Recently, Ward and I took a trip to West Virginia to visit family and friends. I am sharing parts of that trip here.
We stayed with my cousins in Williamstown, WV. Williamstown is a small town on the Ohio River directly across from Marietta, Ohio. We went frequently between the two towns. The river was the backdrop to much of what we did in the area.
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The bridge from Williamstown to Marietta.
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Williamstown side looking across to Marietta.
If you squint, you can see a big boat on the Ohio bank. |
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| On the Marietta side, we saw the American Melody up close. It is a riverboat that started in New Orleans and was headed to Pittsburgh. They spent the night in Marietta and toured the area the next day. Marietta was the first settlement of the Northwest Territory and has a lot of interesting history associated with it. |
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| One day, we took a river cruise on the sternwheeler Valley Gem. |
While Williamstown and the land close to the river are flat, that is unusual for West Virginia. WV is a state made up of steep hills and hollers (narrow valleys), with the hills turning into mountain ranges in the east. Ward and I went to visit Spencer, my hometown, one day over the hills and down the curvy roads. BTW, it's not a fun thing to grow up on curvy roads when you were prone to car sickness. But this time I got to sit in the front seat and fared much better than in my earlier years.
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Buffalo Church was built in 1878.
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About 45 minutes into our drive, I spotted a sign for the Historic Buffalo Log Church. I never met a historical road sign that I didn't want to investigate, so off we went. We drove quite a ways down a gravel road before we spotted the church. I was disappointed that the logs had been covered with white clapboard. And it was fenced, so we couldn't look in the windows. We continued on and traveled a while longer before we met back up with the main road.  |
| We traveled along a ridge for several miles until we reached the main road, Rt. 14. |
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| One of the few signs of life we saw on our detour. The notice on the tree reads, "No trespassing. I have a gun and a backhoe." |
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| After another 25 miles or so, we were in downtown Spencer. The flowers were done by local blacksmith artist Jeff Fetty. His work has been shown not only locally, but around the world. But I knew him back before he was famous. He used to be our paper boy. 😊 |
I think this is enough for today. Next time, I'll show you more of our visit to Spencer.
Until next time...
Oh how fun to take a river cruise on a sternwheeler! Love the pictures, beautiful scenery. What pretty flowers, and how neat that you know the artist.
ReplyDeleteI'm a mountain girl, but I hear you on the curvy roads. We have a road nicknamed 'back of the dragon' that has over 300 curves in 32 miles that I can't drive or even ride anymore. :D
My husband has driven the "back of the dragon" and after his description, I don't think I want to try it.
DeleteI love driving back roads, and hope my passengers are ok...some of which have anxiety issues with drop-offs to the side of the road. I go very slow, but they are still anxious. The sign with the gun and backhoe is funny.
ReplyDeleteWe were definitely on narrow road with steep drop offs. I'll have to admit, they do make me a little nervous at times.
DeleteI've never been to WV, but it looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI feel you on being prone to car sickness. It's awful! I keep a bottle of Dramamine in my purse.
WV definitely has a lot of natural beauty. Smart move keeping Dramamine in your purse. I always have migraine medicince in mine.
DeleteLovely scenery and those sculpted flowers are certainly eye-catching. A riverboat cruise sounds like a fun thing to do. I liked the historic log church, even if the logs had been covered with white clapboard.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read, there may have been some exposed logs inside, but we couldn't get close enough to find out. I understand why the area is fenced. The church is really out in the middle of nowhere, so the fence probably helps keep the vandalism down.
DeleteI like the sign about the gun and the backhoe. Ha. I like the big flowers too. I got carsick when I was little but never after. I have a friend that gets carsick even when she drives so she can't go much of anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThat must be quite a problem if you get carsick even when driving. I sometimes experience that, but only mildly. If had a lot of money, I would get one of the flower sculptures. I like them, too.
DeleteThe photos are gorgeous! I know the trip was great.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of great . . . I laughed at the perfect No Trespassing sign.
I didn't notice the sign at first, but my husband did and said he had to get a picture. Then, of course, I did, too. :)
DeleteThose flower sculptures are spectacular!! You have a knack for finding some crazy signs!
ReplyDeleteHis sculptures are amazing and he tries to make them true to nature.
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