Multi-State Scenic Byways|Travel

9/22/2018 ... we immediately got on the Beartooth Highway NSB All-American Road [MT, WY]. The first main chunk of the 68 miles was quite beautiful, but the third quarter was spectacular. We climbed over 4,000 feet to about 10,900 feet on tight switchbacks with great views in all directions. At times we could see our upcoming road in multiple switchbacks far below. The last stretch was reasonably straight and level, bringing us out in Red Lodge, having traversed the whole length of the NSB.

National Forest and Byway sign

Another sign and the highway

All-American Road sign

Another view ...

... with some remaining snow

Switchbacks in the distance

Nice view of the mountains

10/15/2010 Back south on the Skyline to where it became the Blue Ridge Parkway (Byway)[VA] and took that south a few miles to the Humpback Rocks VC. Here we walked to a farm area, noting the Rocks on the way. The farm consisted of real 1800s buildings relocated here in the 1950s and was very nice.

A general sign for the Park and Byways ...

... and for the Blue Ridge

A pretty view down the road

Humpback Rocks in the distance

The cabin at the farm

7/7/2010 On the road west to the Connecticut River into VT, then north on the Connecticut River Byway [VT]. In Windsor, crossed into NH on the longest covered wooden bridge in the U.S., and parked for some photos. Continued north in NH on the same scenic byway [NH] into Lebanon ...

The Byway sign

A sign for ...

... a really long covered bridge!

Looking down the river

The tunnel view back to VT

4/21/2022 Onwards, hitting a little stretch of the Connecticut River NSB (which we will hit in both VT and NH), to Rockingham, VT and the Rockingham Meeting House NHL ... Hitting the CT River NSB for a bit more, and into Cornish, NH, we reached the Salmon P. Chase Birthplace NHL ... A bit further, and again a little along the NSB still in Cornish, we reached Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial NHL/Saint-Gaudens NHP.

A look down the byway ...

... and a sign

Some views ...

... of the mountains ...

... and the byway itself

10/1/2015 We continued west, then south on a pleasant but not unique stretch of the Crowley's Ridge Parkway Scenic Byway [AR].

A view along the Byway

8/25/2009 Soon after getting on I90, we bailed off to the road running along Lake Erie. This is the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Byway [in NY, also the Great Lakes Seaway Trail NRT], and it really is scenic. We passed through many pretty vineyards with views out on the lake. We stopped at a little park for a potty break, and a Tim Horton for coffee. After a while the route was less scenic, so we jumped back on the Thruway and continued to Buffalo.

One Byway sign ...

... and another

A nice panorama out on the lake ...

... and some local detail

7/20/2020 [Buffalo] ... then (for a short time on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail NSB) continued to ... At this point we were very hungry, having completed one more site before Ken’s planned lunch break, so we navigated to near the Niagara River, and also on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail NSB [and NRT], for an eat-in McDs lunch. We followed the NSB up to the Niagara Falls area, and would hit the NSB here and there while in the area. ... Tuscarora Heroes Monument ...

A Byway sign on the way ...

... and another

Ken in a park by the river

A panorama of the river

Looking back to the car

A long view of Niagara Falls

Also on the Niagara Scenic Parkway

7/21/2020 Susan B. Anthony House NHL. The home of the suffragette for forty years, while she was a national figure in the women's rights movement. Photo-op here, including a bronze statue vignette nearby. We also noted that, according to the signage, this location is on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail NSB[/NRT], which takes a dip from the shore down into Rochester.

The NYS sign

A view of the house from the side ...

... and front

Interpretive signage ...

... showing the NSB

Silliness with Ken and me

Nice bronze vignette

Great River Road (Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin)

5/9/2011 In Fulton we headed north on the Great River Road Scenic Byway on the Illinois side. Since we didn’t want to spend the time to go to the park we originally planned, we decided to just wing it and turn around when we had had enough. Conveniently after not too many miles we found a road where we could get close to the river, near a downstream lock and dam. Back along the SB to the LH in Fulton.

The Byway sign

Some interpretive signage

A look down the Mississippi

5/10/2011 We first headed north on the Great River Road Scenic Byway in IA to Eagle Point Park. We checked out the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie-style-inspired Lodge overlooking the Mississippi at its widest point (in fact, the haze obscured seeing the other side. Headed back south into Clinton (noting that for a while on the LH we would also hit the GRR SB).

The Byway sign ...

