place has found numerous treasures including a couple huge safes. Fred Haeflein says one of the safes is a 100-year-old, 1,000-pound combo-lock model, hand-painted with gold lining and braided metal on the outside. Other items include a popcorn machine, brass lighting fixtures, a Corona metal beer cooler, and objects that hung on the walls such as antique skis, golf clubs, and “various Lincoln Highway road signs.”
The Trib also recently reported that Ligonier filmmaker Andrea Niapas, who produced a 2007 docudrama of Amelia Earhart’s last flight, is documenting Haeflein as he dismantles and rebuilds the tavern. She sometimes stands atop construction vehicles to get better footage of the building’s selective demolition.
Finally, Clinton Piper wrote to say that his mother volunteers to compile obituaries for a local database and was searching the Latrobe Bulletin on microfilm when she came across some interesting references to two buildings on the Sleepy Hollow site:
1. Overland Inn burned prior to 1926
2. Gas station destroyed by fire 10/18/26
A later gas station at the site is pictured in my PA LH book (shown above) but little is known about it.
As Buddy and Bob pulled their Piaggio MP3 scooters into Times Square on Monday, ending their coast-to coast drive across the Lincoln Highway, reporters lined up to interview them. Their arrival was covered by The New York Times,Forbes, CNN, New York Daily News, NY Metro, and others, including a number of blogs. Buddy and Bob were nice enough to mention to the NYT that they used my Greetings from The Lincoln Highway as their travel guide.
LHA director for New York Jerry Peppers was there to greet them and provided the photos above and these observations:
Piaggio’s marketing people got a police escort so we could occupy the NW corner of Broadway and 42nd Street for a half hour or so without being harassed by traffic. They also arranged for media coverage and I was personally interviewed and talked about trying to get a bronze plaque to mark the eastern terminus on the building corner that was only about ten feet from where we were standing.
I took the paper sign that I had previously attached to the post on the corner where we are endeavoring to get a permanent sign post and pasted it there again for this event. The second photo shows Bob Chase on his bike next to that temporary marker. The Piaggio people produced a hand-held sign that found its way into many photographs as well.
I talked to both riders at some length, particularly Buddy who is a New Yorker. They were appreciative of meeting the LHA members in Evanston and the treatment they got. Also, Bob Chase has joined the LHA and actually carries his membership card! He lives in Livermore in the Bay area.
Hazen Market, a well-known stop east of Reno, Nwevada, has closed after some 70 years in business. A report in the Lahontan Valley News says the recent widening of US 50A made it difficult for travelers to stop, leading to a decline in business. The store was originally along the old Lincoln Highway but was relocated in 1944 when the railroad and highway were moved to bypass south of the little town. Producer Rick Sebak stopped last year on his first trip for the upcoming PBS special and, like so many, enjoyed his visit.
The market had been spruced up since then (as seen in Rick’s sunset photo above versus one from the article below). It still maintained its classic appearance, but that was not enough according to the article, excerpts of which follow.
Owner Allen Hughes blames the Nevada Department of Transportation for the store’s demise…. “The State of Nevada blocked me off,” he said, adding he was promised three turning lanes, which never materialized.
People traveling from Fernley would have to drive 300 feet past the market and make a U-turn to enter his business and make another U-turn when exiting the store because there is no turn lane when traveling eastbound….
Hughes said he is not sure of what he will do with the building, but has thoughts of turning it into a delicatessen/bar to make it more of a destination business than a convenience. He said people who would not stop for a soft drink might do so for a sandwich.
Hughes said the store is for lease, and is willing to work with interested people who would like to open some type of business there.
Hazen residents said they are being affected by the closing of the market, which is located halfway between Fallon and Fernley.
LancasterOnline reports that more retail may be coming to the busy Lincoln Highway/US 30 corridor east of Lancaster, Pa. This stretch was still rural until about WWII, then grew modestly along with interest in the Amish who live in the area. Living history farms, country-style buffets, and other Pennsylvania Dutch-themed businesses dotted the road till the early 1990s when the city pursued businesses that operated beyond daylight hours. Wal-Mart was among the first to open (on the former Amish Homestead attraction) and now outlet malls, strip malls, and fast food chains dominate the multiple-lane highway.
Many of the old hotels are gone, which is apparently what this development would replace — the former c. 1960 Congress Inn, seen above in May.
[Lancaster County Planning Commission[ planners are expected to review plans for the Millcreek Square shopping center proposed for 35 acres on Lincoln Highway East in East Lampeter Township.
