Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA - 23rd April 2008
By: MissMelissa
Hello again! We had a little bit more adventuring today.
This is a bird's eye view of Parkersburg. We went to Quincy Hill park today and stayed there until a tree fell down and scared the crap out of Melissa.
Can you see the river and all of the bridges we've visited?
Apparently, in 1909, there was a terrible disaster on this hill.
Quote: | At 5:10 a.m. on March 19, 1909, Parkersburg's two reserve water tanks, sitting atop Prospect Hill (now Quincy Hill), burst and sent two million gallons of water cascading down the side of the hilll and into the streets of the city. Each tank, made of iron and sitting on a stone foundation, was 40 feet high and 60 feet in diameter. They were pumped full every night from the city water works located at the foot of 12th Street. Apparently one of the 26-year-old tanks broke first, and the gushing water smashed its bottom plates against the companion tank, ten feet away.
A cottage on the hillside above Avery was washed away and carried down Tenth Street to Market, killing the young newlyweds who lived there. A couple of other houses were shattered, and St. John's Lutheran Church on Avery at 9½th Street was nearly demolished. Trees were washed through the walls of Sumner, the city's black school, and several streets were choked with the debris of other trees and lumber from the destroyed houses. A barbershop in the basement of the Blennerhassett Hotel, six blocks to the south, had two inches of mud on its floor. In all, three people died and several were badly injured. |
So I am standing where the tanks were, and everything down below me was flooded and destroyed. That's kinda scary.
These stairs go from Quincy Hill all the way down to Avery Street. Melissa says people run up and down them to train for all the marathons they hold in the summer. Those people must be nuts!
Here's a tank in the park. Melissa had no explanation for the tank or why people here put weird vehicles in playgrounds. Bizarre.
Then I climbed this pretty tree for no particular reason.
Goodbye, Quincy Park. It's been lovely.
XOXO,
YumYum
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Posted Apr 26, 2008, 3:28 am Last edited Apr 26, 2008, 3:30 am by MissMelissa
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