A Corner Of History ...

 “I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.”

    ~ Walt Disney

     ~ 1901 ~ 1966

 

The historic Hotel Belvidere, built in 1831, in the scenic town of Belvidere, New Jersey on a beautiful mid-October afternoon. I presented the image in sepia to enhance the nostalgic mood.

 

This frame establishment on the corner of Front and Hardwick Streets was originally built as a store and dwelling in 1831 by Chapman Warner, uncle of S. T. Scranton. It was known as “Belvidere House” and the corner room, which became a bar room, was the store portion. Mr. Warner also kept a lumberyard in connection with its store, now “Hotel Belvidere,” which has been recently refurbished with hardwood floors, tumbled marble bathrooms with traditional furnishings and modern amenities. It is family-owned & operated.

 

A Delaware River Town, Belvidere, one of my very favorite places, was established April 7, 1845 and is a charming Victorian town located on the banks of the Pequest and Delaware Rivers. The town’s name means “beautiful to see” in Italian.

 

George Washington traveled through Belvidere at 10 a.m. July 26, 1782 on his way to camp at Morristown.

 

For more information on Hotel Belvidere visit https://hotelbelviderenj.com/.

Catch Of The Day ...

 “The water is a dark flower and a fisherman is a bee in the heart of her.”

                 ~ Annie Proulx

                 ~ born 1935

          ~ American novelist, short story writer & journalist

  ~ from “The Shipping News,” for which Proulx won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

                     ~ published 1993

I captured this shot of The Bluffton Oyster Company, located on the banks of the May River in the Lowcountry of Bluffton, South Carolina, on a beautiful late October morning. I presented the image in sepia to add an air of nostalgia, as the company has been part of the coastal landscape since the late 19^th century.

According to the company’s website https://blufftonoyster.com/: A Family Run Operation Since 1899 The Bluffton Oyster Company actually sits on reclaimed land, built up by more than a hundred years of discarded shells from previous shucking operations. The oyster business thrived in early Bluffton and throughout the 1920’s, with five different oyster operations in the area. Now the Bluffton Oyster Company remains the last hand-shucking house in the state of South Carolina.

Owned by Larry and Tina Toomer, The Bluffton Oyster Company specializes in in fresh local seafood and is known for its fresh local oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, fish filets, soft shell crabs and live blue crabs.

I’ve personally sampled their seafood, and it’s delicious!

Bluffton is situated on the north bluff of the May River, giving the Beaufort County town its name. The river winds through the Old Town area of Bluffton, which locals call “the last true coastal village of the South.”

Bridging Phillipsburg ...

“Praise the bridge that carried you over.”

         ~ George Colman

          ~ English dramatist

            ~ 1762 ~ 1836

The historic town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey can be seen behind the historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, which spans the Delaware River as sunset looms on a beautiful mid-May evening.

I presented the image in sepia to enhance the nostalgic effect.

The Free Bridge that spans the two states was completed in 1896 and survived massive flooding from Hurricane Diane in 1955. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1990 and is one of my very favorite places to photograph.

Phillipsburg, a Delaware River Town, was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area.

The Free Bridge can also be seen from across the river at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, Pennsylvania near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

 Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

 

The Sandpiper ...

“The fleeing sandpipers turn about suddenly and chase back the sea!”

   ~ J.W. Hackett

   ~ 1929 ~ 2015

 ~ James William Hackett was an American poet who is most notable for his work with haiku in English.

I spotted this Solitary Sandpiper, the first I’ve ever seen in Pennsylvania, peering into the Jordan Creek on a mid-May afternoon at Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville in this sepia image. 

The Solitary Sandpiper is a shorebird with a prominent eye ring. Small white spots mark the back of this breeding adult.

The Solitary Sandpiper, a wading bird, foliages along the edges of shallow wetlands, muddy fields and small ponds.

  

It is solitary not just because the sandpiper is alone, but because it’s part of its name. The solitary sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) is a small shorebird. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. The specific solitaria is Latin for “solitary” from solus, “alone.”

 

Solitary Sandpiper has two subspecies, solitaria, which breeds and migrates east of the Rocky Mountains, and cinnamomea, which breeds and migrates west of the Rockies. The two subspecies winter in different parts of Central and South America.

 

The Sandpiper is also the name of the 1965 American drama film starring the wonderful Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor and directed by Vincente Minnelli.