~HURRICANE IRENE HITS ON OLD WOODEN BRIDGES
oh, yeah. file under: from dust to dust. and !! under water.
Hurricane Irene makes the scene . . . extreme weather, just like they projected. except happening faster than the projections, maybe ?
THRIFT SHOP VINTAGE – ‘DANISH ASSORTMENT’ COOKIE TIN, showing an OLD WOODEN COVERED BRIDGE – VALLEY BROOK FARMS, HAMMONTON, N.J.
PHOTO: NANCY SMITH
IRENE, the hurricane turned tropical storm of this past weekend (AUG 27, 28, 29, 2011) really hit hard and wrecked havoc in the up-state rural NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY and VERMONT areas – where the early settlements and later villages – were founded along the waterways. one of the saddest losses are some the area’s prized historic wooden covered bridges. R.I.P. Many of them are now replicas, but many are, or were, the real deal.
artist, quilter, master crafter SCOTTIE HARRISON reports from PLAINFIELD, VERMONT that: “20 miles from Plainfield, MORETOWN, WATERBURY (!!) and SOUTHERN VERMONT as a whole have experienced much destruction, rivers into homes, homes washed away, bridges gone, fields of crops covered in mud.”
here in New York, up-state in the Catskills – writer, producer, (and artlovers film reviewer) JAN ALBERT reports that the villages of MARGARETVILLE, FLEISCHMANNS, and ARKVILLE – were devastated. her friends Justin & Barbara write of Margaretville: “OTHER VIDEO” – the town’s DVD rental store – on the main street entry right off the highway – is “kaput” – as is the CVS. (both built right on the bank of the town’s signature waterway). . . “but the BUN AND CONE diner seems to be okay”. Bruce’s BLACK BEAR MAINE FISH & LOBSTER joint, well-known by locals and out-of-towners alike is “inundated with water and rubbish from top to bottom.”
and continue: “the TRAILER CAMP on Pavilion Rd looks like it was strewn with IEDs that exploded.”
artist, quilter, master paper cutter WENDY BRACKMAN, also of the CATSKILLS region – reports that she just took a walk: “on Hanes Hollow Rd right before the first wooden covered bridge – and the bridge is missing. GONE !! with a 10 ft. drop from the road on the other side . . . ”
apparently the best way to catch the region’s local status is on: WATERSHED POST/CATSKILLS
. . . the ABC 7 local news hurricane up-date reports that “the 156 year-old hand-hewn wooden covered bridge that used to cross the SCHOHARIE CREEK in BLENHEIM, NEW YORK” – is sadly, no more.
they also have a lot of local photos, see: ABC 7 HURRICANE IRENE UP-DATE
including one of a boarded-up Manhattan building that reads: IRENE, DON’T MAKE A SCENE !!
there is also an extended report on the status of Vermont’s covered bridges, on the BURLINGTON FREE PRESS, but note that their ‘featured’ photo is a replica, still better than nothing – and probably the inevitable future – of the genre. they also give some historical background, noting that many of the original covered wooden bridges have stood for over 100 years, surviving many a huge snowstorm, but not faring so well in the wake of Irene’s rushing torrential waters.
see: BURLINGTON FREE PRESS/TERRI HALLENBECK REPORTING . . .
. . . crew members aboard the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION captured this video of TROPICAL STORM IRENE on Sunday August 28, 2011 as it moved over the (eastern) coast of the UNITED STATES. SCREENGRAB/NASA on YouTUBE
of course, as well as looking back with sadness – at lost icons of bygone times – you can also look, forward – at state-of-the-art digital photography from outer space, as in . . . filmed from above the earth !! and live-streamed back down: from the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION – COURTESY OF NASA
wow. what a difference – a hundred or so years makes, or what !!