2021-06-25: Searching for Lake Erie Lighthouses in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio

Welcome back to our AwayWeGo's Adventure blog. While the motorhome was getting some work done in Indiana, my wife, her granddaughter and I took a road trip to Connecticut and back in the Jeep. For todays leg of our travel journey we added lighthouses to our "to-do" list as well as geocaching counties. So climb aboard the GeoJeep and let's go for a drive... 

Our first stop was along the shores of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County and the town of Dunkirk, New York. The St Hyacinth Cemetery (GC4013R) has over 4,000 internments dating back to 1880. Land was purchased for the St Hyacinth Parish in 1875 and the newly completed church dedicated in 1876. This land wasn't purchased until 1902 to become the church cemetery. The cemetery chapel was blessed in 1942.

On the north side of Dunkirk jutting out into Lake Erie is Point Gratiot. The Dunkirk Lighthouse (GC4KMHE) and Victorian keepers residence was constructed during 1875-76 to replaced an eroding first light from 1827. Bricks from the original keepers house was used for the foundation in building the new house. When the cylindrical light tower was moved next to the house, a square walled tower was constructed around it to better conform to the aesthetics of the house.

Driving down NY-5 along the lakefront, we arrived in the town of Barcelona for our next set of geocaches and another lighthouse. We first stopped by the Barcelona Harbor Pier. Took a nice look around, took some photos of the water, and grabbed a geocache here too (GC1RMBW).

Off the edge of the pier near the road stands the Barcelona Lighthouse and Keepers Residence (GC1RMBW, GC60BK0). The 40-foot tall Barcelona Lighthouse was constructed in 1829. It was the first natural gas lighthouse in the country and was part of the Federal Lighthouse System up until 1859. From then it had been under several private ownerships over the years until the early 2000's when it became a state historical site.

Moving down into Erie County, Pennsylvania, we visited our next lighthouse and geocache. Located on the shores of Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie is the "Land Lighthouse." The 49-foot tall sandstone tower was constructed in 1866-67. There is an earthcache here due to the fossils that can be found in the sandstone (GC93AYG). This was the third lighthouse to be constructed at this location due to the previous two having structural instabilities. The light was in use until 1899.

A few blocks away is Dobbins Landing named after Captain Daniel Dobbins, an Erie Pioneer and Mariner who sailed the Great Lakes as a merchant ship master and naval officer. As we walked towards the Bicentennial Tower we got to watch a little pirate show taking place off the pier. The Scallywags Pirate Adventure Show is a tourist sightseeing ship on Lake Erie which had a pirate navigating a small dingy trying to cause trouble. This made for an entertaining few moments for those on board.

Located at the end of Dobbins Landing stands the Bicentennial Tower Observation Deck (GC890ME). It was built in 1996 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of Erie. The top observation deck stands 138 feet above Presque Isle Bay and provides spectacular 360 degree views up to 27 miles on a clear day.

Also nearby is the Erie Cemetery. We stopped by there before leaving town to attempt a Geocaching Adventure Lab (AL). Of the 40,000+ internments here I want to highlight this one. The Brown Mausoleum is more commonly known as "The Vampire Crypt." 

Local folklore says that a Romanian businessman was living inside the crypt. After his death of consumption, weird things began happening around Erie. The cemetery groundskeeper discovered that the man was living inside this crypt. The vault was then burned, the door chained, and the named chiseled off.

Moving over into Ohio, we continued our geocaching adventure along the Great Lakes. The first geocache was a quick parking lot park and grab cache (GC3NNRY) located in Ashtabula County.

The next two were in Lake County. The geocaches are located in the North Madison Cemetery (GC8JZDC, GC4CT2Z). According to the Find-A-Grave website, there are more than 2400+ internments dating back to 1811. In the midst of all the graves is the old maintenance shed. It looks kinda spooky itself.

It was getting late in the day so I found two more quick geocaches to pick up two more counties. The first was in the Mount Sinai Cemetery in Cuyahoga County (GCTNKW). There were over 2000 internments but I just found the geocache and moved on to the next. The final one was a light post cache in Geauga County (GC5FZGR).

That's it for today. Tomorrow we finish up Ohio and back into Indiana. Until then...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2020-11-01: Visiting Some History, Geocaching and a Pirate on Galveston Island, Texas

After our first week in West Columbia, Texas, we had gotten settled in at the Plantation Oaks Resort RV Park. And we had a week at the new jobsite up in Guy, Texas to begin our next solar construction project. Today, however, was a fun day! We drove over to Galveston Island for some history, some geocaching, and to find a pirate. So who's up for an adventure? Let's go see what we can find!

Our first stop down along the Gulf of Mexico coastline was in Freeport at the mouth of the Brazos River. There was a geocache there called Bryan Beach 4x4 (GCEA24). And when in the GeoJeep, it just calls out to go and find it! Well we did check out the beach but the geocache was nowhere to be found. First hidden way back it 2003 and I guess it frequently washed out to sea. It is now archived since the cache owner has gotten tired of replacing it.

We did spot something sticking up out of the water though. Looks to be a mast from a sailboat. I wonder what happened there. Hmmm, could be an interesting hiding spot for a geocache of the Difficulty 5 / Terrain 5 category!

From the northeast end of Galveston Island at the Fort San Jacinto Historic Point, you can see some of the many cargo ships that come and go through the port.

Also at the Fort San Jacinto Historical Point was our next geocache (GC8V700). There were a lot of muggles (non-cachers) walking by and huge rocks making for many hiding places. I didn't spend much time looking because of those things and ended up DNF'ing that one too.

