Ran across the top photo in the New York Public Library's Pixelfed feed, a highway detour sign referring to a closed road caused by the 1941 expansion of Pine Camp (now Fort Drum) in northern New York. The photo resonated: the very road I live on was turned into a long dead end for the same reason.
I found additional photos at the Library of Congress; from top to bottom: an abandoned house near Sterlingville NY (a town which was eliminated by the expansion), locals gather at the Ingalls farm near Antwerp NY where a dairy herd is being auctioned off, a truck on the road in the Pine Camp expansion area moving out a family's belongings, military personnel on maneuvers near the abandoned Sterlingville general store, an abandoned farm near Lewisburg NY, Mrs Earl Barber preparing to leave the home where her husband had been born 52 years earlier (the Barbers were one of 525 families displaced), and a warning sign seen on a local road.
All photos by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration.
Fort Drum, or El Fraile, was a heavily-fortified island operated by the US in the Philippines for decades. The “concrete battleship” was constructed between 1909-14 and was built of reinforced concrete. Heavily fortified and practically impregnable, the fort saw a lot of action during the Second World War.
Estas son las ruinas de un bunker en mitad del mar, en la isla El Fraile, Filipinas.
El deterioro provocado por la erosión ha convertido algunas partes de esta instalación militar en algo artístico.
Es Fort Drum, una isla que arrasaron los usamericanos y en la que quemaron vivos a 65 japoneses introduciendo gasolina por los conductos de ventilación.
In this experience I was walking with three unidentified people that I perceived were friends. The setting where we were was like a military camp. Like the field environment at Fort Drum. I also felt like I was still in my National Guard unit. We met up with three other people. I was supposed to do some sort of recon or survey, and the other three people we met up with were to supply me with the…
While scrolling through the USA Today app on my phone, a pictorial entitled “US cities that get the least sun, from Seattle to Pittsburgh” caught my eye. However, there seemed to be a glitch with the app. There were no captions with any of the 30 photos, so it was difficult to discern which cities I was looking at. I continued through, just to see if Chicago would show up. It did not, but there was one photo that was immediately recognizable to me; Watertown, New York, which came in 12th on the list. Having lived in Watertown-Fort Drum for more than two years, I can attest to the lack of sunshine. There are significantly more gray days than sunny days.
What I really liked is that the picture they used is a photo of the Crystal Restaurant. It is the oldest restaurant in Watertown. It sits in the heart of Watertown’s Public Square among many empty storefronts. Like a lot of small towns across America, the city center of Watertown has deteriorated due to shopping plazas, big box stores and chain restaurants built on the outskirts of town. However, the Crystal Restaurant has stood the test of time. I did not go there often, but I liked it once-in-awhile. It was low key cafe, so if I wanted to have maybe just a soup and sandwich for dinner, drink a beer and read a book, the Crystal was always a good choice.
I have added an internet link (below) that does have the captions for the photos. Cloud cover seems to be a weather issue in much of up-state New York. Other New York cities that made the list are: Ithaca (6), Utica-Rome (7), Binghamton (8), Elmira (11), Syracuse (13), Glens Falls (16) and Albany (28).
The other weather phenomenon that I experienced in Watertown-Fort Drum was wind. The wind blew strong and often, be it rain, snow or just a cloudy/windy day. Spring (March and April) of my second year in the area was the cloudiest, windiest spring I’ve ever seen. I am pretty sure we did not see the sun for two months straight. One Saturday morning, when I arrived at the gym at Fort Drum for racquetball, I opened my car door and a gust of wind caught the door. It blew the door with such force that it knocked the hinges out of alignment leaving it unable to close. It was a rental, and the nearest rental agency was in Syracuse, 75 miles to the south. I had to call a tow truck and ride in the truck down to Syracuse to get the car replaced. Another memory I have is Hurricane Sandy. Fortunately, Watertown did not get the brunt of that storm. However, for a couple of days, we had non-stop gale force winds as the back end of the storm rolled westward off the Adirondack Mountains. Fort Drum closed all non-essential buildings. Not being deterred, the racquetball rats decided that we would play in Watertown at the Fairgrounds YMCA. The YMCA is a large sheet metal structure. The racquetball courts were like two boxes placed inside the building. (You can see the courts at the far end of the photo with the cardio machines.) While we were playing, the wind was so strong that I thought for sure the flimsy sheet metal building was going to collapse on us. Fortunately, it did not and there was no major damage anywhere in Watertown.
I noticed a couple other of my favorite cities made the list; Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota. Living in Chicago and Watertown and traveling extensively around the Great Lakes region for close to four decades has made me appreciate the beauty of overcast days. Summer being the exception, I do like the gray days, particularly when I am driving long distances.
