Destination Still Unknown

Recent travel to visit with family found us in Mobile Alabama for a week with an opportunity to become temporary Mobilians and soak-up the history, food and ambiance of this coastal city.  A boat ride of the delta estuary provided an opportunity to take-in the waterfront, port facilities and Austal Shipyard up-close and personal.  Including this:

The SS United States is one of the most iconic ocean liners in American history.  Designed during World War II and launched in the early 1950s, the ship represented American technological prowess and style. 

The genesis for this ship began in the 1930s with naval architect William Francis Gibbs.  He envisioned a fast, fireproof, and militarily convertible ocean liner that would showcase American maritime innovation. During World War II, seventy percent of all naval vessels were built to Gibbs and Cox designs. This included everything from Liberty ships, to destroyers, escort carriers and amphibious assault vessels. This contribution to the war effort strengthened his reputation and bolstered support for his ambitious passenger liner.

In 1950, the U.S. government—through the Maritime Commission—partnered with United States Lines to co-finance the construction of the ship with the understanding that it could be used as a troop carrier in wartime.  The government contributed $50 million and the United States Lines contributed $28 million; adjusted for inflation - $928 million in today's dollars.  Construction began at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Virginia. The ship featured extensive use of aluminum and fireproof materials making her both lightweight and safe. She was designed to carry almost 2,000 passengers in luxury and over 15,000 troops in an emergency.

The SS United States was launched on June 23, 1951, and entered service on July 3, 1952.  Her maiden voyage was a stunning success; shattering the transatlantic speed record crossing the Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes—earning the coveted Blue Riband.  Her return voyage was even faster.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she was considered the epitome of American luxury and efficiency at sea. She hosted presidents, celebrities, business magnates, and immigrants.  Notable passengers included Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Salvador Dalí, Marilyn Monroe, and Marlon Brando.  Her speed, safety, and understated elegance set her apart from rivals.

Original Place Setting

With the arrival of commercial jet travel in the late 1950s and early 1960s demand for transatlantic sea travel declined.  By the late 1960s, operating costs became unsustainable and the the SS United States was withdrawn from service in November 1969 after just 17 years in operation.

Following decommissioning the ship was laid up in Virginia and later moved to Norfolk.  Over time her furnishings and fittings were sold off.  Multiple attempts to repurpose or redevelop the vessel occurred over the next few decades, including proposals for use as a hotel, museum, or cruise ship.  None succeeded.

In 1996 she was towed to Pier 82 in Philadelphia where she would remain for nearly three decades. Although neglected her hull and superstructure remained intact thanks to her robust construction.

In 2011, the SS United States Conservancy, a nonprofit organization, purchased the ship to prevent her from being scrapped.  With the help of a $5.8 million donation from philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, the group maintained the ship while seeking a permanent home and redevelopment plan.

Over the next decade several high-profile plans came and went including a luxury hotel conversion and a floating museum complex. Despite public support and creative proposals no financially viable solution materialized.  By 2024, with mounting maintenance costs and no berth in Philadelphia, the Conservancy was forced to vacate. 

Earlier this year the SS United States was towed to Mobile, Alabama, for additional environmental remediation.  Okaloosa County, Florida, had purchased the ship with the intent of sinking her offshore as the world's largest artificial reef.  This plan envisioned a new life for the ship as a haven for marine life and divers.

Nevertheless, preservationists launched a legal and public relations campaign to stop the plan. The New York Coalition, including investors and historic preservationists, sought to bring the ship to New York Harbor as a floating museum, hotel, and event space.  Lawsuits were filed under the National Historic Preservation Act and appeals were made to political figures to intervene.

As of the publication of this post the ship's fate remains uncertain.  Environmental cleanup is ongoing with a scuttling date projected for late 2025 unless legal efforts succeed in halting the plan.

Whatever the outcome SS United States leaves a legacy of accomplishment. She is a symbol of American postwar confidence, innovation, and elegance.  She still holds the transatlantic speed record and remains a touchstone of maritime history through her design innovations, cultural impact and the passionate efforts of those determined to preserve her memory.