... and sign for the Park

An interesting structure

Prairie-style lodge

Hazy view across and down the Mississippi

10/1/2015 As we crossed the Mississippi into AR we got on a stretch of the Great River Road Scenic Byway, although it was pretty much local streets in West Memphis.

Crossing the Great River

A Byway sign

A Byway sign

A representative cotton field ...

... and close-up

Another sign

A view down the Byway ...

... and the Arkansas river

Yet another sign

10/17/2021 Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. The bridge spans the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. Louis. The eastern end of the bridge is on Chouteau Island (Madison, Illinois), while the western end is on the Missouri shoreline. Its most notable feature is a 22-degree bend occurring at the middle of the crossing. Originally a motor route, the bridge was for a time the route used by U.S. Route 66 (US 66) to cross over the Mississippi, but the bridge now carries only walking and biking trails over the river; the New Chain of Rocks Bridge carries vehicular traffic to the north. The bridge is on the Great River Road NSB [IL, and on the Mississippi River Water Trail NRT]. Leaving Chain of Rocks, we headed on a detour to the north, on the Great River Road NSB. Lewis and Clark State Historic Site. As we continued north, we were on the Meeting of the Great Rivers NSB (where the Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers meet to form a 35,000-acre floodplain) and, as noted, also the Great River Road NSB. From [the Missouri side of the Chain of Rocks Bridge] we navigated back over the river into Illinois, following the Great River Road NSB, to a very convenient triple hit in Cahokia with one parking. First there was signage about the NSB. ... On the other side of the NSB sign (and on the NSB) is the unusual Church of the Holy Family NHL. Built beginning in 1786, it is a remarkably unaltered example of the French colonial construction style known as "poteaux-sur-solle" (post-on-sill). The large vertical timber with aggregate fill construction is very rough but quite interesting.

Ken at the bridge

One look to Missouri ...

... and another

How low can you go ...

... for a photo

Setting up for ...

... our photo

Road signs for the byways

Pulled over for ...

... a great sign

Overheads for the byways

And yet ...

... more signs

Ken reading ...

... the byway signage

We were here!

And here!

We are here

Front view of Church

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL sign

A nice side view ...

... and detail

6/6/2022 As we hit the Mississippi and turned east we picked up the Great River Road NSB. We would follow this pretty much all the way down to New Orleans on the east/north side, sometimes having to head north a short stretch to get on the southbound road over a large bridge, and reverse the process to pick up the GRR NSB on the other side of the river. We realized that while driving along the Mississippi sounds nice, there is actually a levee running the entire length, so one never sees the river unless taking a bridge over. We did note a large amount of heavy industry along the way, with what looked like coal processing and refineries. Doing our sights along the river … Wallace - Evergreen Plantation NHL. Composed of 37 buildings, including a main house and 22 extant slave cabins, this is an intact example of major plantation complexes found during the antebellum era. Just photos through a gate here. Vacherie - Oak Alley Plantation NHL. It is named for an alley (French allée) or canopied path of southern live oak trees about 800 feet long, planted in the early 18th century. Here we needed to spend some time, with admission tickets required. We checked out some of the outbuildings including slave quarters, then headed for the Big House main building. Although it was really hot by now, we enjoyed walking along the long allee of huge, beautiful live oaks stretching out from the mansion. We could have spent a lot more time here, including a tour of the mansion, but we were on Ken-and-Bill-trek time, so off we went. Garyville - San Francisco Plantation House NHL. Finished in 1853, this is a galleried house of the Creole open suite style and one of the finest plantation houses in North America. I had been here years ago, but at this point the place is closed up and has an uncertain future, and all we could do was take some photos through the chain link fence. LaPlace - C. Alexandre & Bro, one of the area’s leading merchants after its doors opened in 1928. This place is really in bad shape, with pretty much just the brick walls remaining, and large trees growing out of the insides. … Hahnville - Homeplace Plantation House NHL. Built sometime between 1787 and 1791, it is one of the nation's finest examples of a French colonial raised cottage. This house is sadly deteriorating, with the roof in really bad shape; just photos before moving on.

Evergreen Plantation at a distance ...

... and closer up

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

Industry along the NSB

Passing the only ...

... NSB sign we saw

Another cool industrial complex

Oak Alley sign

Slave quarters outside ...

... and in

Heading to the mansion on one side ...

