In April of 2019, Toni and I made a trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Last week, I wrote about that trip and made a promise that I would write more about that — specifically, our foray(s) into the nearby town of Martinsburg. So here we are.
While we were sitting in that lot shooting pictures and oo-ing and ah-ing over what we were getting, a nicely-dressed gentleman in what I believe was a Cadillac sedan pulled up and introduced himself as a property developer looking to sell the place. Being a pro-development guy, I hope he’s been successful in that in the years since.
The property was fairly large, but seemed tightly confined to the immediate ground around the building. Right across the railroad spur, to the left of that image, was a larger abandoned factory signed as Metal Crafters.
A street runs across the back of the O&F lot and between the two buildings of the Metal Crafters plant. A pedestrian bridge runs over that street.
To the right is a long wing that runs up to the rail spur.
As I recall (my memory doesn’t always line up with the images, which happens a lot over time), a further wing of the Metal Crafters plant extends into the next block, where there is an antique mall kind of commercial development.
This is a shot of the employee entrance to the Metal Crafters plant which will not be going into the store, but it is interesting. So here it is.
Here’s a wider view of that wing of the plant.
And, for a little lagniappe, here’s a chute door — maybe a coal chute? — on a house in the neighborhood — for a little architectural detail.
I love the way the bricks were shaped (by hand?) to form a keystone above the door. That is craftsmanship. Wish there were more of it these days.
Another claim the town has to fame is that the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railroad had a substantial yards and roundhouses there.
There were actually, if I have it straight, two roundhouses. Only one has survived to be photographed by us. But the ruins of the other prove attractive nonetheless.
This is signed as the workshops that went with the roundhouses. I can see in my mind crowds of skilled mechanics scurrying around servicing the great iron horses in their charge.
Of course, we wandered further into town. Along Queen Street, we discovered a delightful little glass shop which you should visit if you ever get there. (See last week’s post.) And more industrial sites attendant on the railroad yards.
As always, images from this set will be available for purchase as prints on my Art Storefront, linked at top above).