Sunrise on Waveland Beach

This photograph was taken on the beach at Waveland, Mississippi, in 1973. The tide was out and the sun was coming up. 

Moultrie, GA Pictorial Map

An interesting town I drew a downtown pictorial map for in 1990 was Moultrie, GA. Here is the map and some information about the town and its area. Click on the image below to enlarge the view.

Hannibal, Missouri

On a trip up north last year, I stopped overnight at Hannibal, Missouri, a famous place in its own right, but even more famous because of local resident Samuel Clemens writing as Mark Twain. It is a community steeped in history and has some great museums, downtown shops and interesting architecture. See photos below.

One of the tourist attractions in Hannibal is Mark Twain Cave, an amazing network of criss-crossing naturally-made underground tunnels near the Mississippi River. It was said to be the inspiration for the cave written about in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 

Slide Shows Of Historical Photographs

During the 1970's I began collecting a number of old historical photographs of the St. Tammany area by making copies of pictures people would bring to me. It became an ongoing project, where I would travel out and set up a camera stand in various community locations that were convenient to the older residents, and then put out a call for photographs. 

People would bring over their most treasured photographs, put them on the copy stand, and I would take a photograph of the pictures. They would then get to bring the photographs back home with them, and a week later, I would send them a copy of what I had taken pictures of. It was a win-win situation, they got copies of their most treasured pictures, and I got negatives depicting the community's heritage. The whole project was well-received, and I made sure each photograph that I took was numbered and matched with numbered notes identifying what the picture showed and who was in it ( to the best recollection of the person who had brought it in.)

 

A 1970's notice in the newspaper of the effort to make copies of old photographs

Those pictures were shared with the St. Tammany Historical Society archives, and many were published in the newspaper if they were of sufficient general interest. I even put together a slide presentation and gave talks to a number of civic organizations showing the most interesting photographs.

Now I am sharing them over the internet on the TammanyFamily.com website, and particularly the http://tammanyfamily.blogspot.com website. Back when I was making the photographic copies, nobody even knew about the internet, and now it has become one of the most powerful community history sharing and genealogy researching tools in the world.

I also traveled around the parish with a slide show of aerial photographs. People always enjoy seeing aerial pictures of the streets they frequent, especially if they can see their houses in the photo somewhere. 

 

To see a few of the old photographs, CLICK HERE

To see a few of the aerial photographs, CLICK HERE. 

Sunrise On A Winter Beach

Most people go to the beach either in the Spring or Summer, but there's a lot going on in the winter, as well. While you can't go swimming, you can enjoy brisk cool walks, fewer crowds, and once in a while, a gray overcast sunrise like the one pictured below, which was taken off Pensacola Beach in the middle of January.

Digging Pipelines Through The Marsh

In 1979 I was assigned a story to do on the laying of a pipeline through the marshes south of New Orleans with the use of a new kind of backhoe excavator, an amphibious excavator being custom-made by a local company. The picture below shows one in action.

To get to the spot to take this picture, I had to drive for an hour or two to a roadside boat launch somewhere in Cajun country, climb aboard an air boat that was waiting for me, and then another 20 minute air boat ride through the swamps to get to the construction site. I took a dozen or so pictures, then took the airboat back to my car.

All in all, it was an interesting day, especially when we were whipping down one of the bayous in the airboat and a flock of white birds decided to take flight while we were passing by them. Would have been a great picture if I hadn't been so amazed by the sight. 

The thing about amphibious excavators that made them so useful? Well, they could be used to dig a pipeline trench on land or across waterways. The thing floated and was stable enough to dig a trench with its backhoe even while transversing a submerged area. 

Click on the images below for a larger view.

See also:

Other Construction News Assignments

Billboard Problems

I came across this billboard and had to take a picture of it. Click on the image to view a larger version.

Covington Pictorial Map Presented

In 1985 A. G. Crowe of Slidell began producing large three foot by five foot posters of my maps. Here is a photo of him (at left) presenting Mayor Ernest Cooper of Covington with a framed copy of the 1986 Covington area map which included Abita Springs and Hwy. 190 down to the interstate. 

Together, we also produced maps of Slidell; Mandeville; Hancock County, MS; St. Bernard Parish, and New Orleans East. 

Drunk Driving Reminder

One of the cartoons I did for a safe driving campaign showed what happens when a drunk driver gets behind the wheel. The message was "Call home or crawl home, but don't drive home if your drunk."

Toy Museum in Branson

Last year I went to Branson, Mo., and while there I stopped in to visit the toy museum. Did that bring back memories! Not only of the toys I once owned, but also the toys advertised on television throughout the 1950's and 1960's. The place was huge, and it was divided into shelves full of toys in various categories: planes, cars, buses, police cars, Star Wars, Disney toys, and cap pistols. I can't even begin to list what was on display. There were a variety of old cars, scooters and advertising memorabilia also on hand. 

So if you ever find yourself in Branson for the fishing, history, or music shows, you might want to stop by the toy museum. On the way out it has a gift shop (surprise) that had a lot of the great novelties for sale that I remember from my youth. The slide whistle I bought is great. 

Here are some pictures.