Fall 2019 Road Trip; Part VIII; Last Stop Then Heading Home

Virginia Farm Market, just north of Winchester, Virginia on U.S. Route 522.  (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 12mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/10; ISO 200

From Erie, we drive about a hour south to my spend a couple of days in my hometown.  There are some family matters to which I want to attend as well as photograph some of the old infrastructure.  I grew up on a relatively small city with a 1960s population of about 25,000.  The city was definitely a "blue collar" working city.  We had several steel mills and an enormous Westinghouse Corp. transformer plant that stretched for more than a mile.  Most all of that is gone now as are most of the residents.  The population is now down to somewhere around 12,000-13,000, i.e., half of the population has left the city.  

Looking east from what was once a vibrant downtown.
(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 86mm;
 1/60th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

The city was a wonderful mix of diversity as many of the residents were immigrants from Europe, including my maternal grandparents, who came to this country to start a new life.  Most worked in the mills and the ethnic groups, differing cultures and languages provided a great education into the real world for any of us who grew up there.  These immigrants all kept their home country and ethnic identities but here they all melded together into what we call the "American" culture.  Where I was raised it didn't matter what your name was, if your name ended in a vowel or a consonant, where your parents were from, what religion you practiced or what color your skin was.  Everybody was the same in our eyes.  Strength through diversity.  We all had different backgrounds and experiences and together that made us strong.

I find it sad to see the state of affairs in my hometown.  What was once a vibrant, rich, thriving city is now just a shell of itself.  Many of the businesses that were stalwarts of my childhood are long gone.  However, one I found, continues.  When was the last time you visited an old fashioned magazine and news store?  Just magazines, newspapers, paperback books and such.  The one in my hometown still is scratching out an existence after over 75 years of business.  The woman at the cash register (pictured), who is the granddaughter of the founder, told me it will be a miracle if they can stay in business much longer.

I was happy to see the old magazine store still in existence.  As a boy, I can remember riding my bicycle there to buy
magazines. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 12mm; 1/30th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 1600

(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 12mm; 1/30th sec. @ f/6.3; ISO 1600

Part of what is left of the huge, mile long, Westinghouse Electric transformer manufacturing plant, which was in service
from 1922 to 1985. The empty area in which I was standing when I made this image used to be a steel manufacturing
plant.  Even the buildings are gone. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 25mm; 1/200th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

One thing that I wanted to see and photograph was the brick streets.  Streets were paved with red brick, I'm sure, over 100 years ago and they have never needed reworking.  Remarkable.  I found many still in existence and photographed a few.

At one time this was a vibrant working class neighborhood.  Now it is a shell.  But this is typical of hundreds of "rust
belt" cities which relied on heavy manufacturing.  When we became a service economy, these cities and their
residents suffered greatly.  The brick street, still in use, has to be over a hundred years old. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 12mm; 1/400th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Enough depressing subject matter and images!  Let's finish with some images that are colorful and nice to view.

After we left my hometown, we made one stop on the way back to our home in southeastern Virginia.  The Virginia Farm Market is located on Route 522 just north of Winchester, Virginia.  We have stopped several times in the past and we wanted to buy some fresh apples of several varieties, some for eating and some for cooking.  If anything, the place is interesting and especially colorful.  I enjoy stopping there for the fresh fruit and for the possibilities of colorful images.

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 47mm; 1/100th sec. @ f/10; ISO 200 (click to enlarge)

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 57mm; 1/640th sec. @ f/10; ISO 200 (click to enlarge)

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 41mm; 1/100th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200 (click to enlarge)

Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 47mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/10; ISO 200 (click to enlarge)

From the Farm Market, we drove the four additional hours home.  I don't know about you but as much as I love traveling, wandering, and exploring, I love to walk through the door of my house and be home!  

That about wraps up our road trip.  Great trip.  We made some wonderful memories and, as a bonus, I made some nice images.  

In the next post, I'll have a few thoughts about my camera gear and stats about our travels.  I hope you enjoyed coming along with us.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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