Broad
Ford Views 2
Compiled & Written by K. R.
Overholt Critchfield, © August 28, 2009
With Thanks To Jeffrey
Antol, Microsoft Virtual Earth & Penn
Pilot
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Two
Photographs from Virtual Earth
The photographs immediately above
and below were views of Broad Ford seen on
Microsoft Virtual Earth on March 28,
2009. They are important because we now have
evidence that the Overholt Distillery's
last-standing bonded warehouse was dismantled
this past spring (see Broad Ford Dismantled).
The trees were "logged out" and bushes
were cut down all over the property, clear to the
Youghiogheny River. Other structures were
removed, and others may yet be removed by the
present owner, Terry Shallenberger (of
Shallenberger Construction, Connellsville, PA). A
company spokesman explained that some walls of
the warehouse had fallen down, that the building
posed a threat to safety, and that it had to be
removed. The good news is that no further
demolition has occurred since this past spring,
and at that time, the owner currently had no
plans regarding the other structures. The bad
news is the admission that the purchase had been
made primarily because it was riverfront
property. To me, this is bad news because
riverfront properties often morph into riverfront
housing attracting high-end, up-scale tenants, so
the history of the site and the preservation of
the remaining buildings may not be the central
concern of the new owner.
Because of the recent turn of
events, it has been my task to collect as many
aerial photographs of the A. Overholt and
Company distillery complex as are still
available online, because they may be our last
bird's-eye views of what used to be at Broad
Ford. Of course, the immense brick Bonded
Warehouse D is rubble now. Its demise marked the
end of the last-standing bonded warehouse that,
in its heyday, housed upwards of 33,000 barrels
of aging Overholt rye whiskey. As for eyewitness
reporting, Broad Ford Dismantled is the
first of six new web pages featuring the
photography of cjb19772009 (currently known as
Mtnbiker09), a young Pennsylvanian who trekked
into the heart of the ruins, and came back with
an amazing pictoral narrative. This set of
photographs, published on Flickr as Historic
A. Overholt Company Distillery, currently
includes 289 shots. In a 3-page feature, Broad
Ford Distressed, cjb shows us clear-eyed
shots that reveal the current status of the
buildings, and in two pages of Broad Ford
Forsaken, he gets to the heart of the theme
of abandonment with Inside Looking Out
and Outside Looking In.
It may yet be possible to save
what is left of the A. Overholt and Company
distillery, so that the history created at this
site will not be lost forever. As for this page,
it is the first of four new web pages in an
expanded edition of Broad Ford Views,
presenting some of the best bird's eye views of
Broad Ford that could be collected from the World
Wide Web. Of course, these views are no longer
accurate, and may eventually disappear from the
Internet, as the visual data at various web sites
is updated.
In the photos presented here, it
is easy to see the creeping effects of
distruction in the roof of the bonded warehouse,
but keep sharp and you will see the same
deterioration elsewhere. For a proper comparison,
you will need to see the historic photos
presented in the first page of Broad Ford
Aerial History, which includes shots taken
during flights over Broad Ford in the years 1939,
1959 and 1967.
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Old
& New Photographs from Penn Pilot
Penn Pilot is an online
library of historical aerial photography
sponsored by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey.
It is supported by the Pennsylvania State
Archives, and hosted online by Pennsylvania State
University. For aerial photos of Broad Ford that
were taken back in 1939, 1959 and 1967, see Broad
Ford Aerial History. Here we are dealing
with pictures taken during the recent past.
Penn Pilot Photo Centers --
http://www.pennpilot.psu.edu/
When you go to the Penn Pilot
web site, take your time and try out everything
that will help you get acquainted with the
changing landscape of our little corner of the
world. When you choose an era (given as
1937-1942, 1957-1962, or 1967-1972), you will see
hundreds of red dots filling up the map of
Pennsylvania, each dot representing a huge aerial
photograph. For me, the quickest way to find what
I want to see is to manipulate the zoom-in
"plus sign" (+) control first, keeping
my target area in the center of the screen with
each zoom closer, and then I choose the era.
Proceeding in this manner gives a choice of red
dots that is easier to handle. Once you figure
out the parameters of the red-dot grid, you
multiply your chances of finding a better angle
for your target. Therefore, one dot may give you
the area you want to study, but remember to try
another dot nearby.
Manipulate the aerial views by
using the curved arrows in the map controls, for
this will give you many photographs of the same
sector, but from different perspectives. Also,
notice you can retract the control bar and see a
photo without that distraction up in the top left
corner. The Microsoft Virtual Earth
feature can be accessed by selecting
"None" in the drop-down "Select
Era" box. Zoom-in on your target area (Broad
Ford, for instance), then click on "Bird's
eye" from the map menu, and you will get to
see the same photos shown above. The
"Aerial" tab will give you photos that
can be found on other map web sites, but here,
they are more accommodating.
You can find more information
about the Penn Pilot project by looking
over what appears to be an old proposal, or
presentation, posted online as a pdf document
(see URL below). Note that if you reduce the pdf
view to 25% or 50%, the document will upload more
quickly. Apparently released in 2005, this is a
report by Brian Bills, Center for Environmental
Informatics, Pennsylvania State University. The
goal of the project was to digitally scan the
1940, 1960, and 1980-era historic aerial photos,
and "provide online access to the images
through an easy-to-use map-based web
application." The stated rationale for the
project was to "enable utilization of this
valuable resource in many cultural, civic, and
scientific applications, increase access to those
unable to visit the Geologic Survey or State
Archives, protect the photographs from
wear-and-tear resulting from repeated use,"
and "provide digital images that are
ready-to-use in a variety of computer
applications."
Pennsylvania State
University Proposal
http://gisconference.cas.psu.edu/2005/proceedings/1_tues_1110.pdf
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