Uncle Bob's Travels

Places I've hung out in, sometimes briefly.

Archive for the month “May, 2014”

26 May 2014

More Kentucky Post Offices, one for sale.

Here we go!  First, it’s the formal, official post office in Harlan. The cornerstone (‘way on the left corner) states: A W Mellon Secretary of the Treasury James A Wetmore Acting Supervising Architect 1931.   Harlan first got a post office in 1828, but it had to be named Harlan – after an early family – rather than Mount Pleasant, as it was known at the time.  That name conflicted with another location in the state. So, the song would have been “Goin’ Back to Mount Pleasant”?
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This is the Putney Post Office
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Behold the decommissioned Dehoit post office

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And here’s the best little post office in Mary Alice, now up for sale from the GSA.

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25 May 2014

Christ Church Episcopal Harlan KY

This tidy, ashlar stone church was finished in 1930, as you can see from the cornerstone “Anno Domini MCMXXX”.  The window in the lovely, peaceful sanctuary is relatively new, but the organ, to the right, is old, late 1800s from Lexington KY.  This church is across from the old Harlan High School.
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22 May 2014
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Elzo Guthrie Elementary School

Elzo Guthrie Elementary School served the families in and around Pansy KY as far back (as I can determine) as 1955, but was finally closed in the 1980s.  The building was sold to a local businessman who converted the building into some sort of factory, which was shuttered about 10 or so years ago.  The building is now totally stripped out and vandalized (paint ball wars!).  Because of the tight fencing around the building, the heavy greenery, and the siting, I was only able to get a decent picture of what was probably the original front of the school.  I didn’t take any pictures of the interior because, well, one stripped-out building looks pretty much like any other.  I’m told that in 1993 there were 16 schools in Harlan County…now there are only 9.  Oh, I looked up Elzo Guthrie.  Not a guy you’d want to mess with.
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10 May 2014

Bondtown VA

Bondtown is part of Coeburn VA.  This 1914 building is right by the railroad.  The only picture I could dig up of this on the web was an undated (but early) photo that shows it to be a commercial building with various businesses located in it.  The person who posted the photo called this a bus station, but I don’t think it was that.  Doesn’t look much like a standard bus station.
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09 May 2014

Stinky springs

Well, it is stinky.  It smells like rotten eggs.  It’s a sulphur springs, once much valued for some sort of curative powers, and it’s just across Hunters Valley East Road from the famous Hagan Hall.  The coordinates are roughly 36.82487, -82.53216.
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08 May 2014

Manville High School

This is now Manville Community Center, but it started out as a wooden structure sometime in the late 1800s.  That building burned in the early 1920s and this solid brick school was completed in 1927.  It remained a high school until 1972 and, by 1974, was a school for handicapped children.  The school closed permanently in 1981.  This is located on Manville Road (Hwy 665) at the intersection of Hwy 664 north of Gate City almost right on the Scott County line.  Metric GPS is 36.67048, -82.64246.
I thank Rita at the Scott County Library in Gate City for all this information.  There was nothing I could find on the web about this school.
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07 May 2014

Clinchco VA

This is, as you can see, is the Dickenson County Memorial & Industrial High School in Clinchco.  The date in the ellipse above the door is 1921. The “Memorial” refers to the soldiers and sailors lost in WWI.

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05 May 2014

Grays Knob KY Post Office

Grays Knob is south of Harlan on 72.  This modest post office is on Judy Drive.  Grays Knob is an old coal town remade into quite a fast food and shopping center.  Wiki says it’s named after a local hill…duh.  The town gained a  post office in 1911.

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02 May 2014

Lynch KY Post Office

No 7-11, no grocery store.  But they have a Post Office.  Such government!
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