Casey Jones

I had to stop by the Casey Jones Museum in Jackson, Tennessee because what could be more "Americana" than Casey Jones?

Here's a photo of a replica of the engine he was driving when he rode the train to his death, sacrificing his own life to save the lives of all of his passengers. His locomotive was traveling at 75 miles per hour when he spotted the red light on the caboose of a freight train stopped on the tracks ahead. He had to ride the breaks all the way so he could get the train slowed down to a survivable speed for the passengers. The collision was unavoidable and his engine rammed the other train at 35 mph, overturning and taking the life of its driver. Although still a young man at the time, Casey was well known for bringing his trains in at the advertised time to each stop. That took a talent and a skill far better than the average engineer.

Casey was a family man, married with three children, and a convert to Roman Catholicism.

Casey's real name was Jonathan Luther Jones. He got the name "Casey" when he first moved to Jackson and upon announcing that he was from Cayce, Kentucky, he was given the name and it stuck.

Here's a review of the song, "Casey Jones" as performed by the Grateful Dead. Kevin Scanlon hit the nail on the head. All I have to say is it is ironic that a band that made Americana Jam a genre would do such a diservice to a true-to-life americana folk hero.

Classic Grateful Dead Song Reviewer: Kevin Scanlon 10/23/2007 A great comic song on the hazards of drug use that refreshed the memory of Casey Jones in the public consciousness, albeit in an unflattering light. He was not a drug user but this song has continued to give people that impression. The original ballad about him that made him famous was first published by Seibert and Newton in 1909 ("Casey Jones, The Brave Engineer") and it too was a comedy song that was sung on the vaudeville circuit and lives on in 40+ versions. Poor Casey has YET to have a hit song about him that honors his selfless sacrifice in a sober manner! It's been 107 years and counting, people.

Dancing in the Streets

Five Rivers Metroparks - Thursday night Concert at Riverscape - Dayton, Ohio

More photos can be viewed and prints can be ordered at www.photosamericana.photoreflect.com. Quality of these photos files are NOT suitable for printing - AND they are copyrighted.

Pontiac Car Show

Pontiacs, 1000's of them, are on display at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. You can catch more at http://gtoaapocinationals.com/.

Perhaps my personal favorite in American-made automobiles. The Pontiac division of GM is now closed.

You can order prints of these and others at http://photosamericana.photoreflect.com

Musical Intermission

Jerry Garcia Band
"Tangled up in Blue"

Columbia Market House

Here's a few photos from the Columbia Market House.

This is in western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Markets are open on Thursdays and Fridays.

Lincoln Highway - Western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

When traveling west from Lancaster on the Lincoln Highway, I first stopped at the Lincoln Highway Diner. The new stainless steel cladding like diners back in the 1950's - perhaps earlier. I had breakfast there. Not that you asked but I had three eggs, home fries, corned beef hash, toast, glass of orange juice, and ice water. I asked for some hot sauce but I decided not to wait but to go ahead and eat while the food was warm. The food was good - relative to, say, the Brunch Club in Dayton, where the same order would be excellent - as well as the service.

I appreciate their "Americana Spirit" and they certainly deserve patronage of their community and Lancaster County tourists.

While in the Diner, I saw a photo hung high on a wall of a bridge. I thought perhaps the significant of the bridge was that it may be local. It is, I found it just minutes after I left the diner. This is where the original Lincoln Highway, Old US Route 30 passed over the Susquehanna River in Columbia. It is a very nice bridge in excellent condition.

Although I have photos without a person in it, I decided that I would add the human element.

After spending quite some time there on the east end of the bridge I did the inevitable - I crossed over to the other side.

The community on the other side was unidentified. In fact, my GPS navigation system identified at as a township, even though it looked at least like a village to me. Not until I did some research did I find out that the town is Wrightsville, in York County, Pennsylvania. The Bridge is the Columbia - Wrightsville Bridge.

The GPS made it easy for me to find the right streets to take me down to the banks of the river and I found a place where there was a remnant of a canal (not shown) and a grandfather from Nashville, Pennsylvania having a good time fishing with his grandson.

The river looked a little high to me and they confirmed it. They also gave me a little history on the canal.
I appreciate the time and the conversation with them. Grandfathers fishing with their grandsons is time very well spent. Perhaps I will get to do the same when my grandchildren get older.

Photos from the Trace