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Home
Journal
Map
Destinations
- Historic Site
- National Park
- Nature
  - Arch
  - Bog
  - Canyon
  - Cave
  - Desert
  - Dune
  - Lake
  - Prairie
  - View
  - Waterfall
  - Wetland
  - Wilderness
- Point of Interest
  - Cemetery
- Transportation
Regions
- Mid-Atlantic
- Midwest
  - Indiana
  - Michigan
  - Ohio
- Northeast
- Southeast
  - North Carolina
  - Tennessee
- Southwest
  - Arizona
  - New Mexico
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Enjoyed a peaceful evening stroll through White Ri

Enjoyed a peaceful evening stroll through White River State Park the other day—golden light on the canal, a soft breeze, and the city skyline reflecting in the water. It’s one of those places where nature and city life blend effortlessly. Hard to beat for a quiet walk at sunset.

#Indy #loveIndy #igersindy #indyarchitecture #Indiana #VisitIndiana #igersIndiana #ExploreIndiana #myIndiana #IndianaDNR #RAWbridges #amazingshots_bridges #Total_Bridges #rawusa_mar25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa #bestoftheusa_urban #SeeYourCity #raw_seasons #Water_Perfection #Water_Brilliance #wb_water_brilliance #folkscenery #folkgreen #stayandwander #OptOutside #earth_shotz #raw_country_spring

Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, take

Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana, takes on a particularly somber character under an overcast spring sky. Without the distraction of sunlight, the cemetery’s landscape and historical features appear more defined—stone markers, mausoleums, and tree-lined roads stand out. The subdued light draws attention to the materials and forms that define this 555-acre space, which was shaped in the 19th century as both a burial ground and a public park.

Established in 1863, Crown Hill Cemetery was part of the rural cemetery movement that sought to blend natural scenery with commemorative architecture. The early design, directed by landscape superintendent Fredrick Chislett, followed the contours of the land, emphasizing curved roads, varied elevations, and natural plantings. These choices remain evident today, particularly from vantage points like The Crown, the highest natural elevation in Marion County. From there, the grounds unfold below in a carefully arranged balance of nature and memorialization.

The cemetery’s layered history is apparent even in early spring, with mostly bare trees and low skies. The national cemetery, Civil War burial sections, and notable gravesites—including those of James Whitcomb Riley, President Benjamin Harrison, Booth Tarkington, and Eli Lilly—offer a cross-section of Indiana’s past. Crown Hill Cemetery is both a final resting place and a record of public memory, its landscape shaped by generations of planning, care, and commemoration.

#Historic #HistoricPreservation #Deserve2Preserve #folkscenery #folkgreen #stayandwander #raw_country_spring #cemetery #cemeteries #cemeterylovers #cemeteryshots #graveyard #gravestone #darktourism #raw_seasons #rawusa_mar25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa #Indiana #VisitIndiana #igersIndiana #ExploreIndiana #myIndiana #Indy #loveIndy #igersindy #keepindyindie

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

Cambridge City Park in Cambridge, #Ohio, is home t

Cambridge City Park in Cambridge, #Ohio, is home to the Armstrong Covered Bridge, also known as the Clio Covered Bridge, a restored 1849 multiple Kingpost truss that originally crossed Salt Creek near Clio. The historic covered bridge survived Morgan’s Raid during the Civil War and was moved to the park in 1966 during the development of Salt Fork State Park.

#HistoricPreservation #OhioTheHeartofitAll @cambridgeohio

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

Concrete pouring is underway on the Sunken Garden

Concrete pouring is underway on the Sunken Garden fountains at Garfield Park in Indianapolis, Indiana. This is part of a large-scale renovation project began to restore the park’s historic Sunken Garden fountains. Construction and testing are scheduled to continue through spring 2026.

Thank you to @fogpindy, @indyparks, the donors, and the laborers for making this work possible.

#Historic #HistoricPreservation #Deserve2Preserve #rawusa_june25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa #bestoftheusa_urban #SeeYourCity #Indiana #VisitIndiana #igersIndiana #ExploreIndiana #myIndiana #Indy #loveIndy #igersindy

In the last light of day, we lingered at White Dom

In the last light of day, we lingered at White Domes at the Valley of Fire State Park, where sandstone bluffs glowed under a sky streaked with pink and lavender. The heat had faded, replaced by a hush that settled over the desert floor. Shadows lengthened, and the pastel hues deepened, washing the cliffs in a soft, otherworldly glow. It felt like the park was exhaling: quiet, reverent, and wide open.

#stayandwander #WildernessCulture #OptOutside #folkscenery #RAW_landscape #rawusa_jul25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #Nevada #TravelNevada #VisitNevada #ExploreNevada #NVstateparks @travelnevada

Travelers following the National Road through east

Travelers following the National Road through eastern Ohio should make time for a stop at the Y Bridge in downtown Zanesville. Few crossings in the country are as distinctive, and fewer are tied so closely to the early movement of people, goods, and roads across the interior. At the meeting of the Licking and Muskingum rivers, the bridge remains both a landmark and an active part of U.S. Route 40.

