Uncle Bob's Travels

Places I've hung out in, sometimes briefly.

Archive for the category “Photography by Bob Lawrence”

13 Aug 2017

Centre Brick Indoor Flea Market


Centre Brick Indoor Flea Market, on Main Street, New Tazewell TN (Facebook) (page hasn’t been updated in a year).


Around 1925 or so, a trio of businessmen, led by Sam Duncan, went to LaFollette to buy an abandoned steel foundry.  They had it broken down and shipped to New Tazewell.  It was reassembled (on a new foundation) to form a 15,000 sq. ft. tobacco warehouse, the first in New Tazewell.  At the height of the tobacco trade (1950s), there were seven warehouses in the town.   15,000 sq. ft., btw, is about the size of a modern, free-standing outlet like a CVS or a Walgreen’s.
This probably was the Centre Brick Tobacco Warehouse, dating from the 1930s and originally twice the size it is now.  Half of the warehouse was torn down to provide parking space for the customers.

Above: an interior aisle.

The flea market is managed by Tom McLaughlin. He says it’s busier when the temperatures get a little brisk for the outdoor flea markets.  Incidentally, I remarked to Tom about the sturdy timbers that make up parts of the floor .  He said the wood was so old and dense that it’s difficult to get a nail into it.

This is a view of the porch, which was once an interior aisle.

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06 Aug 2017

R. O. Giles Flea Market

sign

The R. O. Giles Flea Market, an “old fashioned flea market”, according to manager Mike Beeler, is about 5 miles north of Tazewell on 25 North.  The flea market has been in this location for over 40 years.  Here are some pictures taken in August, 2017:

vegetables

spinners

food

silks

outdoor

puppies

 

 

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16 Jul 2017

Water Pump

pump

This is one of many GE water pumps rusting away in the abandoned Carter County Water Works in Elizabethton TN.  This facility shows up on the 1935 topo map of Elizabethton, so that’s a firm date. The Bemberg plant was beginning to produce artificial silk in 1926.  Artificial fiber plants need lots of water, so I think this water works was built originally to provide service to Bemberg and, a year later, to the North American Rayon Corporation.

I was told that this place was abandoned in 1972.

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04 Jul 2017

Nolichucky Dam

nolichucky

Nolichucky Dam, Greene County TN. I found this in a plastic bag of old photos I picked up at an antique store.  This is a small picture: the picture itself (without the margins) is just 3″ x 2″.

A very similar picture is shown on the Tennessee Archives website.  That picture is dated to 1946.  This would have been shortly after TVA acquired the dam, which began operating in 1913.  In 1972, after too much sediment built up in Davy Crockett Lake to allow electrical generation, TVA shut the dam down and removed the equipment.

I read that there have been attempts to convert the dam into some sort of tourist attraction, but, to date, TVA is not amused.

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25 Jun 2017

Ft. Patrick Henry Lake

ft pat henry lake

If you’re not familiar with this lake at Warriors’ Path State Park in Kingsport TN, the view is of an inlet where the marina is situated (it’s to the right, out of the picture).  The main lake is to the left (also out of the picture).  Then, with all that missing, why did I take the picture here?  I liked the tree in the foreground.

I took this from the walking path on Duck Island.

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11 Jun 2017

Vicco KY

Vicco was once a happenin’ place.  When the Virginia Iron Coal and Coke Company (VICCO) was working full time, this town was where the miners let off a little steam.  This was once a movie theater catering to that fun bunch:

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23 May 2017

Steinman

Ever been to Steinman VA?  Well, here you are:

 

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01 May 2017

Sutton Hall, Millligan College

Sutton Hall, as it appeared in the early 60s.  The Unknown Collector acquired this card in 1962, which is probably around the time the picture was taken.  The caption on the back calls it “one of the newer buildings on the campus”.  Joyce Haynes took the photo.  Published by Haynes Publishing Company in Roanoke.  Printed by Dexter of West Nyack NY.
The building is much changed now.

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30 Apr 2017

Little Stony Creek Falls

The plan was to head to the Devil’s Bathtub on Devil’s Fork Creek, a couple of miles north on 619 from Ft. Blackmore in Scott County VA.  However, when we got there, the creek was running too high to wade across, much less wade the 10 or so more crossings to get to the Bathtub, so we fell back and went on up to Little Stony Creek, near Coeburn.  There are three falls on that creek and, because of the recent rains, they were all in full flow.  Here’s the upper one (it’s about 40′ top to bottom):

A little below that one is the middle falls (I had to slide down to stream level to get the shot):

And, then, the lowest falls:

It’s not a long-distance hike, by any means, but, on a warm day, it’ll work up a sweat.

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18 Apr 2017

Cherokee Lake!

 

 

Well, will you look at that!  Two more overly-blue, lyin’ postcards from the early 60s.  They’re Haynes cards, of course.  Busy Joyce Haynes shot both pictures. However, someone fed her some erroneous information about the Veterans Overlook (top view).  It’s more like 1940′ or so in elevation, according to Google Earth (which, as I’ve mentioned before, is a fine program for viewing areas from above…it’s free and it features historic imagery – blurry imagery, generally)(if you like old topo maps, check out oldmapsonline.com).

The information on the bottom card is pretty accurate.  The lake varies in size and, of course, these cards were printed over a half century ago.

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