Affiliates of High Real Estate Group LLC and Faison Enterprises Inc., of Charlotte, N.C., are planning a 287,000-square-foot center adjacent to Lancaster Host Resort.
The main entrance to the center would be opposite the entrance to the complex where Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and the Italian Villa are located.
Smaller retailers would be located along Lincoln Highway East, while midsize and large stores would form an “L” shape along the east side and rear of the property.
Developers have declined to name any retailers that might occupy the complex.
After 3,400 miles but just $300 in gas on their Piaggio cycles, Buddy Rosenbaum (71) and Bob Chase (72) are set to reach the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway on Monday, July 14. Scooter commuters and the New York Scooter Club will welcome them to Times Square, which will close briefly just for them!
You can greet them too – here’s the schedule:
9 am — Breakfast at Vespa Jersey City.
10 am — Ride via the Lincoln Tunnel (a later LH route) into NYC.
10:30 to 10:45 am — Welcome at Times Square, 42nd and Broadway.
11:45 am to 2 pm — Reception and lunch at Bond 45, 154 W. 45th St.
Above: Bob, Buddy, and their Piaggios in San Francisco at the western terminus. Read more at www.noagelimitpiaggio.us/.
George Garrett and Tom Shields left Times Square on July 6 and are following the Lincoln Highway west in their vintage Fords, George is driving a 1939 Ford Coupe, Tom a ’37 convertible. Don’t forget to follow their progress on their blog. Here are a couple views from western Pennsylvania.
I’ll be talking about roadside attractions today (Friday, July 11) on Sirius satellite radio with Meredith Ochs. You can catch it on ROAD DOG 147 / OUTLAW COUNTRY 63 from about 11:15 till noon EDT. Both our roadside books include many Lincoln Highway attractions; in fact, the cover of Roadside Giants features a view looking east on the Lincoln Highway at Fossil Cabin in Wyoming.
You can click the covers if you’d like to order or just learn more about them on Amazon.
Folks across Iowa continue to suffer from the storms and flooding of a few weeks ago, at a scale incomprehendible to us outsiders. Cedar Rapids alone had 1,300 city blocks under water! J.R. Manning sent links to photos that Iowa DOT took at the time, many showing US 30 where it is either atop or near the Lincoln Highway. Above and below are a few or click here for the complete galleries. Here’s an update on current conditions from Van & Bev Becker:
The Cedar River cuts through the center of Cedar Rapids with the government buildings on an island in the center of town. The 1st Ave Bridge ( 1913-1916 route of the LH) was totally under water including the railings. The 2nd Ave Bridge (1916-1928 route of the LH) was also totally under water including the railings. At the flood peak, ALL bridges in Cedar Rapids, including I-380, were closed. One railroad bridge, loaded with freight cars, washed away. The city government and county government offices are now scattered all around town. Today, all bridges are again open to normal traffic. There are huge piles of flooded and damaged carpet, desks, furniture, files, food, coolers, etc lining the downtown streets and lower neighborhoods.
How did the Lincoln Highway sites and landmarks fare? Quite well thank you.
• The beautiful Coe College campus where we held our natl LHA conference 2 years ago (2006) escaped any flood damage.
• The 1st and 2nd Ave Bridges over the river are back to normal use.
• The huge Grant Wood stain glass window, in the Veteran’s Memorial Building – north side of the 2nd Ave bridge – shows a few cracks and a bit of bowing. This historic treasure can be repaired.
• The Maid Rite (loose meat sandwitches) on 1st Ave West – 6 and a half blocks from the river – was under water to the ceiling. Everything inside is a loss. It is too soon to know if this small business will survive.
• The 1927 Roosevelt Hotel on 1st Ave and 2nd Street is still closed, no power yet. Water filled the basement and first floor.
• The Quaker Oats production facilities (largest cereal mill in the world ) will be closed for a few months. They had water up to the second flood in places. The surrounding railroad tracks and lack of power will be a problen for too but they will reopen.
• There were no LH markers (other than painted telephone poles) affected.
• There were no LH kiosks affected.
• There were no LH road signs affected.
• The Iowa LHA chapter is still going ahead with our 3-day motor tour (Aug 8-9-10) crossing the state with the first overnite stop in Cedar Rapids.
• Highway 30, I-80 and the mainline of the Union Pacific Railroad are all reopened and flowing as normal.
It will be 5-10 years before the city fully recovers from a 500-year flood. We are working hard and fast – by the end of the summer a quick casual tourist may never spot evidence of the flood.
