Back to vacation... When we left off, we were at Belmont Courthouse.
After leaving the courthouse, we drove past some falling down ruins.
I found the blend of old and new, past and present to be really interesting, and wondered what made the current residents choose to live here, so very far off the beaten path.
Again, falling apart antique vehicles/carts and modern vehicles. It was surreal.
This picture was for Paul. Fire engine, fire hose, fire hydrant.
This tiny little church is open once a month.
Okay, so, funny story. Once upon a time there was this little church in the silver mining town of Belmont. And when the town died out and the population migrated over to Manhattan (no relation to the one in New York), the residents decided to move the little church to Manhattan (which had a population of 124 in 2010, no current numbers available). When Belmont historians wanted the little church brought back to Belmont, Manhattan said no. So a replica that's pretty much exactly the same was built in Belmont.
Now there are two of them.
There's a bell at the Belmont church. We didn't stop at the one in Manhattan. The Manhattan church photo above was actually taken from the car on our way back through town, headed home. I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did.
It was quaint and serene. The stained glass window photographed better from the inside than from the outside.
The faux leather piano.
A lovely wooden cross that looked hand carved.
This was me standing on the deck, overlooking the tiny town of Belmont below.
More ruins. Buddy generously crept through town at a crawl, stopping the car whenever I wanted to take a picture. Traffic was not an issue.
We also stopped to poke around in a couple shops. I bought this bracelet at Sticks and Stones, a cute little jewelry shop.
There was a nice breeze snapping the flags when we made one of our stops.
I've mentioned that I've recently renewed my interest in genealogy. One of the sites that's been helpful is Find A Grave. You can look up your ancestors and sometimes find interesting or helpful information from the listings. Volunteers post photographs of headstones, as well. Since the site has been so helpful to me, I wanted to give back by helping other people.
We stopped at Belmont Cemetery so that I could take some pictures. Buddy was a good sport cavorting around the graveyard with me.
This particular family plot reminded me of the Haunted Mansion/New Orleans section of Disneyland.
In addition to the dozens of grave stones I took pictures of, there was some breathtaking scenery, as well.
Along with a much appreciated outhouse.
Have I mentioned what a gorgeous day it was?
Belmont Cemetery is well represented on Find A Grave, but I've been able to add a few of my photos from that day, and I'm still working my way through them.
I thought the pocketful of trinkets atop one of the headstones was touching. After I had my fill of taking pictures at the cemetery, we headed back.
As we passed through Manhattan, we saw the old bank ruin.
With the old safe still inside.
The fire department, with it's "modern" engine.
Hey look! You don't see a phone booth very often these days. And there's another bell. Notice the church photo-bombing in the background? That's the original (moved) building.
Vintage fire equipment.
This is the backside of a building that was originally a school, but is now a museum. (It was closed when we were there.)
All in all, I took 160+ pictures that day, and had a wonderful time getting a peek into history.
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