... and the other

The beautifual allee

Ken and me in the allee

Ken photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

San Francisco Plantation

Another view

1928 C. Alexandre & Bro

Some of the remaining sign

Ken and me out front

Homeplace Plantation sign

A distant view ...

... and closer in

4/29/2023 Down the road - a crazy straight highway through dead flat landscape – we noted signs that we were on the Great River Road AAR (which we knew) and entering the Mississippi Delta NHA (which we didn’t). ... Winterville State Park

4/30/2023 Vicksburg National Military Park ... Continuing south we entered Port Gibson on the GRR. ... Nearby at the Claiborne County Courthouse we stopped at a very detailed mural (with interpretive info) about the 1966 Port Gibson Boycott, led by the local chapter of the NAACP, of majority white businesses in Port Gibson and Claiborne County.

Claiborne County Courthouse

Port Gibson Boycott Mural

Detail of the Courthouse ...

... and leaders

Me and Ken

5/1/2023 Heading back NE (on the Great River Road all the way back to Port Gibson), we got on the side loop road at the south, where we had failed yesterday at the north end for Port Gibson. We entered Alcorn State University in Lorman, where at the gate we were allowed in but (we think) asked to stay in the car, and when Ken mentioned the destination Chapel, heard something about “stairs”. We checked out the Oakland Memorial Chapel NHL, ignoring the stay in the car part since it seemed pretty silly with nobody around. The chapel is an historic church and academic building on the campus of Alcorn University, the first land grant university for black Americans. We did note an interesting set of iron stairs leading up the front that Ken climbed to photo the NHL plaque. Leaving the University, a short distance away we found signage for the Port Gibson Battle Site NHL, in lieu of the house that we couldn’t get to. The spread out site is where the 1863 battle was fought, when Union Army forces were establishing a beachhead after crossing the Mississippi River in a bid to take the Confederate fortress of Vicksburg. From there, Google decided to send us up the loop road rather than back the way we came; this was a bonus since we could hit a roadside attraction of Windsor Ruins near Port Gibson. The ruins consist of 23 standing Corinthian columns of the largest antebellum Greek Revival mansion ever built in the state, standing from 1861 to 1890, when it was destroyed by fire. Although there was a lot of preservation construction going on, with huge manlifts, the site was pretty cool. We even learned that the iron stairs that survived the fire were moved to Oakland Chapel - the ones we noted! Finishing the loop road (GRR), we photoed the Port Gibson house road we failed on yesterday, just to remember why.

A look down the GRR ...

... with sign ...

... and detail

Looking back the other way

On Alcorn University ...

Oakland Memorial Chapel ...

... and interpretive signage

The stairs, with Ken ...

... photoing the NHL plaque

Port Gibson Battle Site NHL ...

... with interpretive signage

Sign for ...

... Windsor Ruins (and construction)

Nice view of the columns

Sign about the preservtion ...

... and historical details

A detail of the mansion ...

... and the stairs

Historic National Road (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia)

5/29/2011 We headed out of town west on the National Road (OH 40, running on the 40th parallel) ...

Looking back east

A mile marker

A sign with lots ...

... of information!

Historic Route 66 (Arizona, California, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma)

10/4/19 Back on the road we returned through Fort Pierre and headed south and east on the Native American NSB [SD], which we followed for quite a while along the Missouri River through the lands of the four tribes of Lakota Sioux: Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock. In Lower Brule on the eponymous reservation we stopped for another site NHL. We went down a narrow dirt road with grass down the middle, finally deciding to park where the ruts got deep and muddy. We then walked down to the Missouri for representative views of the Langdeau Site NHL. The site consists of fifteen depressions consistent with traditional earthlodge construction from between 1100 and 1300 CE, with no evidence that the village was fortified. Back on the highway (and the NSB) we crossed the river over the Big Bend Dam which creates a very wide part of the river, or lake. We continued on the north/east side of the river to the Fort Thompson Mounds NHL in Fort Thompson. This is a complex of archaeological sites extending about 6 miles along the Missouri River, one of the largest known complexes of burial mounds in the Plains region north of Kansas. Not much to do here but declare “we are here”, take our photos and move on to the Crow Creek Site NHL. This is the site of an overwhelming attack and massacre occurring around the mid-1300s CE between Native American groups along the Missouri River. We had planned to park on the road and hike down closer to the river, but there was a barbed wire fence that prevented that, so we just took the representative photos from the road. These site NHLs don’t offer much but at least they are generally quick to accomplish! Finally leaving the NSB at its end in Chamberlain, ...