Noontime Tuesday saw cross-country motorcyclists Buddy and Bob pull into Pittsburgh, fresh from a drive across Ohio the previous day. Actually, they stopped at my workplace, the Senator John Heinz History Center. Greeting them too were PBS Producer Rick Sebak (below, middle) and cameraman Bob Lubomski, filming a program about the Lincoln Highway. (Click here to see it larger on Flickr – once there, click All Sizes above the photo.)
There were photos all around, including some of me on one of their Piaggio cycles. I’m not sure I could trade 4 wheels for a cycle, even one with 3 wheels, but it would certainly offer a more intimate experience with the roadscape. We swapped LH stories and then it was off to lunch. Here’s a very short video clip of them riding away from town on Smallman Street.
The History Center is at the eastern edge of Pittsburgh’s downtown and at the western edge of the Strip District, named becasue it’s a thin strip of land along the river. It’s been home to mills and rails and workers and churches but in recent decades it’s known for prduce stands, and more recently, restaurants and nightclubs. Here’s Bob L getting a shot at Penn Mac, a great place to buy cheese, olives, and other Italian specialties.
Then we headed to Enrico Biscotti. If there’s one thing photos and videos can’t do justice to, it’s the aroma of fresh-baked biscotti emerging from the oven. Lunch there is in a tiny alley that really feels like you’re in a European cafe.
It was over all too soon for me since I had to return to work, but the 4 transcontinentalists were heading eastward in search of LH landmarks. I recommended the Abe Lincoln statue in Wilkinsburg and the tiny iron bridge in Turtle Creek in the shadow of the massive Westinghouse Bridge. I loaned them my PA Lincoln Highway guide in hopes it would help them follow the route. And before we left, we got more photos: from left, Bob, Brian, Bob L, Buddy, and Rick.
Read about their further adventures that day HERE.
Great Race Sports, planning to celebrate the centennial of The Great Race from New York to Paris with a commemorative re-run this summer, had to delay the event after the Chinese government revoked travel permits for foreigners following demonstrations in Tibet and along the Olympic Torch Run. New dates are April 25 – June 28, 2009. But scheduled for later this year is an event that will follow much of the Lincoln Highway.
“The Great Auto Race Celebration Tour” will retrace almost the exact route driven by George Schuster and the winning team aboard the 1907 Thomas Flyer a century ago. The 3,700-mile cross-country event will start in New York City on October 18, 2008, and finish in Los Angeles on November 1. It is meant to be a fun and relaxing event with short optional rally sections. Enthusiasts are welcome to join anywhere along the route for 3, 5, 7 or 15 days for an entry fee of $100/day.
Cars of any era are eligible to participate, and teams can travel at their own speeds while previewing next year’s route before it becomes a competitive event. Here’s the tentative schedule of overnight stops — much of the route covers the Lincoln Highway from Indiana through Nevada.
Sat 10/18 Albany, New York – 184 miles
Sun 10/19 Buffalo, New York – 317 miles
Mon 10/20 Cleveland, Ohio – 215 miles
Tue 10/21 Auburn, Indiana – 185 miles
Wed 10/22 Joliet, Illinois – 323 miles
Thu 10/23 Cedar Rapids, Iowa – 292 miles
Fri 10/24 Omaha, Nebraska – 286 miles
Sat 10/25 North Platte, Nebraska – 308 miles
Sun 10/26 Cheyenne, Wyoming – 244 miles
Mon 10/27 Rock Springs, Wyoming – 228 miles
Tue 10/28 Provo, Utah – 220 miles
Wed 10/29 Ely, Nevada – 270 miles
Thu., 10/30 Beatty, Nevada 310 miles
Fri., 10/31 Riverside, California 283 miles
Sat., 11/1 Los Angeles, California 65 miles
Today, the 89th anniversary of the launch of the U.S. Army’s First Transcontinental Motor Convoy, Craig Harmon, Director of The Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives, has announced two more discoveries: the convoy photo album and the official report.
The album, with more than 100 photos, belonged to Expeditionary Commander Lt. Colonel Charles W. McClure.
The official report, seen above with fold-out charts, is believed to be the only survivor of 2 or 3 since the War Department preferred to distribute shorter accounts to garner publicity for the promotion of better highways.
The convoy crossed the U.S. in 1919 to test the mobility of the military during wartime. Twenty-four officers (including Lieutenant Colonel Dwight Eisenhower) and 258 enlisted men took 81 motorized Army vehicles from Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg, and then followed much of the Lincoln Highway to San Francisco, arriving 62 days later.
More information on the documents will be forthcoming. See Harmon’s website for more general information, or ask there to be added to his email updates.
