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Home
Journal
Map
Destinations
- Historic Site
- National Park
- Nature
  - Arch
  - Bog
  - Canyon
  - Cave
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  - Dune
  - Lake
  - Prairie
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  - Waterfall
  - Wetland
  - Wilderness
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20070428-20070428-DSC_8107

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American Byways

February 27, 2020

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Sturgeon Point Lighthouse stands along the Lake Hu

Sturgeon Point Lighthouse stands along the Lake Huron shoreline in Haynes Township, just north of Harrisville, #Michigan. Built where a shallow reef extends more than a mile into open water, the station marked a persistent hazard along Michigan’s northeastern lower peninsula. The brick tower, distinguished by its white and red daymark, remains an active aid to navigation while anchoring the broader landscape of Sturgeon Point State Park.

Congress appropriated approximately $15,000 in 1867 after the United States Lighthouse Board identified the reef as a danger between established lights on Lake Huron. A 60-acre site was secured in 1868, and construction of the limestone foundation, brick tower, and attached keeper’s dwelling was largely complete by late 1869. The light was first exhibited in 1870 using a kerosene-fueled lamp and Fresnel lens. Perley Silverthorn served as the first keeper, overseeing operations during a period of growing vessel traffic tied to lumbering and regional trade.

In 1876, a station of the United States Life-Saving Service was established adjacent to the lighthouse, reinforcing the site’s role in rescue work along this exposed reach of shoreline. Technological improvements led to automation in 1913, and after the creation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915, responsibility for the station gradually shifted. Full automation was achieved in 1939, and staffing ended by 1941.

Congress appropriated approximately $15,000 in 1867 after the United States Lighthouse Board identified the reef as a danger between established lights on Lake Huron. A 60-acre site was secured in 1868, and construction of the limestone foundation, brick tower, and attached keeper’s dwelling was largely complete by late 1869. The light was first exhibited in 1870 using a kerosene-fueled lamp and a Fresnel lens. Perley Silverthorn served as the first keeper, overseeing operations during a period of growing vessel traffic tied to lumbering and regional trade.

#PureMichigan #HistoricPreservation #GreatLakesLighthouses #LighthousePhotography

Forty Mile Point Light stands on a low bluff along

Forty Mile Point Light stands on a low bluff along Lake Huron in Presque Isle County, #Michigan, about midway between Alpena and Cheboygan. The station was completed in 1896 after Congress appropriated funds in 1893 to close a long, unlit stretch of shoreline that had concerned Great Lakes mariners. Its square white tower rises from a two-story red brick keeper’s dwelling, a practical design used widely by the Lighthouse Board in the late nineteenth century. The original fourth-order Fresnel lens gave the light a range of roughly 15 nautical miles, guiding ore carriers, lumber steamers, and passenger vessels moving along Michigan’s northeastern coast.

Automation came in 1969 under the U.S. Coast Guard, ending the era of resident keepers. In 1996, ownership transferred to Presque Isle County, and the property gradually reopened as a museum while remaining an active aid to navigation. Visitors today can walk the grounds, view exhibits in the former keeper’s quarters, and follow the shoreline north of the station to see timbers from the 1905 wreck of the steamer Joseph S. Fay, still embedded in the sand. The setting is open and exposed, shaped by wind and water, much as it was when the light first went into service.

#HistoricPreservation #GreatLakesLighthouses #LighthousePhotography #PureMichigan

Ohio’s Stonelick Covered Bridge: Nearly Lost, but

Ohio’s Stonelick Covered Bridge: Nearly Lost, but Never Forgotten

Built in 1878, the Stonelick Covered Bridge in Clermont County, Ohio, has endured fire, vehicle accidents, and even a collapse during restoration. After years of damage and repairs, it was fully rebuilt and reopened in 2015, preserving its place as a historic landmark.

#Historic #HistoricPreservation #Deserve2Preserve #Appalachia #appalachian_explorers #AmericanRural #rawusa_feb25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa #RAWbridges #amazingshots_bridges #Total_Bridges #roadgeek #ODOT #Ohio #OhioExplored #beautiful_ohio_scenes #OhioTheHeartofitAll #WeAreOhioSE @ohioexplored #Cincinnati #CincinnatiOH #CincinnatiOhio #Cincy #CincyGram #CincyUSA #discoverclermontcounty

Rising from the high desert of western New Mexico,

Rising from the high desert of western New Mexico, El Morro National Monument is a sandstone bluff that has served as a landmark for centuries. At its base, a year-round pool of water once drew ancestral Puebloans, Spanish explorers, and pioneers moving west. Each left their mark on the cliff face, where more than 2,000 carvings remain — from petroglyphs to elaborate Spanish inscriptions to simple initials scratched by settlers.