Me photoing ...

... the Byway ...

... and sign

A view down the Byway ...

... and another

Ken where we walk to ...

... a panorama of ...

... Langdeau Site NHL

Big Bend Dam

Fort Thompson Mounds NHL

A closer look at the Missouri River

Crow Creek Site NHL

9/10/2016 Crossing the Ohio River, we took the eponymous NSB [OH] north to Mount Pleasant.

4/23/2021 From there we drove into Jeffersonville, IN and parked at the river to see Ohio River NSB. The stop was at a historical panel about Jeffersonville, along the NSB.

Right by the river ...

... Ken photoing ...

... the NSB sign

It's official ...

... even with logo

4/24/2021 Falls of the Ohio State Park. From here we followed the river for a while on the Ohio River NSB [IN], then continued northeast, still along the NSB, up to Madison. We started out parked downtown in the large, and very quaint, Madison National Historic District NHL. Recognized for its unique Midwestern beauty and architecture scheme, many of the prominent buildings were built by Madison-native-architect Francis Costigan, who favored the Greek Revival style. We enjoyed checking out the many historic buildings, all the while looking for a plaque, which we did not find. We did find signage in town for the NSB, and one along the river about the Historic District. ... Last we went to Lanier Mansion NHL and SHS. Completed and occupied in 1844, it was the home one of Madison's pioneers, a lawyer and banker, becoming the president of the Madison Branch of the State Bank of Indiana and a major investor in Indiana's first railroad. The striking mansion is on a large property with gardens and open field behind it. We spent some time with photos, including a new walking 360° video.

Madison Historic District

Some of the many historic buildings

Interpretive signage ...

... on the NSB

10/4/2012 ... back down and on the road east and south to Granada and the Granada Relocation Center NHL. Also known as Camp Amache, this was one of ten Japanese relocation centers created after Pearl Harbor. Not much here but a grid of roads around brush and grass, and some signs indicating where various buildings were. Headed east, stopping for gas and a sandwich and apple slices lunch (in the car). The whole stretch was along the Santa Fe Trail Scenic Byway [CO]. I stopped at two Santa Fe NHT sites. First was Sierra Vista, with nice views across the plains to the Rockies (considered a milestone along the route). The other was at Iron Spring which was an important water stop. I noted that, as we saw in Nebraska, the railroad followed along the same route.

Byway signage

Sign for Camp Amache

The layout of the camp

One building location sign ...

... and another

4/30/2017 Back in the car we almost immediately got on Historic Route 66 NSB and the Santa Fe Trail NSB [NM], both of which we will stay on almost to our last stop. We drove a very short way to the NPS Region III HQ NHL. The office, a masterpiece of Spanish Pueblo Revival architecture, provides support for Park Service properties throughout the intermountain region of the American Southwest. Here there was a gate across the driveway and “no trespassing” signs with warnings of video surveillance, but we ignored all that and walked to the buildings for quick photos. ... Pecos National Historical Park

The park sign

The Region III HQ

Me photoing ...

... the NSB ...

... and the sign

5/25/2007 Headed off into the Canyons of the Ancients NM (BLM) via back farm roads and dirt roads [on the Trail of the Ancients Byway in CO]. ... I arrived at Lowry Pueblo [Ruin NHL] (no one else there, weather gorgeous). Took a nice walk around the nicely excavated and preserved pueblo and kiva. Continued on the back roads to Hovenweep NM. A quick look in the visitor center, then took the 1 ½ mile hike around the canyon containing many towers and other buildings perched right on the canyon ledge. Needed plenty of water in the warm, dry air. Back on the road completing the loop back to Cortez [including the Byway in UT] ...

BLM sign

Cool stone construction

A view of the mountains

A big kiva

5/13/2009 Headed north on I5, east on 89, then north on back roads (small) to get to Lava Beds NM. On the way had pretzels and trail mix for lunch. The road I was on (this and others on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway [CA]) was a logging road and was pretty rough with large potholes with paint warning outlines. One was covered by three A-frame wood barriers, one that said “Road Closed – Unsafe for Travel”. I, of course, ignored it. Mile after mile I passed downed trees, but each one was cut so that one vehicle could pass, so I pressed on. Just as a I started to see some signs of lava – snow! It covered the road and was clearly impassable for me. Crap! All the long way back to I5 (96 miles RT detour) and attacked the monument from the north.