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Since I ended up not going to the Arkansas Bash I had a spare vacation day that I'd been saving. I used that day Tuesday of this week and put 175 miles or so on my bike riding around the coalfields.

I had no destination when I left about 11am. The start of my trip took me by a small lake north of my house. This lake was almost dry. Like the rest of the Southeast we've not had a lot rain until lately but when I mentioned it at work the next day someone told me there was a problem with the dam for that lake. I didn't stop to take a picture mostly because I hadn't been riding long.

I meandered some back roads that were just filthy with mud and gravel from the recent snows. What would have been fun curvy roads were wet and hazardous. I'm talking 1st gear pull the clutch in slow. I finally hit a main road and had an idea of where I was. I had mounted the GPS on the bike because I like to download my tracklogs. Instead of using the power cord I ran it off batteries...a few minutes into the ride it was dead and useless to me. That was fine because this was just one of those trips where I wanted to get lost. So, zipping along this main road I go through Itmann, WV. I'd seen the name on the maps before but never thought much about it. In Itmann I passed this building:



Obviously I turned around and took some pictures. I've seen this sort of stone work around Bluefield where I live. The quality of the stone work done by Italian stonemasons is well known around here. There are many retaining walls around with no cracks in them whatsoever. So this building really caught my attention. I moved down the street to get closer:



A homeless rehabilitation center was certainly not the original purpose of the building. I had failed to notice the white historical marker visible in the first picture. The center did not seem to be open so I headed on my way.

The last half of my ride was more enjoyable than the first mostly because of the dry roads. I ended up in Bramwell, WV and did get a picture of the historical marker there. Make note of the name I.T. Mann.



I'd been to Bramwell before. There's some neat architecture there and even a brick paved street. Just outside of town I stopped by a swinging bridge and took some shots:





There was a police car in the middle of main street Bramwell with its lights on and the officer was talking some people on the sidewalk. I didn't tour any side streets for more pictures. I just motored on.

My next stop was Pinnacle Rock:


Back near my house I didn't stop. I made a loop on some familiar roads to the south and was home by about 4. A day of just what I'd been needing...riding. We're leaving this weekend to spend a couple of weeks in Florida so I needed something to hold me over.

So what about that building?

I finally noticed that historical marker and researched it. Here is what it says:

Pocahontas Fuel Co. coal mining town, 1916, named for Isaac T. Mann, Pres. Italian stonemasons built large Co. store/office bldg., 1923-25 on plans of Alex Mahood, a noted WV architect. Placed on National Register in 1990. Ritter Lumber Co. shipped 200 ready-made company houses on N&W and Virginian and erected here. Mine's 125,000 tons in 1919 led county., closed 1928-49; operated again until 1986.

Hmmmm. The town of Itmann is named after I.T. Mann. He was one of the Millionaires that lived in Bramwell. The building was originally a company store and offices. Who knew bike riding could be so educational?

Here are some links I found:
Itmann, WV Wikipedia link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itmann%2C_West_Virginia
Isaac T. Mann info - http://www.bramwellwv.com/issaicmann.html
Bramwell, WV History - http://www.bramwellwv.com/history.html
Bramwell Houses* - http://www.bramwellwv.com/house.html

*Note the last two houses. The "Cooper" house with the green roof seen in my pictures and Isaac T. Mann's house

All my pictures are here:
http://DSKYZD.smugmug.com/gallery/3981418/2/231433444

For this time of year this about as good as my reports get.

Thank you for your time.

DSKYZD

Love the old buildings.Thanks for the pics and info.

Great stuff...Interesting..and nice pictures...It looks sorta more like Europe or UK than the US.

DJ

Brian, nice pics and commentary, I see that the old girl is holding up well.

Isn't it fun just to get out with no planned destination and just explore how great this country of ours is???

Very Nice!!!! when I see building such as those I am always in awe of the labor involved!!. I am going to read your "links" at a later date (they look very interesting), Thanks Den

Very nice, Brian. The old building is really beautiful and you captured it so well - atmosphere and all! Your research on the place made the report even more enjoyable. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

My great, great grandfather was the mason for the Capitol building in Des Moines. I've not seen his work yet, but Iowabeakster is going to take a close up of the stones and the building one day, unless I beat him to it. Maybe this summer, I'll get up there to see it.

Even though you mentioned some snow recently, the grass was still so green. I assumed everything would be pretty much brown in that area by now. Wrong again.

Thanks again for the report. I look forward to some more of your 'history' rides.