Waldensia Coke Ovens

 We saw lots of these bright yellow flowers along the roads. 

Waldensia Coke Ovens 

 Sunday 8,2024

Dana & Kenny Koogler

Photos are HERE

   We spent Saturday shoveling out the garage and hauling junk off to the landfill.  

The garage looked much better for our efforts.   I got to work on my gardening mess outdoors also.    Sunday we both knew we needed to get out and do something fun, but neither of us felt terribly inspired.   I was having a down day where my spirits were very poorly.     Kenny cajoled me and hectored me into listening.   Anything you want to do. Anywhere you want to go is fine!?

    Lately when I'm in this frame of mind I am totally uninspired.   Let's just say there are things going on at home that are not good and of a private nature.  It has been upsetting.  Instead of just 

giving up I refer to my bucket list. I picked an item off that which kept getting pushed to the back burner.   I'd long wanted to hunt up the Waldensia Coke ovens.   I had a pretty good idea where they lay.    I had a feeling we'd find them.   I hadn't wanted to go until it was cold outside.  We had some 50 degree nights that were causing snakes to slow down and vegetation to die back.  We'd just take our chances. 

    We loaded up and went toward Westel Road.   I am NOT giving directions to the coke ovens because 1. I believe they may be on private property.  2.  I think they are in as good condition as they are because they aren't well known or visited much.    3. On our way back to the truck we heard vehicles behind us.   When we got to the gate I looked and noticed it was shut, but only dummy locked.   Three groups of men in pickup trucks were coming out as we were leaving.

They didn't say boo to us and probably knew what we were checking out, but I won't push my luck.    

    

    We started out from Westel and I realized I'd never turned and headed in this direction on Westel Road.   We passed an interesting building on the left.  It looked like an old school.  I made sure to snap a photo of it.  I wondered if it was one of the schools Waldensia Coal Company built as part of their community?  It may have been indeed.  I later learned the name of this was the Moulder School.    Another nearby historic school was the Mount Vernon School which appears to be 100% gone.    

   I was going to insert the photo I took of the school here.  My phone died on me and I had to get a new one. Though I kept my SD card out of it the photo must have been on the internal storage of the phone.  It got wiped in a factory reset to sell back to the Spectrum store. 

Note to Self: RETAKE PHOTO of Moulder School at Westel 

   Driving along the road turns to Mt. Vernon and is very rural. It is prime farm country.  

Proof of this was provided in the form of three large bulls along the roadside.     One charolais, one angus, one hereford.  On the other side of the road was another unpolled (horned) hereford bull and another charolais that were on their way out a gate left open!    Ordinarily I will stop and put cows back in for people having been accustomed to it for decades.  Today I was reticent about taking on five bulls.  Though they were calm at the moment I had no way to tell how they'd respond to being told what to do!   They could have squashed me flat.  A man was on his way to put them in.  I wonder if it was he who left the gate open? 

Click the link here to see the super short, funny video clip of them.  

    We didn't go far until we arrived at the pull off by the road.  We got out and only took the cameras to hunt the coke ovens.   I expected it to be such a short walk I didn't think we'd need water bottles and all that stuff.    We strolled along noticing there was barely a trickle of water in the stream beside us.  

We walked a grassy path and kept watch to left and right looking for signs of where they might be. 

I spotted a bit of manmade construction in the form of a rock wall through the trees.  We must be near them!     We began looking for a slightly more open spot to enter the woods.  Just a few feet further we found a place.  We worked our way toward the mound we could see in the forest.  

     We found a cement retaining wall with rebar sticking up out of it.   Right above it was the first coke oven mouth!  The bank of ovens went on and on.    We followed the wall checking out the condition of the various oven openings.   The woods smelled spicy from the various flowers and dead, crunchy leaves under foot.   The woods in early Fall have a pale yellow tint that gradually gives way to many colors.     

        

Below:  a look at what the forest was like here

Above: The first openings to the coke ovens. the wall at the bottom

Above: Kenny walks ahead of me along the base of the retaining wall. 