A short trail leads past the shaded pool and beneath the inscriptions, while a longer route climbs to the mesa top and the ruins of Atsinna Pueblo. From here, the view stretches across the Zuni Mountains and the black lava fields of El Malpais, a landscape that has shaped both history and tradition in the region.

El Morro is not only a striking natural formation but also a layered archive of movement and memory. Standing at twilight, when the sandstone glows and the inscriptions come into sharp relief, it is easy to see why travelers across so many centuries paused here — and why it remains a place worth seeking out today.

📸 Key:
1 - Inscription Rock
2 - Cuesta Top
3 - Cuesta Top
4 - Inscription Rock
5 - Mesa Top Trail Loop
6 - Tulip prickly pear (Opuntia phaeacantha)

#stayandwander #WildernessCulture #OptOutside #folkscenery #RAW_landscape #RAW_seasons #RAW_allnature #rawusa_aug25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #NewMexico #NewMexicoTrue #NMTrue #VisitNewMexico #NewMexicoMagazine #NMMagazine

The Bernice D. was a gasoline-powered fishing boat

The Bernice D. was a gasoline-powered fishing boat that once operated on the nearby Black River. It is now preserved and displayed next to the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse in #Michigan.

#boatlife #PureMichigan #AbandonedPlaces

Rock House is the only true cave within Hocking Hi

Rock House is the only true cave within Hocking Hills State Park in #Ohio, formed over millennia as water cut deeply into the Black Hand Sandstone. The result is a long, high corridor with window-like openings and load-bearing sandstone columns that give the space a distinctly architectural feel. Archaeological evidence points to its use by Native peoples as a shelter and water-collection site, while 19th-century lore later cast it as a hideout for outlaws, earning the nickname “Robbers’ Roost.” Reaching the cave in winter, we hiked with my partner and Theo, our cattle dog, along snow-covered trails where icy climbs slowed the approach and demanded attention.

#WinterWonderland #OhioTheHeartofitAll #OhioStateParks #HockingHills

Whatever the season, I’ve found Cataract Falls Sta

Whatever the season, I’ve found Cataract Falls State Recreation Area near Cloverdale, Indiana, to be a quiet place to reflect and explore.

On my most recent visit in early autumn, the air was cool and still, and the trees showed only the first touches of color. The flow over the falls was low—reduced by late-summer drought—but Mill Creek still threaded its way through the limestone gorge, glinting in the soft light. The subdued sound of water over stone matched the calm of the season, a contrast to the rush and thunder of past visits.

Cataract Falls is home to Indiana’s largest waterfalls by volume. Over millions of years, Mill Creek carved through layers of ancient limestone, shaping the Upper and Lower Falls. The landscape owes its form to the Illinoisan glacial period, when ice sheets buried pre-glacial ridges beneath layers of sediment. Mill Creek later cut through those weakened formations, creating a combined seventy-five-foot drop—forty-five feet at the Upper Falls and thirty at the Lower.

I’ve seen Cataract Falls under far different conditions. In summer, the air was heavy and humid, and the creek gushed with steady power after seasonal storms. In winter, following a rain that turned to snow, the falls ran full and strong, framed by sheets of ice and a landscape muffled in silence. Each visit revealed a different side of the same place—shaped by weather, time, and the enduring pull of Mill Creek across the stone.

#stayandwander #OptOutside #folkscenery #RAW_landscape #RAW_seasons #RAW_allnature #Water_Perfection #Water_Brilliance #wb_water_brilliance #Waterfall #rawusa_nov25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa #Indiana #VisitIndiana #igersIndiana #ExploreIndiana #myIndiana #IndianaDNR

The Grapevine Mesa Joshua Tree Forest, located nea

The Grapevine Mesa Joshua Tree Forest, located near Meadview in Mohave County, Arizona, is one of the largest and densest stands of Joshua trees outside California’s Mojave Desert.