 

 

Fast Facts: 

• Length: 990 feet (301.8 m) - necessary to transit the Panama Canal 
• Beam (width): 101 feet (30.8 m)  
• Tonnage: ~53,330 gross tons  
• Top speed: Over 38 knots (44 mph / 70 km/h) – still the fastest ocean liner ever built  
• Passenger capacity: ~1,928 passengers  
• Crew: ~900  
• Propulsion: Steam turbines, 240,000 shaft horsepower  
• Material: Extensive use of aluminum to reduce weight  
• Nickname: "The Big U"

Old School Transportation

I've ridden all manner of public transportation over my lifetime - both here and abroad.  On our road trip MATA (Memphis Area Transit Authority) served-up a real treat.  

Old school vintage trolley cars.

Some background first.  The Memphis Street Railway was created in 1895 as a consequence of the merger of three other smaller rail systems.  Albert Billings of Chicago, bought the company for over $2,000,000, placed electric power on the roads and the company became a great success.  In its heyday the interurban operated nearly 77 miles of track - most of it double-track.  Memphis, then only 44 square miles, could be traversed easily with frequent service to within blocks of any corner in the city.  Fares included a free transfer.

Similar to the evolution of urban transit in other cities streetcars were phased-out in 1947 to be replaced with electric trolleybuses (trackless trolleys).  By 1960 diesel buses displaced the trackless trolleys and in 1961 the transit authority became publicly-owned.   

Fast-forward to modern times.  

Originally proposed as a line along the Mississippi Riverfront the Memphis City Council voted in January 1990 to build the 2.5-mile $33 million Main Street route.  Construction commenced in 1991 however longer-than-anticipated restoration of the vintage streetcars delayed the opening of the line until spring 1993.  The MATA trolley network nowadays operates three routes (Madison Avenue Line, Riverfront Loop and Main Street Line) on ten miles of track.  

If you're a tourist like me a $2 daily fare includes unlimited transfers and easy access to midtown Memphis.  The Riverfront loop allows you to take-in some spectacular Mississippi views.

About the vintage trolleys.

Just about all of the trolleys in use are restored, vintage streetcars.  The first three cars placed in operation were from Porto, Portugal and are Car 187, circa 1927; Car 194, circa 1935; and Car 204, circa 1940. The cars were restored by Memphis company Kerns-Wilcheck Associates with three additional ex-Porto cars (156, 164 and 180) joining the fleet.  

These trolleys are replete with varnished wood, polished brass and pneumatic controls operated by compressed air right down to the bells and whistles.

The fleet has expanded over the years with reconditioned care sourced from as far as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Melbourne, Australia. Milwaukee may have The Hop but the Memphis trolleys have real class.  

Memphis wears this style well for a thoughtfully redeveloped old school entertainment district.

 

Beale Street

Beale Street is situated in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee which dates to 1900.  It stretches from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately 1.8 miles. It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in music history - Blues in particular.  

The first significant stop on our recent road trip was Memphis Tennessee and Jill had reserved a room at a hotel located in downtown Memphis a block (and walking distance) from Beale Street.  Two nights and a full day.

It is roughly three blocks and 27 acres of nightclubs, restaurants and shops in the heart of downtown Memphis. 

It's a melting pot of  blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll and gospel.

Good food too.

Memphis is home to significant construction and redevelopment and has a pile of goodness going for it.  If you ever have a notion to visit I'll be posting some tid-bits worthy of consideration....

More about this later

Alley parking

And the late night life explains why this was the first time in my life a hotel provided ear protection....

Tall Ships

This isn’t a very timely post inasmuch as the festivities have passed almost a week ago.  Nevertheless, this event only arrives at three year intervals and now that the kids have returned home I have the time to make it worthy of mention – albeit late.        

A tall ship is a schooner, brig, barque or ship sporting traditional sailing rigging.  The masts to hoist the sail make then taller than their propeller-powered brethren.  Most all of the vessels pictured are used for purposes of educating crew in seamanship and traditional sailing skills.  They had been moored in Green Bay for a while and on Monday they returned to Sturgeon Bay in the late afternoon. Tuesday they sailed to Algoma to participate in the Tall Ships Challenge^© Race. 

Here are some photos taken of their arrival in Sturgeon Bay and a brief description of the vessel.      

Santa Maria – A replica of the original ship sailed by Christopher Columbus.  The vessel is crewed by seventeen men and women who departed Europe in November of 2018.  It is an educational vessel.           

Bluenose II – a replica of an undefeated sailing competitor from 1921.  Home port is Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.  It is also an educational vessel.         

Windy – home port is Chicago, Illinois and is a vessel constructed of modern materials.  Its principle use is pleasure sailing for the public.          