This part of Galveston Island has had many forts since the early 1800's. Basic Spanish and French forts were established from 1816-1818. Those were replaced by small sand forts and batteries by the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1844. After Texas statehood and the start of the Civil War, the Confederate Army built sandbag breastworks and an earthen battery named Fort Point in 1863. All traces of these early fortifications were destroyed by the strong winds and tides which regularly reshaped the sandy tip of the island.

A more substantial fortification called Fort San Jacinto was built here by the U.S. Army in 1897. After the fort was destroyed in the hurricane of 1900, the seawall was extended northward in 1921 to protect this area. The fort was rebuilt and new gun emplacements were added for the defense of Galveston during World War II. The fort was decommissioned in 1956 and only one concrete base of the 90-mm guns remains today.

Moving in a few blocks away from the coastline to find some of the historical buildings on Galveston Island, there's the Sacred Heart Church. The earliest Catholic services in the Galveston area were conducted in 1838. The Sacred Heart Church was established as the fourth church on the island in 1884. The original building was destroyed in 1900 Hurricane. This current building was constructed in 1903-04.

Next door to the church is the Bishop's Palace and a virtual geocache (GCH1CG). The Bishop's Palace matched the architecture of the original Sacred Heart Church which was swept away in the Great Storm. Construction lasted from 1886 to 1893 and was built as a private residence for Walter Gresham, a politician-turned-lobbyist during the mansion-building boom of the late-1800's. He had it made of Texas limestone accented with gray granite, pink granite, and red sandstone. This, combined with steel framing, helped it weather the Storm when so many thousands of other buildings were swept into the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1923 it was purchased by the Catholic Diocese of Galveston to become the official residence of the bishop. But only one ever lived there. Reverend Christopher Byrne stayed there until his death in 1950. In 1963, the Catholic Church opened it to the public, making it the first of the Galveston mansions to be turned into a museum.

The St Paul United Methodist Church was founded in the late 1860's and can trace it's history through two earlier Methodist congregations in Galveston. A second larger church building replaced the smaller first structure. This third and current sanctuary was constructed in 1902 to replace the previous which was also lost to the 1900 Hurricane.

The Isaac H. and Henrietta Kempner House. Isaac Herbert Kempner, at age 21 and the eldest of Harris Kempner's eight children, took over his fathers many businesses after his death in 1894. Isaac became an important businessman in his own right and after the 1900 Hurricane demonstrated exceptional civic leadership in his efforts to rebuilt Galveston's entire infrastructure. From 1917 to 1919 he served as Galveston city mayor.

In 1904, the Kempner's purchased three lots and in 1906 their two-story neoclassical style home was completed. In 1924 additional lots became available and a concrete and stucco wing was added. The house remained in the Kempner family until 1970.

The Carl and Hilda Biehl House. Carl Christian Biehl immigrated from Germany in 1905 and founded a shipping company on Galveston. In 1915, Biehl purchased one of the damaged homes and cleared the site to build a new structure for his family. Designed by Anton F. Korn Jr and completed in 1916. The construction consisted of brick and concrete to stand up to the hurricanes and strong winds common to Galveston. The house remained in the Biehl family until 2008.

The William and Adele Skinner House. In 1895, local banker William Skinner and his wife Adele bought this parcel for a home for their young family. The two-story Queen Anne style house was completed in 1896 and remains as one of the more ornate residential designs. This structure was one of the few survivors of the 1900 Hurricane.

This next house didn't have a historical marker and I couldn't find any history other than it was built in 1965. But it does fit in well with the other homes.

The last house I want to share with you is of the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte who settled here in 1817 with his buccaneers and ships, under Mexican flags, continued his assault against Spanish shipping in the Gulf.

Here he built his home, Maison Rouge (Red House), which was part of his fort, and upper story was pierced for cannon. It was luxuriously furnished with booty from captured ships. Leaving Galveston in 1821, upon demand of the United States, he burned his home, fort, and whole village, then sailed to Yucatan.

The walls that remain were built in 1870 over the old cellars and foundations of Maison Rouge. I'm curious as to what remains below the foundations and in the cellar. It would be cool to go down there and have a look around. This is also a virtual geocache.

That was it for our quick little return trip to Galveston Island. We visited here a few years ago in November of 2015 when it was a winter ghost town and most everything was closed.

Back on the mainland and headed to the RV Park in West Columbia, we made a short detour for another historical virtual geocache (GC2E13) in the town of Hitchcock, Texas. In an effort to defend U. S. coasts and shipping lanes against German submarine activity during World War II, the U. S. Navy established bases to house huge lighter-than-air (LTA) craft, also known as blimps were uniquely qualified for coastal defense and observation.

Because of its site on the flat Texas coastal plain, Hitchcock was chosen as the location for one of the nine new blimp bases. Construction began in 1942, and the facility was commissioned on May 22, 1943. The resulting military personnel build-up caused an economic boom in the community.

The Hitchcock base consisted of forty-seven buildings, including a massive hangar to house six blimps, administration buildings, warehouses, living quarters, and recreational facilities. Aircraft from the base, in addition to their regular patrolling duties, were also used to assist with hurricane relief efforts and war bond drives.

In 1944, after the blimps were no longer needed, the Hitchcock base was redesignated for other purposes. Following the war some of the buildings were used by private interests, and after hurricane damage in 1961 the blimp hangar was razed. All that remain are the towering hanger door supports.

Thanks for riding along today. Remember if you happen to find yourself on Galveston Island, there's more to see than the boardwalk on the beach.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.