Tag Archives: Travel

Connecticut State Capitol

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I am once again traveling on my quest to see all the state capitols. Today I visited Connecticut’s state capitol. The visit was somewhat disappointing because they would not let visitors see the Senate chamber. I understand some people may find my disappointment silly, and some woman on the tour did. However I traveled all this way to see the capitol, and the chambers are the most important parts of the capitol in my opinion. I have seen enough capitols to say confidently that seeing one chamber does not mean you have seen them both, as they are always different in rather interesting and important ways. So there is my criticism of the tour. If the website said you couldn’t visit that chamber, it was not clear because I certainly did not see that warning on the website. This adds to my annoyance.

With that gripe out of the way, the Connecticut state capitol is quite beautiful. It looks like a capitol. It has intricate decorations, and the design clearly has symbolism. There is a reoccurring theme of compasses and flowers that resemble compasses to represent that what happens in the capitol affects the entire state. Dark red, black, and browns are used throughout, which gives the building a very cohesive look. There are not that many statues, but the ones present are rather meaningful. There is also a whole lot of stenciling, which is gorgeous, but I can only imagine the time it took.

Connecticut state capitol

Connecticut state capitol

Connecticut state capitol dome

The Genius of Connecticut

Rotunda

Looking up the rotunda into the dome

Nathan Hale statue in atrium

Stenciling on balcony

Fountain that used to provide water for people to fill in buckets for their horses outside

House chambers

House chamber viewing gallery

House well and speaker’s desk

Ceiling of House chamber

Grandview at New River Gorge National Park

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Yesterday I went quite the hike within New River Gorge National park, and it was more of a hike that I thought it would be. I went to the Grandview area, and I hiked along the Grandview Rim trail. The trail is one way, so for the leg of the hike walking towards Turkey Spur, the end of the trail, I took the Castle Rock trail, which parallels the Rim trail for the first half mile. Castle Rock trail is gorgeous, and it takes you just below a wall of rock. At one portion of the trail, the wall of rock has a visible coal seam, which is extra interesting. However the footing on the Castle Rock trail is not even, and there is lots of ascents and descents, so it is a good workout. The rest of the trail, once back on the Rim trail is fairly easy going, especially compared to the Castle Rock trail. The start of the trail is the main overlook, which overlooks a bend in the New River, so you are viewing it from the base of a U shape. The end of the trail is Turkey Spur, which also overlooks the river, but at a location where in the foreground you see the river headed to the west, where it curves, then behind a hill, you can see the river looping around again and headed east.

Main overlook of New River

Castle Rock trail

Castle Rock trail

Rhododendron growing in coal seam along Castle Rock trail

Coal seam along Castle Rock trail

Grandview Rim trail

Turkey Spur overlook with Thomas Burford Pugh Memorial Bridge over New River in foreground and New River also in mid-ground

Turkey Spur overlook of New River

Rhododendron

Sandstone Falls

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I left West Virginia today, but before leaving, I stopped at Sandstone Falls in New River Gorge National Park to do a little hiking. I also drove to a couple of overlooks of New River and Sandstone Falls.

Sandstone Falls

Sandstone Falls

Sandstone Falls loop trail

Sandstone Falls loop trail

Sandstone Falls loop trail view of New River

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

New River overlook

Sandstone Falls overlook

New River Gorge National Park

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I have been sightseeing and hiking in New River Gorge National Park and surrounding area for several days now. I will be posting the photos in a few different posts. I have taken quite a few photos in the area around the New River Gorge Bridge, so those are what I am posting now.

New River Gorge Bridge

View of New River from Canyon Rim Visitors Center outlook

New River Gorge Bridge

New River Gorge Bridge, view from Tunney Hunsaker Bridge

View from Tunney Hunsaker Bridge of New River

On Tunney Hunsaker Bridge with New River Gorge Bridge in background

New River between Tunney Hunsaker Bridge and New River Gorge Bridge

Exhibition Coal Mine

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While visiting New River Gorge National Park, I am in the Beckley area, so I decided to visit the Exhibition Coal Mine. It is a museum dedicated to coal mining including structures that show how people used to live. The main attraction though is an actual coal mine that shut down decades ago that you can tour while on a mine car. It was quite interesting. Our guide was a retired coal miner, and he was able to explain how things worked. You cannot stand up straight in the coal mine. We were seated on a car the whole time, but our guide got out several times, and he had to stoop over. He further explained that with most area, they did not remove the rock above the coal seam. The coal seam was generally only 24 inches high, so miners worked on the ground in a 24 inch high area. The work was obviously grueling.

Entrance to mine

Signs near entrance to mine. They still have a fire boss check the mine everyday even though they are not mining.

Rock bolts were in all the walls and ceiling to strength them

View from the car down the mine

Example of a car that held one ton of coal that a miner would fill. A 24 inch high or so coal seam can be seen in wall.

Wall of mine with coal seam at the bottom

Bridge Walk

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I spent today doing more exploring of New River Gorge National Park, but I started the day by walking across a bridge. The walk across the bridge was under the road deck, which is not something a person normally gets to do. Bridge Walk lets you do just that. The New River Gorge Bridge is beautiful with a wonderful design, and walking under the bridge allowed me better appreciate and to take photos of the structure. Walking on the catwalk also allows for photos of the stunning scenery. It was a nice, leisurely walk that just happens to be, at the highest point, 876 feet above the ground, by walking on a two feet wide catwalk while attached the longest continuous safety line in the world.