US Brig Niagara – from Erie, Pennsylvania.  A replica of the vessel sailed by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.   It is also an educational ship.       

Inland Seas – from Traverse City, Michigan is constructed in the style of a traditional Great Lakes schooner.  It serves in hands-on sailing education and Great Lakes scientific research.         

Pride of Baltimore II – is a replica of the original that has logged more than 250,000 nautical miles traveling to more than 40 countries and 200 ports.  It is used for both education and entertainment purposes.  It also makes profligate use of its cannon.

Amphicar - Model 770 is an amphibious automobile made in West Germany and sold in the US from 1961 to 1968.  It’s a descendant of the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen.   Home port - Sturgeon Bay.

Making a Difference

Last weekend brought the opportunity to peruse a box of old photographs. 

They all dated from my pre-digital era when a much-traveled Yashica 35mm SLR recorded significant events and memories of all sorts.  I still have that camera and the three lenses that accompanied it.  There also happens to be a bazillion of these old-school film cameras for sale on eBay - but I digress.


Until I found these photos I hadn't thought much about what an absolute armpit dump this place was when we purchased it.  Ghastly.

There was an ancient falling-down barn, a raccoon-infested granary, rotting pump house, massive concrete silo, a dangerous open pit of a foundation where the original house once stood, a collapsing garage and a couple of shallow wells. 

Add fifty-gallon drums, countless old tires and trash of all sorts and rusty, broken farm implements that had been dumped here.  

Moreover, everything was overgrown with trees and brush.




In the intervening years much has changed.  The barn was disassembled and salvageable timbers and siding were repurposed in newer construction further north on the peninsula.  A machine shed was constructed and the old house foundation filled and leveled.  The wells were filled, capped and properly abandoned.  Underground electrical utility brought in.  The ancient granary was restored in stages - new roof, modern electrical, new board-and-batten siding and a concrete slab foundation.  The silo was knocked-apart and buried - becoming a vast underground hibernaculum for the resident fox snakes.  A house was constructed where the barn once stood and indoor plumbing arrived for the first time.  Even the pump house was resurrected and found a new life as a potting shed for the missus.

The place cleaned-up rather nicely and the neighbors are all in agreement that we're rather nice to have as neighbors.  And that's just what happened on the footprint of the old barnyard.  I'll save the rest of the story for another day.

 

click on images for a closer look



Raising a toast to a nice blend of old and new.

Cheers!

War Grave

The National Park Service (NPS) maintains a division known at the Submerged Resources Center (SRC).   NPS and National Geographic photographers recently obtained video footage of the interior of the sunken battleship USS Arizona resting at the bottom of Pearl Harbor for 75 years.  Out of respect for the dead - divers are not allowed to enter the wreck so a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) was used to study and document the interior first and second decks of the 608-foot long battleship. 

Because oxygen levels drop precipitously with depth researchers now know that preservation of artifacts may be enhanced in the lower decks of the Arizona.  Next will be to explore the third deck.   When that happens the NPS will learn more about how to preserve, protect and interpret the Arizona for future generations. 

Watch the video and view more at the link and you’ll be witness to a chilling find – a jacket hanging in an officer’s quarters that was clean, uncovered in sediment and hadn’t fallen from the hanger. 

   

Learn more about the project here.

Before and After

A little bit of history from the Platz.

The internet is a wonderful tool for researching the history of something so while I was eating my lunch at my desk at the day job this last week I did a wee bit of sleuthing.

For aerial photographs.

Thanks to the Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder and Google Maps I looked-up some imagery to demonstrate how The Platz has changed over the years.

The property was cleared and settled at the eastern fringe of the Belgian settlement in the later half of the 1800s.  My cursory research in the vault of the county courthouse a number of years ago traced the chain of custody for the farmstead back to February 25, 1888 when the eighty acres was sold to Eli Simon of Brussels for $300.  Prior to that the property was owned by John Leathem and Thomas H. Smith of Sturgeon Bay.  And before them - Charles and Maria Scofield.  

As near as I can figure that makes the joint home to someone for somewhere around 128 years - give or take.

I've written from time to time about the possible and probable history of the property and have a record of the chain of custody up-to and including the purchase by The Frau and I.  Throughout the entire period the eighty acres have remained intact.

From the world wide web I'm adding some aerial imagery.

USDA photograph taken in June of 1938...

