Virginia, Richmond
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To large pits on top of this hill were intended for cannons to guard this prison island from northern attack. Rapids actually protected the island, there was never an attack, and no guns were ever installed.
Sign funded by: Blue Ridge Mt. Sports
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
To large pits on top of this hill were intended for cannons to guard this prison island from northern attack. Rapids actually protected the island, there was never an attack, and no guns were ever installed.Sign funded by: Blue Ridge Mt. Sports
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
In 1969 Hurricane Camille punched a hole in this dam that once funneled water to power plants on Belle Isle and below Hollywood Cemetery. It's now a popular boating site. Notice how a small current on the far side goes back upstream offering an opportunity to continually re-run the rapids.
Granite blocks were cut and winched up from the 19 foot deep quarry pit. Workers, mostly black prisoners, hit 2 cracks that led to the river. Water entered continually and the site was abandoned. Sunfish now live in the shallows, catfish at the bottom and bass cruise in between. Watch for big turtles like yellow bellied River Cooters.
Winches mounted here hauled rough granite out of the quarry pit and down to the rail connection at the ast end of the island. Steam from boilers powered the drills. The use of concrete here foretells the end of the cut stone industry -- between 1900-1910.
The rapids to your left are named for the cemetery on the hill straight ahead. The granite rocks that cause them are part of a geological scar that stretches 1000 miles from New Jersey to Georgia. It resulted from the clash of the continents of Africa and North America 250 million years ago.
(1896-1917) Charles H. Noyes, 21, died when his horse fell while rounding up cattle on the Noyes' ranch. His father and mother, Gus and Lula Noyes, erected monument in 1919 as a tribute to their son and all Texas cowboys.
Here the siege of Masada ended. The ramp that the Romans had built up to the summit of the mountain reached to below this point. At the top of the ramp rose the siege tower, and in it was the battering ram with which the Romans assaulted the casemate wall. However, the rebels had built a wall of earth and wood, against which the battering ram was ineffective:
Why did the king raise doves on the mountain?
A large and rare concentration of finds from the time of the revolt was found in a corner of the room of the wall in which we stand: inscribed sheets of papyrus, fragments of scrolls, silver shekel coins, textiles, sandals, and glass vessels and bone implements. Among the finds was the pay record of a Roman cavalryman in the Tenth Legion. The most interesting finds were the scroll fragments, some of which show that during the siege there were members of different sects on the mountain. The finds were gathered here by Roman soldiers collecting booty after the fall of Masada. On the floor of the room were found ballista balls and rolling stones, which came from the roof of the casemate and the nearby tower.
Originally called "Keno", for a variation of lotto gambling, the town was settled in the 1860's. Ecclesiastical and commercial pressure changed the name to "Leno" in 1876. A grist and saw mill, cotton gin, stores, and hotel sprang up in the settlement. Railroad construction bypassed the town, and by the 1890's Leno became a ghost town. The site of old Leno (O'Leno) was purchased by the state as a park and forestry station in 1934
October 8, 1910, Coalinga Daily Oil Record:
At the age of 16, in the year of 1897, Baptiste migrated from Les Barraques, France, to homestead in the Jacalitos canyon, with a desire to be a cattleman. For living expenses, Baptiste worked fourteen years as an A.P. May store clerk-manager.
"The fittings of the interior - apartments, colonnades and baths - were of manifold variety and sumptuous ..."
The Late Fourth Century A.D.
A story in the “Coalinga Oil Record: described it as, “A two story modern brick building, of which the second story is under construction, and when completed will be one of the most modern equipped apartment houses in the valley.” The lower story, which was built some time ago, was occupied by some of Coalinga’s business houses. The grocery firm of “Burke & Tennant” occupied the corner store. It constantly had on display an excellent line of groceries and cereals. The room next to the grocery was occupied by the “Usher” Waist shop, which carried an elegant line of ladies’ waists and furnishings. In the store adjoined was “Mrs. Henry’s” Millinery establishment, with an excellent display of millinery and hat trimmings. Then came the “Vogue” which carried one of the swellest lines of ladies’ goods and notions on display in the valley. The last business house was the “W. Smith Hardware and Sporting Goods.”
The Pleasant Valley Hotel was erected by a number of local men to fill an urgent need of the city. The other hotels and boarding houses were filled to overflowing every night, and many a visitor had to spend the night on the streets. It was later purchased by Messrs. Patterson and Roberts, who made a number of changes for the better. The hotel was one of the finest buildings in the city.
Jim Rockwell started construction on his hotel during the oil boom of the 1900’s. The boom was unsurpassed in fast money, hard work, and rough play. People were sleeping in the streets with their pockets full of money and no place to stay. The Rockwell Building served these needs as a hotel upstairs and a business center on the ground level until 1983.
On August 5 1775, the Spanish Packet San Carlos, under the command of Lieutenant Juan Manuel Ayala, became the first ship to sail into San Francisco Bay. A month and a half was spent in surveying the Bay from its southern most reaches to the northern end of present-day Suisun Bay. The San Carlos departed on September 18, 1775.
Flown 37 times by Nasa's Flight Research Center,
