Our first stop is in Scranton, PA and we essentially traveled I-84 to get there. Once we hit Scranton it was all secondary roads to today's final destination, Altoona PA.
In Scranton the only planned stop was Terrence Powderly House, a National Historic Landmark. Terrence was a labor leader of Jeffersonian idealism and dominated the American labor movement in the 1880's. It was here I meet a gentlemen walking up the street and we had a conversation that went on some 20 minutes about him moving from New Jersey to Scranton and a battle he was having with a women that lived in some apartment up the street. My only regret is I did not get a picture of him.
Scranton is home to Steamtown USA, a National Park about the railroad industry. We have been here multiple times and did not stop to take picture. Steamtown is worth the visit. As we headed out of Scranton I did stop to take some additional pictures for Waymarking purposes. (this is exactly why my planned itinerary gets behind schedule)
Central Railroad of New Jersey Freight Station - Built in 1891 in a Romanesque Revival style, it was at first an unusual instance of a freight terminal being more visually striking than its corresponding passenger terminal.
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station - built during the years 1907-1908 at a cost of $ 601,780.96 in the Neo-Classical Revival style.
Next up is the Tomato Capital of the World Statue in Pittston PA, a bright red sculpted tribute to the Quality Tomato Capital of the World. The town holds an annual festival, featuring a tomato pageant and a tomato fight. So whey did we go here?? I used Roadside America to help me shape the route and have some fun places to find along the way.
Concrete City was an early example of International Style architecture in the United States, built as company housing in 1911 for select employees of the Delaware, Lackawana and Western Railroad's coal division in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania. It was eventually taken over by the Glen Alden Coal Company who, uninterested in paying for required improvements and unable to demolish it due to its robust construction, abandoned the property in 1924. It stands to this day, albeit in extreme disrepair.
While we were walking around I noticed a couple of other people also viewing the site. The first were a couple of girls in their 20's exploring the place, looking for ghosts. Then 2 tattooed guys, with gauges in their ears and one carrying a bat. MeAsWe (Crystal) asked if they were expecting some wildlife, to which they responded, yeah the 2 legged kind. Of course they explained their response, that this area was ripe for drug addicts to frequent and he carried the large stick just in case.
Hadany Arch is the work of internationally renowned sculptor Israel Hadany and sits as at the entrance of Lycoming Mall in Williamsport, PA.
Doing the Whispering Giant Tour, being in Williamsport I just had to grab the Whispering Giant in Town.
What I did not realize was Williamsport was the birthplace of Little League Baseball. At the intersection of Market and West 3rd St is the Little League Memorial called Bases Loaded where 10 life sized statues depict Little League through the years.
Along the Susquehanna River in Northumberland PA lies the home of the discoverer of oxygen, Joseph Priestly. I figure oxygen didn't really need to be discovered because it was already there to begin with, right in front of our noses. Maybe Priestly defined, catalogued, and wrote stuff about it, but he I think it is a bit of a stretch saying he discovered it. It's not like he had to travel very far or experiment to bring it out of the shadows, it was just there. Any ways a picture of his house, enveloped in Oxygen.
We were suppose to go to Pulpit Rocks. One of my preparation tasks is for the National Landmarks I download photos and store them in my phone so we can see if we arrived at the right place. The picture of Pulpit Rocks was a painting which sent up some red signals. MeAsWe looked up Pulpit Rocks and as soon as she started reading I realized we were going to blow past this one. It talked about a 8 mile hike to get there. This one is off the agenda. Maybe another day, maybe another life time, maybe never.
We arrived in Altoona pretty late and it was dark out, but we still went looking for Leap-The-Dips Roller Coaster. Leap-The-Dips is the world's oldest operating roller coaster and North America's last surviving side friction roller coaster and a National Historic Landmark. Well we didn't find it after driving around for 1/2 hour and headed for dinner at Marzoni's. I did ask our waitress and she said it was right near there and we might be able to see it from the street. I ordered a Smokin Turkey Egler and MeAsWe had some kind of Mac N'Cheese dish. Both were quite good.
The days route, some 530+ miles
1 comment:
Nice architecture shots!
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