Ashley Fetner Fine Art Photography

  ”Steam Engine Locomotive Wheel”

The museum is on the site of Southern Railways largest steam locomotive repair facility and is part of the Division of State Historical Sites and the Department of Cultural Resources. Thorough the exhibits you can see a history of North Carolina transportation. The Roundhouse built in 1924, was one of the largest ever constructed, now houses forty restored locomotives and rail cars. The Bumper to Bumper Exhibit is a collection of automobiles and bikes from the 1920’s through the 1980’s that include a 1901 White Steam Stanhope, a 1938 Highway Patrol Car and a 1947 Whizzer Motor Bike. The Wagon, Wheels and Wings exhibit includes a dugout canoe, 1922 fire engine and a Conestoga wagon built prior to 1810. The Back Shop that was built in 1905 and was once the largest industrial building in North Carolina. It served as an enormous machine shop where the locomotives were disassembled and repaired with new parts. The outside has been restored and restoration is being done on the inside so that more exhibits can be added. The North Carolina Transportation Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate Museum, so Smithsonian travel exhibits are often on display. The museum offers more exhibits as well as tours, train rides, excursions and special events.
Kay

  The small community of Hinton West Virginia is located along the New River in the Southern part of West Virginia. It was a major terminal point on the C&O Railroad in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s for making up coal trains heading through the New River Gorge. The C&O built their rail line in early 1870’s followed by the building of the Hinton Freight and Passenger Depot in 1871. As the nation’s demand for coal began to decrease, the number of trains through Hinton began to decrease also. Each Year Hinton celebrates “Railroad Days”, which includes scenic train excursions through the New River Gorge. The Hinton Depot is being renovated and serves as a passenger station for Amtrak.
Kay

 “The Watchman”

The Watchman Peak, a 6,545 foot red spire, is a Zion National Park Landmark, near Springdale Utah. The Watchman Trail is a dirt path that leads along the foothills beneath Bridge Mountain. It winds its way through switchbacks, a loop trail and finally to the base of the Watchman Spire.  At the base of the spire we found a bench that gave us excellent views, not only of the Watchman Spire, but surrounding Zion and the Virgin River that runs below.
Kay

The Old Stone Presbyterian Church was built in 1796 out of native limestone in Lewisburg West Virginia. It is the oldest church still in continuous use west of the Allegheny Mountains. There was a period in 1864 when it served as a hospital for both the Union and Confederate armies. The cemetery that surrounds the church was the first west of the mountains and continues to be used today. It is listed on the National Register of Historical Places in West Virginia. There is a polished stone above the entrance engraved by one of the earlier members that states “This building was erected in the year 1796 at the expense of a few of the first inhabitants of this land to commemorate their affection and esteem for the gospel of Jesus Christ reader if you are inclined to applaud their virtues give God the glory.”
Kay

“Polar Bear”

In the middle of North Carolina at the foot of the Uwharrie Mountains, near Asheboro, is 500 acres that have been developed into one of the largest “natural habitat” zoos in the United States.  Enclosures for the animals have been built to resemble their natural habitat.  So instead of cages they are free to roam.  All the animals in the zoo are from Africa and North America. As you travel the five mile trail through the zoo you will see over 1,100 animals and 40,000 plants.
 The Polar Bear exhibit is very popular. Polar Bears are the largest of all bears and the largest land-based carnivore. An average male can stand over 8 feet high and weigh over 1,000 pounds. They are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Greenland and Norway. Humans are the Polar Bear’s only natural enemy but since they depend on the oceans for their survival, we need to take steps to protect their environment. With oil wells, pipelines, airstrips and other building projects, contamination of their environment through pesticides, oil spills and litter is a very great threat to the Polar Bear’s survival.  It is a wonderful experience to see them at the zoo but even more wonderful to see them in the wild –
Kay

  The Thurmond Depot is located along the New River in Fayette County West Virginia and is one of the most famous stations on the C&O Railroad. It was built in 1900 as passenger station and also served as offices of the C&O Railroad workers. Thurmond was one of the two major shipping points for coal in the New River Gorge area. By the early 1900’s hundreds of coal cars passed through Thurmond daily. It is said in 1910 that 76, 541 passengers bordered the trains in Thurmond and 4,283,641 tons of freight were shipped, which was about one-fifth of the revenue for the entire C&O railroad that year. Now owned by the National Parks Service for the New River Gorge National River, it serves as the park service visitor center and “flag stop” for Amtrak Trains. The depot was restored in1995 with authentic fixtures, furniture, and equipment from the early 1900’s. The depot, plus the entire town of Thurmond, is listed in the National Register of Historical Places.
Kay

“Salt Lake Basin”

Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River. The lake is a remnant of pre-historic Lake Bonneville, which covered more than 20,000 square miles during the Ice Age. Currently the Great Salt Lake is 75 miles long by 28 miles wide covering 1, 7000 square miles. The maximum depth is about 33 feet but the depth and size vary with seasonal evaporation and precipitation. Water flows from four river drainages, carrying 2.2 million tons of minerals into the lake each year. The Great Salt Lake has no outlet and the water leaves only through evaporation so high concentrations of minerals are left behind. The salinity level ranges between 4 and 28 percent compared to the ocean at 3 percent.
Kay

“Schnebly Hill Vista”

 
                                                            
The first white settlers that came to this area of Sedona in1876 successfully built a wagon road with picks and shovels out of a steep and rocky canyon. This road cut their four day trip from Phoenix to Flagstaff in to two. Carl Schnebly who came to Oak Creek in 1900 was the first one to use the road to transport lumber from Flagstaff to build a large home for his family. After his home was built he then transported wagonloads of produce to Flagstaff and to his small general store. He petitioned the post office to name this area Oak Creek Crossing or Schnebly Station, but the names were rejected because they were to long. So he named this area Sedona after his wife. People traveling this road would often stop at his home which eventually became an inn. They began to associate this road with the Schnebly family. Today the Schnebly Hill Road starts off paved but then changes into a very rutted dirt road. It ascends over the Arizona Mojollon Rim up 6,000 feet at the vista and overlooks the Verde Valley and Sedona Arizona.
Kay

 “Glade Creek Grist Mill”

The Glade Creek Grist Mill is located in Babcock State Park Fayette County West Virginia. It was built in 1976 as a re-creation of Cooper’s Mill that operated in this present location before Babcock became a state park. It was constructed by combining parts and pieces of three other mills. The basic structure came from Stony Creek Grist Mill which dates back to 1890 in Pocahontas County, the water wheel from Spring Run Grist Mill in Grant County, with other parts found in the Onego Grist Mill in Pendleton County. 
The mill produces fresh cornmeal and buckwheat flour daily by utilizing the water power from Glade Creek.
I purchased a bag of cornmeal to bring home—there is nothing like a hunk of cornbread right out of the oven dripping with butter and honey – as my grandpa use to say “that’s eatin’ high on the hog”!
Kay

Big Horn Sheep in the Western United States once numbered one million and was an important food source as well as being hunted for their skins. The Shoshone “Sheepeaters” Indian tribe lived in Yellowstone until 1880 and their principle food was the Big Horn Sheep and they also made their bows from the sheep’s horns. By the 1900’s the sheep’s population was decreased to a few hundred in the U.S. Annual surveys done in Yellowstone suggest that there are only 250 to 275 Big Horn Sheep in the park. Since hunting is no longer permitted, you can find the sheep roaming the steep ledges, rugged terrain and open meadows throughout Yellowstone.  We found these “resting” in a rocky outcrop in the Lamar Valley area.
Kay