Florida Friday; Fort Clinch

Back in 2013 I visited several Civil War era fortifications in the Southeast United States. During a blustery winter day I made my way north from Jacksonville to Amelia Island via Florida State Road A1A in Nassau County to see Fort Clinch.

Construction of Fort Clinch began in 1847 after the conclusion of the Second Seminole War. Fort Clinch only saw one major battle during the Civil War in 1862 when the Union recaptured the fort. Fort Clinch apparently was a headquarters for Union activity in northeast Florida through the duration of the Civil War. Fort Clinch is in very good condition and has been maintained well through the years, my understanding is that it became a state park in the 1930s. Fort Clinch is mostly known for Civil War reenactments which is somewhat ironic given it was not really part of major combat operations.

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Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield. Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away. In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south. Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center. Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat. The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area. In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11. Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village. At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928. This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate. The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles. The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona. From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island. Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...

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