Month: June 2019

The Street Art of Iceland has now been posted.  Click this link to directly access the artwork.

According to both Landnámabók and Íslendingabók, monks known as the Papar lived in Iceland before Scandinavian settlers arrived, possibly members of a Hiberno-Scottish mission. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed the ruins of a cabin in Hafnir on the Reykjanes peninsula. Carbon dating indicates that it was abandoned sometime between 770 and 880.^[19] In 2016, archeologists uncovered a longhouse in Stöðvarfjörður that has been dated to as early as 800.^[20]

Swedish Viking explorer Garðar Svavarsson was the first to circumnavigate Iceland in 870 and establish that it was an island.^[21] He stayed over winter and built a house in Húsavík. Garðar departed the following summer but one of his men, Náttfari, decided to stay behind with two slaves. Náttfari settled in what is now known as Náttfaravík and he and his slaves became the first permanent residents of Iceland.^[22][23]

To learn more about the history of Iceland, click this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland#History

The Street Art of Roswell, New Mexico has now been posted.  Click this link to directly access the artwork.

“The first non-indigenous settlers of the area around Roswell were a group of pioneers from Missouri, who attempted to start a settlement 15 miles (24 km) southwest of what is now Roswell in 1865, but were forced to abandon the site because of a lack of water. It was called Missouri Plaza. It also had many Hispanic people from Lincoln, New Mexico. John Chisum had his famous Jingle Bob Ranch about 5 miles (8 km) from the center of Roswell, at South Spring Acres. At the time, it was the largest ranch in the United States.

Van C. Smith, a businessman from Omaha, Nebraska, and his partner, Aaron Wilburn, constructed two adobe buildings in 1869 that began what is now Roswell. The two buildings became the settlement’s general store, post office, and sleeping quarters for paying guests. In 1871, Smith filed a claim with the federal government for the land around the buildings, and on August 20, 1873, he became the town’s first postmaster. Smith was the son of Roswell Smith, a prominent lawyer in Lafayette, Indiana, and Annie Ellsworth, daughter of U.S. Patent Commissioner Henry Leavitt Ellsworth. He called the town Roswell, after his father’s first name.”

Learn more about the history of Roswell, New Mexico by clicking on this wikipedia link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell,_New_Mexico

Street Art seen on Rt 66.

“In 1857, Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a Naval officer in the service of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, was ordered by the War Department to build a government-funded wagon road along the 35th Parallel. His secondary orders were to test the feasibility of the use of camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert. This road became part of US 66.^[9]

Parts of the original Route 66 from 1913, prior to its official naming and commissioning, can still be seen north of the Cajon Pass. The paved road becomes a dirt road, south of Cajon, which was also the original Route 66.^[10]

Before a nationwide network of numbered highways was adopted by the states, named auto trails were marked by private organizations. The route that would become US 66 was covered by three highways. The Lone Star Route passed through St. Louis on its way from Chicago to Cameron, Louisiana, though US 66 would take a shorter route through  Bloomington rather than Peoria.

The transcontinental National Old Trails Road led via St. Louis to Los Angeles, but was not followed until New Mexico; instead US 66 used one of the main routes of the Ozark Trails system,^[11] which ended at the National Old Trails Road just south of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Again, a shorter route was taken, here following the Postal Highway between Oklahoma City and Amarillo. Finally, the National Old Trails Road became the rest of the route to Los Angeles.^{[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66}

A fews years ago I drove the “mother road” from Victorville, CA to Gallup, NM, before turning south and continuing the trip to Texas. Without going into any more history and information about the road, clicking on this link will provide  the reader with a very good description: Route 66 From End to End

However I will provide the following information from the above website. The photo of the general store was take during the above trip.

“Probably no other road in the world hosts as many interesting and strange sights as Route 66. People say it’s part of the charm of the historic highway. If you’re planning a road trip down Route 66, here are some one-of-a-kind attractions you shouldn’t miss.

Hackberry General Store (Arizona) — Located at mile marker 80 on Historic Route 66, this general store is jam-packed with any kind of Route 66 memorabilia you can imagine. There are vintage gas pumps and automobiles out front, although it’s no longer a filling station. Inside you can shop for souvenirs or pick up some Route 66-branded root beer.” Rt 66 Gas station in Hackberry, AZ

For those of you who would like to follow my journeys, I will post new information concerning them via this “blog.”  My goal is to gathered images onto this site, of street art/public murals I discover during my travels.  Use this drop down menu to explore those murals I’ve already  posted.  BTW, there may be times when new art work is posted to a topic that has previously been noted.

Cheers