Posts Tagged ‘West Virginia’

The Old National Highway runs 3,157 miles from Atlantic City to San Francisco. Last August I drove a small section of the historic road from Wheeling, West Virginia to Columbus, Ohio. Prior to my trip I researched Mail Pouch Barns along the highway and decided my trip would include some GPS guided photo shoots. This is a collection of 6 barns along the way. These barns are either on Route 40 or just off the main highway. There are quite a few more than I shot, but my son and I were on our way home from a 3 state, 7 skateparks weekend trip and we were ready to get home.

I have decided that if I ever have more money than I know what to do with I would buy this building and have the sign on the brick wall cut out and moved to my house. I’m not sure what I would do with it, maybe install it in my basement. After all I have more money than I know what to do with, so my basement has 12′ ceilings. Of course I’d have to talk my wife into it, and the chances of that are the same as me having more money than I know what to do with!

Here’s the entire Old National Highway gallery. Enjoy!

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On a recent trip through Wheeling, West Virginia I made it a point to visit the Mail Pouch National Headquarters. I had really hoped they would have a museum or a historical display of some sort, but not the case.

As I was shooting a lady came out and I asked her about a museum. She said the building was not open to the public for safety purposes. She did however show quite a bit of interest in what I was doing. She also informed me that Mail Pouch does indeed still paint barns. Apparently there’s a small amount of new paintings a year. She invited me in to get the name and email of the lady that’s in charge of the new paintings. Once we were inside I met another lady that also showed quite a bit of interest in my obsession with Mail Pouch barns. She even apologized for not having a historical display for me to visit. She also informed me that Mail Pouch is actually owned by Swisher, which I was not aware of. Feeling like I was let down, she offered me a free pack of Grape Swishers! I had hopped to buy a Mail Pouch book or t-shirt, but the cigers were a nice gesture!

When I finished visiting with the ladies I shot a few photos and ventured on to my next “subject”. As I was driving I kind of felt let down by the whole thing. Maybe because I was looking so forward to it. But after I got home and started to edit the shots it became clear to me that it was a good trip, and well worth it for my collection.

You can see a few of the many shots from that day here. Enloy!

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This is a gallery I put together when I first opened my Zenfolio account. This is a variety of barns, Mail Pouch Barns, old churches and more. These were taken at various times and locations. From around Campbell County, KY, parts of Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia. Since I shot most of these I’ve attempted to document my shots much better so I’m not even sure where some of the images are from. Big mistake! I’ve vowed to document better because people ask, and I suppose I should know.

As I said there are a ton of images here, some of what I think are my best stuff to date.

Here’s the entire gallery. Enjoy!

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