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- Nov 18, 2010
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Finally got some time to get these turned into an actual thread. Two weekends ago the Major and myself had a Scout campout for the district, so we took the boys out and had ourselves a heck of a time. One of the items on the agenda was a tour through historic Nuttallburg in Southern WV. The site is a federally maintained area, where they had restored some of the larger aspects of the area, including the tipple, the conveyor, and some other stuff. As an old coal mining town it didn't have much distinction aside from the fact that Henry Ford purchased it as part of his vertical integration. This was one of several small coal camps in the area, and the railroads still move through the area. The tipple is the large building, and in which the coal would be "tipped" into the cars on the trains, which would then be driven onto the main lines to take coal wherever it needed to go. The conveyor is the long conveyor looking thing. There are also some pics of the "coke" ovens, which is where they would cook the coal until it resembled a volcanic rock and was very porous. This was used in iron manufacturing back during the 20's and that area. Very cool place. You'll notice some of the coke ovens have bars over their openings, and that is to provide habitats to the local bat population, which is currently suffering from some sort of fungus that is killing them off in huge numbers. (Something like 95% contract it.) Anyways, our guide to this place was our buddy Billy, who has the worst job in the world. (That there is sarcasm, and after you see the pics of him, I will go into a little backstory. He wears that smile 24/7 for a reason.)
Anyways, here are the pics. Enjoy.
The Major is the fellow with the mustache and the blue long sleeved shirt. Billy is the park ranger. Billy, as a federal park ranger, has had possibly the coolest outdoor adventures of anyone I know. At one point he lived in Alaska and ran with the federal park rangers up there during their sledding runs, even participating in the Iditarod if memory serves. I believe that after this he and his wife (also a federal park ranger) got sent to an island in the gulf that was a federal park, and the only way to access was via boat. According to him, the majority of his job there involved surfing, and drinking drinks with umbrellas in them on the beach. He has a ton of places he has been, and I know that last year he missed out on some of the Scouting stuff because he had to go to Africa for safari for work. (How terrible.) Needless to say, he has a permanent grin on his face 24/7. Lucky bugger.
Anyways, that pretty much wraps it up. It was a heck of an experience, and a place that none of us even knew was there even though it is less than an hour from where most of us live. Amazing some of the things you can get out to see.
Anyways, here are the pics. Enjoy.
The Major is the fellow with the mustache and the blue long sleeved shirt. Billy is the park ranger. Billy, as a federal park ranger, has had possibly the coolest outdoor adventures of anyone I know. At one point he lived in Alaska and ran with the federal park rangers up there during their sledding runs, even participating in the Iditarod if memory serves. I believe that after this he and his wife (also a federal park ranger) got sent to an island in the gulf that was a federal park, and the only way to access was via boat. According to him, the majority of his job there involved surfing, and drinking drinks with umbrellas in them on the beach. He has a ton of places he has been, and I know that last year he missed out on some of the Scouting stuff because he had to go to Africa for safari for work. (How terrible.) Needless to say, he has a permanent grin on his face 24/7. Lucky bugger.
Anyways, that pretty much wraps it up. It was a heck of an experience, and a place that none of us even knew was there even though it is less than an hour from where most of us live. Amazing some of the things you can get out to see.
