Cape Girardeau History and Photos

February 27, 2013March 29, 2021

Dawn of Mourning Exhibit in Athens

I was back in Athens, Ohio, on February 26, walking on rain-slicked cobblestones and helping set up my exhibit of photos of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Mourning taken in 1968.

“Dawn of Mourning” is presented by Sigma Gamma Rho, Inc. in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences, the Athens Historical Society and Museum, the Foster and Helen Cornwell Lecture Series, University College, the Campus Involvement Center, The Athens Messenger and The Post.

Here is a radio interview the local NPR station, WOUB, did with me. (To be honest, I could only listen to about five minutes of it. I always cringe when I hear myself being interviewed.

Danielle Echols, who has been the Sigma Gamma Rho coordinator on the project, did a great job of keeping me more or less between the lines during the radio program. I could tell she had a basket of questions to ask if I was one of those laconic “Yes, Ma’am,” “No, Ma’am” subjects, but she need not have worried. Rambling is one of my better things.

Photo gallery of show catalog photos.

Here is a catalog of the key images showing a highly emotional day at Ohio University. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

February 25, 2013February 15, 2015

Pike Lodge for Sale

The Missourian had a story Feb. 17, 2013, that the Pi Kappa Alpha Memorial Lodge on South Sprigg Street down by the cement plan was going up for sale after 40-some years of testosterone and beer-fueled revelry. Chapter adviser Trae Bertrand was quoted as saying that the building is in “very poor” condition after repeated acts of vandalism.

Here’s a hint: if you are trying to sell something, it might be better if you didn’t use terms like “very poor” to describe it. I applaud his honesty, but question whether he is a business major.

Building had been Marquette School

Despite the fact that the Pike website said the building had been the Lafayette School, in reality it was the Marquette School until 1968. It was also supposed to be haunted by “Jessica.”

If you’re a Pike fan, here’s a piece I did about the Pike fire engine.

Pike Memorial Lodge photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery. The little peek I got through a window leads me to concur with Trae: it DOES look like it’s in “very poor” condition, although the exterior walls and roof don’t look too bad. If you’re looking for a place that may or may not be haunted, give Trae a call.

February 25, 2013February 25, 2013

“Little German Church”

The sign in front of the plain, white church on Hwy N, two miles northeast of Delta (before the N.U.T. intersection), reads “Trinity Methodist Church” – “Little German Church.”

It looks like the foundation is made of field stones stacked atop each other with a little mortar to keep them in place.

What history he saw

I was amazed at the birth and death dates on Fritz Bock’s tombstone: the man was born before the Civil War and died in the middle of World War II. THAT’S a set of bookends you don’t see often.

I don’t know any of the church’s history, but the FindAGrave website has a pretty complete listing of the burials behind the building.

Little German Church photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

February 24, 2013

Nearly Full Moon

I was headed out the door to grab something to eat when Mother said, “There’s a full moon tonight.”

“Oh, I wish you hadn’t told me. I’m too tired to shoot it,” I lamented after a day of cutting wood. (I’m also too tired to write about THAT, too, despite promises I made on Facebook. It’ll come.)

That’s when I remembered my early birthday present from The Boys: my Nikon 55-200mm lens. How could I pass up a chance to see what THAT would do with the moon.

Not bad. It’s always more interesting if it’s lower in the sky and if it has some kind of interesting landmark in the foreground, but this will do for a lens test. You can click on it to make it larger.

Photo geek info

I shot the photo with my Nikon D3100. The ISO was 400 and the exposure was 1/320 @ f5/7. The lens was zoomed to the maximum 200mm, which would be the equivalent of 300mm on a standard 35mm film camera.

I underexposed five stops from what the meter indicated (because it was reading all that black sky). It was taken with manual focus instead of automatic because it kept wanting to either grab onto some tree limbs in the foreground or not fire at all because it didn’t think there was anything there. One of the nice things is that the focusing ring on that lens is big enough to grab; that’s not the case with my 18-55mm lens.

It would be a little sharper if I had bothered to drag a monopod or my new Vanguard Alta Pro 263AT tripod out of the car, but I was too tired and hungry to fool around with fancy stuff.

Oh, and when I got home, I found out that the moon wasn’t all the way full. It was only 97% full.