Here’s a photo of Buddy and Bob (posing as one of the pioneering motorcycling Van Buren sisters) in the Dixon Welcome Center. They stopped here on Thursday, July 3rd, to visit the Lincoln Highway Interpretive Center. We lunched at The Salamander in downtown Dixon with Mayor Jim Burke and Diane Bausman, Executive Director of the Blackhawk Waterways Convention & Visitor Bureau.
This is the signage at the new location of the Dixon Welcome Center on the corner of River and Galena Streets. It houses a Lincoln Highway Interpretive Exhibit. The center opens Mon – Sat at 10 a.m.
Buddy, Bob, and I then stopped in Franklin Grove to visit the LHA Headquarters where they bought a couple of shirts from Lyn Asp. While there, they sat for 5 minutes and conducted an interview via cell phone with a lady named Karin who was reaching them from France. They are making news worldwide now! They are really nice gentlemen and are full of stories from all of their travels of the world.
From here we drove through Ashton, Rochelle, and stopped at the Seedling Mile Marker in Malta, Illinois. We couldn’t stay long, as they had a press conference in DeKalb. There, they were greeted by two legislators, the mayor of DeKalb, and several reporters. They were presented with several area gifts and ILHC gave them each an embroidered shirt with our logo on it. Tomorrow, they drive on to Plainfield and further east. The big trips ends at Times Square on July 14th.
D. Lowell Nissley, author of Lincoln Highway: The Road My Father Traveled, will be replanting one of the rare Lancaster Turnpike mile markers in eastern Pennsylvania this summer. The ceremony is set for Friday, August 8, 2008, subject to change. Location will be the Deerfield Corporate Center on US 30 in Frazer, at the first traffic west of Route 401. The Lincoln Highway follows much of the 200+ year old pike from Philadelphia west to Lancaster.
Lowell explains, “About 40 years ago the property where my wife grew up was sold with a very uncertain future. There was a 1795 marker (21 M to P) on their property so I rescued it and it has served a as bench outside our front door all these years. Now things at the property have stabilized enough for the replanting of this marker.”
The ceremony will commemorate the Lancaster Turnpike, the families who lived on the milestone property, and East Whiteland Township’s role in the revolutionary and transportation history of the United States.
This simple granite milestone once stood at the edge of the Lincoln Highway on the old Brackbill/ Haldeman/ Malin farm, which is now the Deerfield Corporate Center. Marking 21 miles to/from Philadelphia, it was placed along the road soon after the Lancaster to Philadelphia Turnpike opened in 1794, the first hard-surfaced road in America. There were once 64 of these stones, one per mile, but no more than a third of them remain, and not a single one between Berwyn and Downingtown.
PBS producer Rick Sebak sent a teaser for his Lincoln Highway program that will air nationally October 29. He was a little shy about it since of course so much had to be left out: “Most of the recent trip isn’t even in the computer yet, so most of the pictures are from last year.” However, I think you’ll agree that a lot IS packed into the 2-minute piece. (Disclosure – that’s me you’ll see a couple times outside the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.) I saw a hi-res version that’s amazing in its detail, which is what the final show will look like. Here’s a lo-res version:
Interest in the LH has been rising the past few years, and I think a wave will hit come Halloween when millions across the US see Sebak’s whimsical take on the road — fun yet informative, full of friendly folks and achingly beautiful roadscapes. Prepare to see a lot more LH travelers and LH roadtrip blogs next Spring.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
Now available: Lincoln Highway Companion features detailed maps and places to eat and stay. Click the book to buy it on Amazon.
Click the Greetings book below to purchase the ultimate guide to the history and route of the Lincoln Highway!
Here’s a photo of Buddy and Bob (posing as one of the pioneering motorcycling Van Buren sisters) in the Dixon Welcome Center. They stopped here on Thursday, July 3rd, to visit the Lincoln Highway Interpretive Center. We lunched at The Salamander in downtown Dixon with Mayor Jim Burke and Diane Bausman, Executive Director of the Blackhawk Waterways Convention & Visitor Bureau.
This is the signage at the new location of the Dixon Welcome Center on the corner of River and Galena Streets. It houses a Lincoln Highway Interpretive Exhibit. The center opens Mon – Sat at 10 a.m.
Buddy, Bob, and I then stopped in Franklin Grove to visit the LHA Headquarters where they bought a couple of shirts from Lyn Asp. While there, they sat for 5 minutes and conducted an interview via cell phone with a lady named Karin who was reaching them from France. They are making news worldwide now! They are really nice gentlemen and are full of stories from all of their travels of the world.