The site had been important to travel since at least 1798, when Zane’s Trace passed through here. When the National Road reached Zanesville in 1826, it also used this crossing. Before dams and locks regulated the Muskingum, floods repeatedly damaged bridges at the mouth of the Licking, making the location difficult to maintain. The first Y-shaped bridge, built in 1813 by Rufus Scott to replace a ferry, collapsed just five years later. A second wooden bridge opened in 1819 but was later condemned after heavy use and flood damage.

A third bridge, a covered Buckingham through-truss, was completed in 1832 and served the city for decades. Operated at first as a toll bridge, its National Road branch was later purchased so tolls could be removed. By 1900, however, the structure had been judged unsound. Its replacement, completed in 1902, was a pioneering concrete-and-steel Y Bridge that was then the only bridge of its kind in the United States.

That bridge survived the great flood of March 1913 even after railroad cars from an upstream bridge struck it and destroyed its parapets, while every other Muskingum River bridge in Zanesville collapsed. But by 1980, deterioration had become too severe. The old bridge was closed and demolished in 1983, and a new steel-girder Y Bridge, reusing historic piers and echoing earlier designs, opened later that year and still carries National Road traffic through the heart of Zanesville.

#Appalachia #appalachian_explorers #Ohio #OhioTheHeartofitAll #RAWbridges

Just an hour from Las Vegas, Valley of Fire State

Just an hour from Las Vegas, Valley of Fire State Park is Nevada’s oldest and one of its most visually striking parks, known for its vivid red sandstone formations and ancient petroglyphs. As the morning sun hits the landscape, the rocks seem to glow, earning the park its fiery name. Trails lead to natural arches, slot canyons, and sweeping desert views shaped over millennia by wind and water. It’s a quiet, otherworldly place where geology and history meet in vivid color.

Our first stop was Wind Stone Arch, a small, graceful formation tucked into a quiet alcove reached by a short, rocky climb. Further in, Arch Rock stood prominently above the desert floor, near a cluster of campsites nestled among wind-carved cliffs.

#Nevada #TravelNevada #VisitNevada #ExploreNevada #NVstateparks @travelnevada #rawusa_jul25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #RAW_landscape #RAW_seasons #RAW_allnature #stayandwander #WildernessCulture #OptOutside

On the slow road to El Morro, New Mexico, somewher

On the slow road to El Morro, New Mexico, somewhere between the dusty roads and the clear blue sky, we found Los Gigantes.

This land carries more than stone. The area surrounding Los Gigantes has long been part of the cultural geography of the Diné and their neighbors, the Zuni. Ancient trails pass nearby—footpaths connecting springs, ceremonial sites, and pueblos. Petroglyphs, though harder to find now, record generations of presence. Stories tied to these cliffs speak to origin, migration, and reverence—narratives not always visible to a passing traveler, but deeply embedded in the land.

The site itself sits quietly off a narrow Bureau of Indian Affairs road, unassuming and almost easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. There are no signs, trail markers, or interpretive panels—just sandstone cliffs standing watch over the high desert. The air smells faintly of juniper and dust.

Their bones run deep. The base is Zuni Sandstone, which was laid down by ancient winds and marks the farthest reach of Jurassic rivers and lakes. Above that sits Entrada Sandstone, deposited when this place was a shifting expanse of beaches, tidal flats, and dunes some 180 million years ago. Now it forms soft slopes beneath the cliffs, a quiet record of time layered in stone.

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

The inscriptions at El Morro National Monument in

The inscriptions at El Morro National Monument in New Mexico, carved into a prominent sandstone bluff known as Inscription Rock, document centuries of human presence along a reliable waterhole at its base. The earliest markings are petroglyphs left by Ancestral Puebloans, followed by Spanish explorers and settlers who etched names, dates, and messages beginning in the late 16th century. Later inscriptions include the signatures of American soldiers, emigrants, and surveyors traveling west during the 19th century. Together, the markings form a layered historical record of Native, Spanish, and Anglo-American passage.

📸 Key:
1, 2, 3 - No description.
4 - “R.H. Orton, Capt, 1st Cal, Cav. 1866”
5, 6 - No description.

#rawusa_sept25 #VisittheUSA #wanderingusa @visittheusa #NewMexico #NewMexicoTrue #NMTrue #VisitNewMexico #GramOfEnchantment #NewMexicoMagazine #NMMagazine #RoadsideAmerica #Americana #ArchitecturePhotography #HistoricPreservation #OptOutside #NativeAmericanSites #NationalPark #NationalParkGeek

Near Sturgeon Point in #Michigan stands the Bailey

Near Sturgeon Point in #Michigan stands the Bailey School, built in 1907 of Norway pine at the site of the C.A. Johnson logging camp west of Mikado. Constructed for the children of logging crews and named for a lumberman who helped build it, it is one of the few remaining one-room log schoolhouses in the state. Partially restored in 1973, the structure was later disassembled, moved, and fully restored in 1998 to its present location at Sturgeon Point. Maintained by the Alcona Historical Society, it is furnished with period pieces, including a recitation bench, student desks, a drinking pail, and a coal stove.

#PureMichigan #HistoricPreservation

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