Looking up to Bridge Walk from Fayette Station Road

View to the west

Looking down at the piers

View to the east

Looking down at the arch

Looking down at the arch

View to the west

Looking down at the arch

At apex of arch

Looking down at the arch

View to the west

Looking down the catwalk

Nuttallburg

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I started exploring New River Gorge National Park today. It is second on my list of things to see in West Virginia after the capitol. The park is really spread out, and there are lots of areas to explore. I did some hiking in the Nuttallburg area today because it features the remains of a coal mining operation, and I love ruins. I hiked from the top to the headhouse. I was originally going to hike down along the trail that somewhat follows the conveyor, but I met some people at the headhouse, who had just hiked up the that trail, and they said do not do it. It is a really difficult trail, and while the park material said as much, somehow their exhausted faces persuaded me more. I then drove to area near the river where the lower part of the mining operation was and hiked around there a little. The area trails are really neat because you can essentially follow the mining operation from the mine entrance to where the coal would have been loaded onto trains.

While the mining operation started in the mine, obviously, the first part you can see is the mine entrance. As I stood in front of the mine, I could feel the air coming out was probably 10 or 20 degrees colder.

Mine Entrance

The coal cars then went to the headhouse where the coal was dumped and loaded onto the conveyor, which brought the coal all the way down the slope to be transferred to trains.

Headhouse where coal was dumped out of the cars from the mine and onto the conveyor. In the lower right, you can see the start of the conveyor.

Inside the headhouse where the coal cars came in

The conveyor was essentially a really long conveyor belt, and it was kind of awesome to stand beneath it.

Conveyor that brought coal from headhouse to tipple

The conveyor ended at the tipple. The tall structure seen on the right was a storage silo for the coal.

Conveyor entering the tipple

Conveyor entering the tipple

The tipple sat on top of train tracks, and the coal was transferred to the trains there.

Tipple where coal was transferred to trains

Under the tipple, standing on the old train tracks where coal was transferred

There are also some remains of coke ovens. These are considered to be the earliest remains of coal operations. Originally the coal converted to coke there.

Coke Ovens

West Virginia State Capitol

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I continue in my quest to see all the state capitols. Today, I checked off West Virginia. The current, sixth, and final state capitol is gorgeous but not overly ornate. As just stated, it is the sixth capitol, and the short history of why West Virginia has had that many is one of the reasons why guided tours of capitols are so worth it. The original capitol was in Wheeling from 1858-1870. The Legislature decided to move it to Charleston. According to my guide, Wheeling then stated they would build a wonderful new building and pay for it if they moved the capital back to Wheeling, which they did in 1875. [This sounds like cities competing for sports franchises.] People evidently complained about how far away Wheeling was from the rest of state, and most wanted one more centrally located. Then there was a state wide vote, and Charleston won, and the capital moved back there in 1885. [At this point, you have to wonder if there was niche market for move the capital by steamer business.] Now, I get to the best part of this story, which is about the fourth capitol (and second Charleston capitol). The state had confiscated a whole lot of ammunition, gunpowder, and other material from protestors and/or strikers in coalfields. At least one version of the story I found says the ammunition belonged to police. The capitol was rather large, and evidently they had a bunch of storage space, so with what was thought a good idea at the time, they stored it in the capitol. It caught fire somehow, and the building burned for three days. The fifth capitol was then built really quickly after that, and then they built the current building.

The building is like most capitols with lots of marble and other natural stone. The central dome is really pretty. I like the contrasting colors. The dome and each of the chambers have crystal chandeliers on which the state did not skimp. The senate chamber is red, but the house chamber is more pinkish red. The senate has a small dome with skylight, but the house has larger square skylight. It may have just been the time of day I was there, but the house chamber had more light from the skylight. The exterior of the central dome has lots of real gold, according to my guide, and I think the gold is contrasted nicely with the blue paint.

Capitol exterior

Capitol dome exterior

Capitol central dome

Capitol dome area

Upstairs hallway

Senate Chamber

Senate Chamber dome

House Chamber

House Chamber

Williamson Coal House

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While in Charleston, I found the book “The Essential Way Out in West Virginia” by Jeanne Mozier for sale, and I immediately bought it because this is my kind of book. One of the crazy items in the book, is Coal House, which according to the book is the oldest and largest building made out of coal in West Virginia. It was constructed entirely of coal, and its walls are two feet thick. Incredibly in 2010, the building caught fire, and the interior was gutted, but the coal block exterior was untouched. Supposedly, the exterior is not a fire hazard, which seems to be proven by the fact that it didn’t burn during the fire. However, it is coal, so I am still trying to understand that.

Quite obviously, I had to see this coal house. I drove about three hours roundtrip out of my way to see it, which may be not normal, but it was completely worth it. One detail that I could see in person is that bricks are very shiny. They must be coated with something, probably for weather resistance.

Coal House and sign

Coal House

Coal House plaque

Coal House bricks