Friday, January 06, 2006

A school, two churches and some outhouses! Oh My!!



It must have been early November when i got the map of Landrus from Pete (thanks!). It's an old hand drawn kind of thing with no scale, but it made a lot of sense to me.... i copied it quickly in my sketchbook and anxiously anticipated the next day when i would have the time to go to Landrus.

The landmark on the map that caught my eye was a spring - not because i knew it, because i didn't know it! I don't want to give
alot of information about its location, but i see it everytime i drive by now that i know where it is. (top photo)

From the spring, the map led me to most everything on the south side of Babb Creek that i was previously unfamiliar with including the school, the Yankee Church (middle photo) and several house foundations. I also came upon another very nice spring house, some outhouse pits(bottom photo) and a foundation with "indoor plumbing".

The only major map landmark on the south side of the creek that i have not been
able to locate/identify is the Swedish Lutheran Church. I need to go back and look again, but it doesn't appear to be where the map says it is located. It shows a distance of 800 feet between the school and the church. I measured from what i believe to be the school and didn't find much! It's possible that i think the wrong foundation is the school. I did come across some spots that could have been the church - the foundation just may not be as intact as the rest.

The map also answered a few of the questions we'd always had about Landrus - it identifies the concrete stand-like thing next to the road at Landrus as the Rail Road water tank tower. The large, raised plot near this that is used heavily as a camp these days is apparently where the foremans house once stood. The half foundation that sits across the road from where the stone Landrus marker is today was the company store.

There is so much more to the town, more to come on the portions of town north of Landrus rd. and Babb Creek.

For more pictures, go to: http://pictures.insanart.com/landrus