Salem Museum - Lakeside Park

 

Lakeside park opened in 1920 and closed in 1986…

Since living here I’ve heard so many people tell me about Lakeside…I wish it was still here!

I would have rode the roller coaster for sure.

I also would have ridden the carousel!

Swimming half naked on Sundays!

A sad reminder of history….

Did you grow up with a park like Lakeside? Growing up in San Diego we had 2 parks that I loved as a kid…Marshall Scotty’s and Belmont Park. At Marshall Scotty’s my favorite was the pony rides and Belmont Park was known for the roller coaster, The Giant Dipper. In the 80’a they restored the old roller coaster…I’ve ridden it before and after!

I found this video clip of Lakeside you can watch HERE

Salem Museum - Remember The Titans

 

I’m sure you’ve seen the movie “Remember The Titans” with Denzel Washington right?

It was a true story…

It’s a great movie…I didn’t realize Salem’s school, Andrew Lewis, played them (T.C. Williams) in the championship game here in Roanoke.

Andrew Lewis lost…

Fast forward to current times…T.C. Williams changed its name to Alexandria not long after the George Floyd protests…

I found this interesting story about the name change HERE

Salem Museum - Photo Dump

 

Roanoke College in the 1850’s

I thought this was interesting…Roanoke College was one of the few Southern Colleges to remain open during the Civil War.

This is a painting showing what Salem looked like before the Civil War…I love paintings like this…you can also see the William-Brown house, next to that white house…that’s the house the museum is in today.

An interesting story …

I liked this map…

I don’t really know anything about this but I love old pictures of people…

I wanted to learn more about this but I couldn’t find much…

I’ve got a couple more exhibits to show you before I’m done! 

Salem Museum - Walter Biggs

 Walter Biggs was born June 4, 1886 in Elliston, Virginia and died February 11, 1968 in Roanoke, Virginia.

I had never heard of him until visiting the museum and didn’t really know much about him until researching him for this blog post.

He had a very successful career as an illustrator in New York. 

In my last post I showed you his illustration of Uncle Watt….here is some more of his work:

I am not sure of the names of these…I need to go back to the museum!

Water Street (what he was working on in the first picture)

I am so sorry for the reflections…I have a hard time getting pictures of framed pictures without everything in the room showing up.

If you zoom in you can see what the church looks like now in the little photo to the left.

It is especially appealing to me that most of these paintings are of real local places that I can go see.

I think it would be fun now to try and find a piece of his work in a local antique store by chance!

I think that is all I have from my trip to the museum on Walter Biggs, but I do have more of the museum to show you tomorrow!

You can visit the museum Here

And I found an interesting YouTube video on Walter Biggs HERE …it’s a bit long but it looked interesting from the part I saw…dropping it here so I remember to go back and watch!

Salem Museum - Uncle Watt Jones

 

I’m glad I took a picture of Uncle Watt. I want to learn more about him. I wish I could ask him about his life.

Here he is in “The Letter” painted by Walter Biggs.

I found the short story of Uncle Wat written by John Drinkwater in 1925…you can read it HERE

I have more of Walter Biggs work to show you later.

City Daily Photo Theme Day - Museum

 

801 East Main St . Salem

The Salem Museum is housed in the old Williams-Brown House.

It was built about 1845.

It showcases Salem history.

I will show you some of the exhibits this week!

Linking with City Daily Photo