And Google Maps imagery from early fall 2014...

 click on images to enlarge

That's the two forty-acre parcels (top to bottom) squarely in the center of each image.  The clearly-defined L-shaped woodland at the top of the photo belongs to the neighbor to the north with a gravel road marking the north property line.  The county highway runs east-west just above the bottom of the image and defines the southern-most boundary.

The creek is still in the same place and a couple of ponds have been excavated for the critters.  What was cleared has largely been planted back in permanent cover - mostly trees.  Not just The Platz but the surrounding landscape is now more densely forested than early settlement times.

Note the ten distinct fields in the 1938 photo.  Pasture and smaller crop plantings.  Work was performed by horse-drawn implements.  The original homestead never had indoor plumbing and electricity did not arrive until shortly before or after WWII.  The footprint of the homestead remains in the same location is the same size.  No barn or barnyard anymore.  And speaking of electricity it sports an outdoor hot tub and three indoor bathrooms.

Change is endless.

Final Touches

Jeff from Baylake Landscape, Inc. had a crew arrive early yesterday morning to put the final touches on the barn remodeling project - namely restore the front yard.

Everything was torn-up pretty good due to the wet ground, skid steer traffic and the concrete truck backing up to the building to conduct The Big Pour.   

The old foundation timbers were hauled away, rough grading performed , topsoil spread, finish grading and grass seeding.

All that's needed is a bit of rain to germinate the seed.

click image to enlarge

 

Moving Day

The barn remodeling is finished so everything that had been out in the yard under the tarps - tree stand, firewood, gardening stuff, fertilizer and collectibles was moved back in the barn today.

I'm feeling a bit bushed.

 A place for everything and everything in its place:

 click on images to enlarge

Bring on the landscaper!

The Big Pour

Nothing like watching a big cement mixer dump a load.  Makes an old guy feel like a kid for a change.


Raising a toast to concrete flat work...

New Barn Floor

New concrete foundation for the old barn went in yesterday.  Malcore Concrete swooped-in out of nowhere 20 minutes before the truck arrived with a delivery of 9 1/2 yards of concrete.

Stone base with a perimeter beam design

click on images to enlarge

Wire and rebar reinforcing

Bring it on

The pour

Finishing and polishing

It's going to be nice when complete.  We all left our imprints for posterity 

The Big Lift

How do you raise a barn off of its foundation?

Very carefully.

A couple of inches at at time...

click to enlarge

History Mystery

click on image to enlarge

The old granary on The Platz has been lovingly restored over the years.  First it received some new perimeter timbers, a new roof and a lean-to.  Then it got new barn siding and windows.  Now it's getting a new foundation and floor.  A concrete foundation and floor.

stabilizing the building

Over the last couple of decades the building has been slowing but surely settling.  A consequence of age and the lack of a proper foundation.  Per the contractor a floating slab ought to put that to a halt and launch the old structure into the next century.  It's already probably double my age and going to outlive me some more.

just dirt under that old wooden floor

Speaking of which - how old is the structure?

The building is post and beam construction (see above) using only pegs - no nails or bolts.  The timbers are hand-hewed.

Yesterday one of the contractor's employees stopped by to pick-up some tools and he mentioned that any number of the timbers removed from under the wooden floor had evidence of scorching and burning on the surfaces that were not hewn.  He asked me if I knew they were likely salvaged from The Great Peshtigo Fire. I have long suspected as much as some of the exposed rafters upstairs also showed evidence of being burnt.  

Around here the fire that burned Peshtigo on the other side of Green Bay to the north also pretty much burned most of Southern Door County at the same time.  On this side of the bay the conflagration that caused such enormous property damage and loss of life is known as 'The Tornado'.  The fire storm roared and moved like a tornado.

Those old timbers are now in the yard and seeing the light of day for the first time in a long time.  The fires arrived in summer and exploded in October of 1871.  That would place the age of the barn somewhere post fire.  That's old.  

But something's not quite right.  My cursory research in the vault of the county courthouse a number of years ago traced the chain of custody for the farmstead back to February 25, 1888 when the eighty acres was sold to Eli Simon of Brussels for $300.  Prior to that the property was owned by John Leathem and Thomas H. Smith of Sturgeon Bay.  And before them - Charles and Maria Scofield.  

Was someone living here when the tornado swept through?  Was timber salvaged for many years following the fire?  Or other scorched building materials?  Sure wish I knew the answer.

If only the dead could talk...

scorched surface - evidence of fire