Set atop Grapevine Mesa—a plateau between the Grand Wash Cliffs and the Grand Canyon’s western edge—this high desert forest spans elevations from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. It features mature Joshua trees up to 30 feet tall, along with Mojave yucca, creosote bush, and desert sage, forming a biologically rich ecosystem.

The forest occupies ancient volcanic soils within a transition zone between the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. Its climate, topography, and soil support a rare, contiguous forest of Joshua trees, offering habitat for desert wildlife such as tortoises, jackrabbits, roadrunners, and a variety of birds and reptiles.

In 1967, the National Park Service designated the area a National Natural Landmark, part of a federal program launched in 1962 to recognize and preserve sites of outstanding natural value. Grapevine Mesa was selected for its unusually dense and continuous Joshua tree population at a unique elevation in Arizona.

Quieter and less visited than its Californian counterparts, the Grapevine Mesa Joshua Tree Forest remains a remarkable example of Arizona’s desert biodiversity.

#RAW_landscape #RAW_allnature #rawusa_jul25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #VisitArizona #CaptureArizona #arizonaisgorgeous #OnlyInArizona #ArizonaPhotographer #ExploreArizona #ArizonaLife #ArizonaCollective @visit_arizona @capturearizona

Over the New Year’s holiday, a winter visit to Hoc

Over the New Year’s holiday, a winter visit to Hocking Hills State Park in #Ohio followed an overnight snowfall that left roughly a half inch of fresh powder across the trails, softening sound and edges alike. We hiked at Cantwell Cliffs with my partner and Theo, our cattle dog, moving through long, quiet stretches shaped as much by cold as by terrain. The descent along Buck Run dropped into a narrow valley where rock shelters and tall sandstone walls closed in, the creek partly iced and moving slowly beneath them. From the rim, bare hardwoods opened winter sightlines across the gorge; below, the valley trail emphasized the scale of the cliffs from the cold floor of the hollow. Sparse crowds, kept away by snow and low temperatures, allowed the place to feel inward and deliberate, defined by season rather than momentum.

#WinterWonderland #HockingHills #OhioTheHeartofitAll #OhioStateParks

A winter snowfall settled over Big Walnut Creek as

A winter snowfall settled over Big Walnut Creek as Baker’s Camp Covered Bridge crossed the valley in Putnam County, #Indiana. Built in 1901 by Joseph J. Daniels, the single-span bridge uses the Burr arch truss, a timber system that combines a curved arch with kingpost framing to carry loads efficiently across rural streams. Seen from above, the bridge reads as part of the landscape it once served, an enclosed crossing shaped by local materials, late nineteenth-century engineering practice, and the practical demands of county roads.

#AmericanRural #VisitIndiana #RAWbridges #Total_Bridges

On a quiet farm in Washington County, #Pennsylvani
$On a quiet farm in Washington County, #Pennsylvania, a wood-framed barn painted black rises from a block foundation, its edges softened by deep winter snow. Along one broad wall, a hand-painted American flag appears in vivid reds, whites, and blues, the colors striking against the muted landscape and the weathered boards beneath. Barn murals like this have long served as rural expressions of identity and continuity, turning working structures into public statements without spectacle. The flag, in particular, carries layered symbolism—less celebratory than resolute—signaling attachment to place, labor, and shared values shaped over generations. In the present moment, marked by political violence, hardening rhetoric, immigration raids, imperial ambition, and deep mistrust of institutions and neighbors alike, the mural reads as neither comfort nor nostalgia. America has never been free of uncertainty, but the mural suggests endurance rather than innocence, a quiet assertion that despite fracture and strain, the idea of community rooted in land and work persists, even as the nation continues to test its own ideals. #Appalachia #folkscenery #ExplorePA #VisitPA$

The sun dropped low over White Domes Road, casting

The sun dropped low over White Domes Road, casting long shadows through Nevada’s Valley of Fire.

Out here, light moves differently, cutting across sandstone in hard angles and soft glows. The road winds through a maze of red rock and pale domes, the oldest state park in Nevada, stretching out in ridges and washes. At dusk, the cliffs flare up—pink, orange, gold—before falling into quiet hues.

#RAW_landscape #RAW_seasons #RAW_allnature #rawusa_aug25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #roadgeek #Nevada #TravelNevada #VisitNevada #ExploreNevada #NVstateparks @travelnevada

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