Above: another look at the mossy wall

Below: 

Above: I'm walking atop the bank of ovens. It is relatively flat and open.

Below: You can see a chunk of brick left over from the construction. 

Above and below:  This was a structure that had four distinct openings.  I have seen historic photos of the area that show an oven made of brick that has four openings.  I'm wondering if this is what is left of it? 

Below: a real pretty, still fairly open oven entrance. 

Above:  This oven reminded me of a hobbit hole. 

Above: This oven is in a state of collapse

Below the brickwork can be made out in the top of this collapsing coke oven.  

Above: Kenny ahead of me on the next side of the bank of ovens.  The forest floor wasn't as overgrown as I'd worried about.  

      We checked out chimney holes on top of the banks. Kenny noticed how the ovens were staggered in their construction.  One side the oven would be here.. and on the opposite side they'd move over a bit and construct the next one.  Very smart engineering. Structurally more sound. 

    There are supposed to be two banks of ovens. We only found one, but we were tickled with what we found. It did me a world of good to get out today.    It felt great to finally check a box on my bucket list as completed!   I thank Paul Mashburn for his wonderful photography and blog that first alerted me to the existence of this treasure.  

  Warning:  Paul's blog is fascinating.  You may find yourself lost in reading ,and letting time get away from you if you're anything like me!  

   We wrapped up our explorations of the ovens and began working our way out of the woods and back onto the path.   It was not terribly hot, but the day was warming up for sure.    

Below is a video of the Waldensia Coke Ovens :

       The only other thing I could think of to do in conjunction with this trip was to head over to Camp Austin. There is a pretty hole of water on Crab Orchard Creek. I have photographed it in Winter when it is like a jewel in a stream bed.   I knew despite our dry conditions the stream held water here year round.   I'd just never tried to visit up close in hot weather.   We wound our way through Oakdale toward Camp Austin.    We arrived to find a group of adults parked by the road swimming and drinking beer.  We pulled over and I walked down the bank to see what the stream looked like?  It was a bit of a disappointment. Water levels were very low although the stream was still nice and clear.   Nowhere near the sparkling aquamarine of Winter.      Someone's lime green pool float, beach towel and a pile of empty cans lay down there, but the people were probably not done swimming.  They were taking a break and visiting.   

       Below:  Someone's swimming gear

Above: Looking upstream on Crab Orchard Creek

Below: Looking straight across the stream.  Not too impressive at all. 

 Having found the stream lackluster we reversed course back toward Oakdale.   We stopped and checked out a spot we saw pickup trucks driving down to the Emory River.     It was very cool.  I'm glad we found this spot.    

Below is the bridge tunnel we went under to access the river bank. 

Above:  a lady and her son and their puppy were playing in the river. You can see her bright blue shirt.  That is the bridge for Airport Road/Pine Orchard Road in Oakdale.   SR 299.  

Above: looking upstream at a group of folks with their trucks parked. They are fishing.  

Below: driving through the tunnel to get to the river. 

Above: a prettier view of upstream on the Emory River

Below: a prettier view of downstream. Sorry for the sun spots. 

We stood here and enjoyed the scenery.  We also enjoyed seeing and hearing several trains rumble past.  This area is a very busy railroad hub.    I love the sound of a train.   I always have.   I can remember waking up in the night when we lived in Vesuvius.  Hearing the train horn and being comforted that someone else was awake and stirring on the mountain.   I knew the railroad engineer was on duty. 

My great grandfather Charlie Bradley retired as a conductor for the railroad.  That was his first career.   He later worked at the foundry iron forge nearby.  I think he worked for Chesapeake and Ohio line.  

      We drove back through Harriman which is a quaint town.   There is more railroad exploration and photography opportunties to be had in the vicinity for certain.    We'll get back and take advantage of that.  Today was a good day. 

Below is a video of the Emory River from our visit.  You can hear the train and barely see it through the trees.