Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/11

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Subject: [Leica] Signs
From: ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter)
Date: Sun Dec 11 09:45:50 2005
References: <web-159036488@wyoming.com><0DDC2506-EF5C-4735-8EBD-287EABD5D0C5@mindspring.com><439A7AFD.5060502@planet.nl><003d01c5fd8d$acc0cde0$6601a8c0@dcpdc.dcts.org> <6797A87D-EC2D-4353-A089-9E474A48EA45@mindspring.com> <001401c5fdff$dd166f50$6601a8c0@dcpdc.dcts.org>

Hey Robert--

I remember now that your folks' place was at Pamlico Beach.

Now I remember Everetts, It used to have all the yellow (?) houses.

I was raised north of you in Gates County, but ended up in Little  
Washington in the late '70s. I worked at the Washington Daily News  
through the '80s and most of the '90s. We did a lot of coverage in  
Martin, especially high school sports. I got to frequent Jamesville  
and Williamston and Robersonville and Bear Grass. I remember the  
fertilizer plant at the river bridge in Williamston and the timber  
barges that carried pulp wood to Franklin. I remember covering  
tobacco market opening and eating fried herring at the Cypress Grill  
before they put a floor in it. I remember oysters at the Sunnyside  
before it was prettied up and real homecooking at the R&C.

My cousin Buck Bagley ran the Honda Shop and furniture store on what  
was then the edge of town. I helped Elizabeth Roberson's History Club  
at Bear Grass School film projects a couple of years in the mid-'70s.  
I remember them building the new cotton gin near Everetts. I remember  
that Roanoke High School in Robersonville has the best looking  
athletic fields I ever saw. I remember that Williamston High has its  
own aptly named Death Valley. I remember the great railroad wye in  
Parmele. I remember going to Fort Branch before anyone thought about  
Civil War reenactments. I remember chatting with and photographing  
snipers outside the bank in Gold Point the day the sheriff got killed  
in a shootout with robbers who held up in the bank before getting  
killed later that night in a sprint for their car. I remember my  
first marriage ending at the door of a room of the Holiday Inn in  
Williamston (her indiscretion, not mine). I remember the tobacco  
market closing.

God knows what I'd remember about the place if I ever lived there...

Ric Carter
http://gallery.leica-users.org/Passing-Fancies

On Dec 10, 2005, at 10:06 PM, Robert Clark wrote:

> Ric:
> My hometown is Everetts which is on Rt 64 about 6 miles west of  
> Williamston. The building I'm referring to is located in Everetts.   
> I'm very familiar with Bethel.  Now that they've got the large four  
> lane highways bypassing the small towns, you have to get off and go  
> look.  When you do, the signs are there...so are the old factories,  
> the old ball fields, the old filling stations, the old high schools  
> (before consolidation), and the old cemeteries.  They're all there  
> waiting to be discovered again.  I remember seeing your posts a few  
> months ago about your show at Goose Creek.  My folks have a place  
> at Pamlico Beach which is (as I'm sure you know) about 30 miles due  
> east of Little Washington. It's about one mile from Wades Point  
> where the Pungo and the Pamlico merge into the Pamlico Sound.   I  
> grew up in Martin County, went to NC State, taught for a few years,  
> and then left for Pennsylvania to attend graduate school.  I  
> finished at PSU in 1993 and now live in Lancaster, PA.
>
> I visited Pamlico Beach over Thanksgiving and will be in Everetts &  
> Williamston between Christmas and New Years.  My parents still live  
> at the homeplace...a former tobacco farm just north of Everetts  
> near a small airport.
>
> What about you?  I'd be interested to learn more about your time  
> around Martin County.
>
> Robert
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ric Carter" <ricc@mindspring.com>
> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
> Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 6:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Signs
>
>
>> Hey Robert--
>>
>> Is that store in Bethel? I think I remember it along old US 64. I   
>> think I must have a photo of it myself somewhere, but it would  
>> take  me ages to drum it up.
>>
>> We still have a home in Little Washington, and martin County used  
>> to  be in my tramping area. When were you in Williamston? Where  
>> are you now?
>>
>> Ric Carter
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/Passing-Fancies
>>
>>
>> On Dec 10, 2005, at 8:28 AM, Robert Clark wrote:
>>
>>> I think you are right, Nathan.  I grew up in eastern North  
>>> Carolina  with the pouch tobacco signs on all of the tobacco  
>>> curing barns.   When the interstates came through and all the mom  
>>> and pop hotels  were not longer on the road most traveled, they  
>>> and their signage  deteriorated and became sort of a visual  
>>> treasure to those with an  eye.  My folks still live there and  
>>> things that go right by them  are suddenly so vivid and apparent  
>>> to me.  In my small town (now  with about 200 residents) there is  
>>> a painted sign on the side of an  old mercantile store directing  
>>> one to "Sell Your Tobacco in  Williamston."  I take one or two  
>>> pictures of that sign everytime  I'm there trying to get the  
>>> perfect one in different seasons,  light, etc.  Small towns in  
>>> the south are an artistic photographers  treasurer if you know  
>>> where to look.  When I see Ric's work, it's  all the towns where  
>>> I visited...Smithfield, Wilson, etc.
>>>
>>> Great observation.
>>>
>>> Robert
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Wajsman"  
>>> <nathan.wajsman@planet.nl>
>>> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
>>> Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:51 AM
>>> Subject: [Leica] Signs
>>>
>>>
>>>> I think that for pictures of signs the southern US is a real   
>>>> goldmine. Both the various wall paintings on run-down buildings   
>>>> and the funny church signs like the one Craig showed.
>>>>
>>>> Nathan
>>>>
>>>> Ric Carter wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Good idea, Mike--
>>>>>
>>>>> Someone was saying here a couple of weeks ago, that anyone who   
>>>>> ever saw Walker Evans' work took pictures of signs and barns.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm guilty as charged.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's my ante on the sign project. Some are artsied up because  
>>>>> that's the mood I was in when I made prints. Some are parts of   
>>>>> an ongoing fantasy project. Hope you like and hope to see more.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/Signage
>>>>>
>>>>> Ric Carter
>>>>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/Passing-Fancies
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Dec 9, 2005, at 11:51 AM, Mike Stoesz wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I really like #48, I like the graphics, composition, color and  
>>>>>> intensity of this image.  But, I like graphic images and  
>>>>>> images   with impact quite a bit in general.  I also am a  
>>>>>> sucker for  signage  (old or new).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think a great group project, now that FOM2 is closed, would   
>>>>>> be  for members of this group to record interesting signage,  
>>>>>> and  old  signage for posterity. Does anyone have thoughts on  
>>>>>> this?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kind Regards, Mike
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more  
>>>>> information
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Nathan Wajsman
>>>> Almere, The Netherlands
>>>>
>>>> General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
>>>> Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com
>>>> Bicycle project: http://www.fotocycle.nl
>>>> Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp? 
>>>> qt=wajsman
>>>> http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507
>>>> Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com
>>>>
>>>> Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more  
>>>> information
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


In reply to: Message from mstoesz at wyoming.com (Mike Stoesz) ([Leica] Nathans photo 48)
Message from ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter) ([Leica] Nathans photo 48)
Message from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Signs)
Message from rclark01 at comcast.net (Robert Clark) ([Leica] Signs)
Message from ricc at mindspring.com (Ric Carter) ([Leica] Signs)
Message from rclark01 at comcast.net (Robert Clark) ([Leica] Signs)