Praise the Lord! and pass the Ammunition.....

On a recent photo excursion with Scott Mecum and his wife, Lil Nick and I were treated to a unique sight. A series of WW 2 ammunition bunkers sitting on land near Amboy.  These sturdy survivors are easily seen from the road and are part of the Green River arsenal complex built in 1942. It was decommissioned in 1945.

They were operated by the Stewart-Warner corp. which produced rocket propelled ammunition for bazooka's. As well as Artillery shells, Naval shells, bombs, Rifle Grenades, fuses and rockets for use during the war.  It should be noted that these sit on private land. ALWAYS get the land owners permission before stopping to take a photograph.

Alaska doesn't have the market cornered on a Bridge to Nowhere

On a recent photo outing with Scott Mecum and his wife, we came across this bridge out in the middle of nowhere. Scott assured me we were 'around Kasbeer' but I wouldn't have sworn to it.  Anyway this is typical of the bridges built in the early half of the 20th century and has been bypassed by a replacement bridge (That's a lot less interesting).

It still looks sturdy and I'll bet the kids in the area have a grand time fishing, swimming, jumping into the creek below.  Now that colder weather is here it might not be smart to jump in the water but when spring rolls around again I know where I want to be. Thanks to my lil' Sidekick Nick for helping with the photo's.

Tuning in to the right frequency...

In most of my blog posts I write about going out in search of history. Well this time, history came in search of Me. A little over a week ago I was contacted by one of the followers of my blog with an intriguing proposition. He had a collection of antique radio's and he wanted to know if I would like to have them.

I went and looked at his collection and it was Huge. I asked the man time and time again if I could at least pay him for the collection but he said no, he was giving them to me free of charge. So last week I went and rented a storage locker and on Friday I and some friends and family congregated at this man's house and we filled three suv's with radio's and speakers. I should mention these radio's are for the most part from the 1920's and 30's.

This was a time when there was no internet, no instant news 24 hours a day. A time when even the radio itself was a fairly new invention. And these examples show that. Some are very plain and others are elaborately constructed with scroll work and inlays. Most of these are in well constructed wooden cases. Many have tubes the size of a mans fist.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. They all work, too.  The collector, a man here in Princeton named Doug, is a serious radio enthusiast who spent a lot of time making sure these survivors can still play music and receive radio broadcasts. He told me jokingly that he was often asked if he could pick up the Pearl Harbor attack on the radio's. They say that the signals bounce around in space so I wouldn't be a bit surprised to hear that some day. Or live coverage of the Hindenburg disaster...or the triumphant landing of the Spirit of St. Louis in France...Or FDR's speech to congress taking us into world war 2.

When can I get my Buick in for service?

I recently took a road trip. Now it would behoove me to get it serviced. There's a dealership in Varna that Lil' Nick and I stumbled across a few weeks ago. The building is sitting empty and forlorn but still has a few bits of glory clinging to it.

Above the door is a neon sign that reads "Varna Auto Service". Another faded sign reads "Chevrolet" with a still legible logo at the bottom of the sign. But the Icing on the cake is the beautiful "Buick" neon sign. Dating from the 1950's it has some broken tubing but the frame and coloring is still strong and could be easily restored. If you're ever up that way stop in and have a look!