CLARKSBURG WEST VIRGINIA.

We arrived in Clarksburg, W. Virginia, a busy city with lots of hilly areas and one way streets- no streets made for a wide bodied motor home. We had two other options, The Elks and the Eagles. We never did find them but the VFW appeared to have a huge parking area. When Jim pulled between the narrow yellow stanchions to enter their lot, I held my breath. The Commander happened to be sitting on the porch. He told me later he was sure he wouldn't be able to get that rig in.  The VFW parking lot is miniscule.  But, it was Saturday and you can see us parked in a bank's lot that runs right next to the VFW building. The commander assured us we would be okay for the weekend.
This old cannon has an interesting history, as does the post. Here they accept "Guest Members", the first time we'd heard the term.  We had lunch at the VFW, a gulllinos  sandwich for me. I always like to try a local specialty and it was stir fried hot peppers and onion with melted cheese, and a beef patty onTexas toast, which turned out to be the first sour dough bread I've had since I left California. I asked her to substitute a chicken breast for the beef patty and she did. I don't know where they got the name, but the sandwich was excellent.

The forecast was rain. While it was still overcast, we took a walk around a four block area and just took some pictures. This lovely church with the bells, we heard play music at 5:00 while we were reading.

Other lovely churches with stained glass windows. No longer open like the refuges of the 1950's where you could walk into any church. They were always open 24 hours a day.

Would have liked to have a look inside.

Built in 1863. The plaque says, The Lord Is In His Temple.

You can get a sense of the beautiful glass.

And old town;  there was a cemetery that looked interesting as we came into town.  Stopping with the rig is not always an option.

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An old empty theater, a broken window,  looking sadly uncared for.

A beauty of a building that looks worth saving. A woman I spoke to on the street, when I asked her what there is to do in Clarksburg replied, "Walmart went in a few miles down the road and sucked the life out of this city. So many local shops closed, it is not a place you want to live anymore." I was stunned to hear that condemnation for a city of this size.  The population is 16,798 from the 2010 census.

There are some signs of degradation, closed up buildings, for rent signs on storefronts.

Graffiti.

This is not the kind of beauty shop I would choose.

You don't hear or see much about the International Order of Odd Fellows. The historic sign has been retained. The building now houses a couple of shops on the ground level.


Fire escapes up the side of an old building, a rare sight for westerners along with the narrow streets and alleys.

We made it back to the motor home just before the rain started. It cooled off and we spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing.

The City has beautiful buildings, and cities have been known to reinvent themselves. I'm sure Clarksburg will survive to see another economic upturn. I wish we could have spent another day here to look it over, but it was nice to have a day of relaxation, too.

SMALL TOWN PENNSYLVANIA VIA HIGHWAY 6

It takes me by surprise when we park in a town, knowing nothing about Towanda, PA, to learn that some famous person once lived and went to school here. In this case it was popular American songwriter,  Stephen Foster.  We spotted a mural about one of his songs, Camptown Races.

They have a festival celebrating Camptown Races, here. A number of his songs are still popular today. I couldn't believe how many I was familiar with. You can check out his story here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Foster
Also, David Wilmot, who was a politician and an advocate of anti-slavery in the newly acquired territories from Mexico. His name is on the official proviso.He practiced law at one time in Towanda. You can learn more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilmot

Highway 6 through Pennsylvania crosses the Allegheny Mountains and acquaints us with small, historic towns along the way. This building has 1880, as was the custom then, on the building's front piece, like a signature.

 Quite small towns have beautiful old churches indicative of the values of long ago, the mainstay of social life.

Between the corn and clover fields, are plenty of old barns. Hard to photograph as you are whizzing by, but interesting. Makes you want to record them with the camera since they are beginning to deteriorate. Many of them are still in use, full of hay or equipment. Barns, a part of Americana we hate to lose to the steel clad factory farms along with the personable image we retain of the stalwart farmer, the backbone of his community and American rural life.

It was fun to see old Five and Dime stores, a couple of Ben Franklins and a few old Diners like this one at Wellsboro, PA.

It kind of makes you yearn for simpler times to see this part of America. Its nice to have the ability to do this in retirement. And, of course, I'm making mental notes of places I would revisit and spend more time.
I also like to photograph signs, if I can. I wasn't able to catch them with my camera, but here they are:
DUI YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT.
ACTIVE DUI AREA
TARGETED ENFORCEMENT
SNOWMOBILE CROSSING
At Denton we crossed through a ski area. The Alleghenies are scenic and we enjoyed our 150 mile drive to Smethport.

TAVERNS TO CHURCHES

This sturdy brick church on Lewis St., the old part of Monroe, resembles a mission and piqued my curiosity. In fact, within two blocks are 4 churches on Lewis St. and none of them have a placard or information about them.
The Monroe Historical So. has the following information about this church built in 1924:

The Methodist-Episcopal Church
Monroe Historical Society photo #301

Monroe's United Methodist Church, then called the Methodist-Episcopal Church, was the first church in Monroe. Members began by meeting in Austins' barn until 1896 when they completed this handsome, white church and parsonage on South Lewis Street, which was replaced by the present imposing brick church in 1924. At first members were led in worship by circuit riding ministers, who served a number of parishes. For a number of years the ME Church was the only one in Monroe, and it periodically hosted services in Swedish for the Swedish settlers.

The church (above) has old stained glass windows that are quite beautiful. No information on it. The photo that follows appears to be a house made over into a place of worship. While I couldn't find out anything about them, I really like the atmosphere of this town and this particular block seems friendly and somewhat quaint. The number of churches in the area was difficult to determine because several different websites gave different numbers, and there seems to be more interest in multiple listings and Taco Bells than churches.
Many old settlements were strong on drink but here, the ratio of taverns to churches favored the churches. That does say something about the community.