My Island Home Town

Discussion in 'Other Reminiscences' started by Hal Pollner, May 16, 2018.

  1. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    For the first 8 years of my life I lived on Wheeling Island, a residential community on an island in the Ohio River, between West Virginia and Ohio.

    The picture shows the Island looking South, with West Virginia on the left and Ohio on the right.
    The Fairgrounds and Racetrack are on the South end of the Island. Carnivals and Circuses were regular attractions there.

    Our house was 2 doors from the Ohio River bank. As a kid I could go fishing and hear my Mom call me home for lunch. I would catch frogs and crawdads and play with them also.

    In December, 1944, we all moved to California were my Dad got a defense job at a shipyard in San Francisco.
    After the war was over in 1945, we moved to Southern Califonia where I've lived ever since.

    That's MY nostalgia!
    Hal
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    Last edited: May 16, 2018
  2. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    It sounds very much like a place called the Isle of Wight here off the south coast of England, Hal., where many elderly people or families with children go for holidays in the summer

    I just had a little trip around Wheeling Island courtesy of Google street view ( mainly around Zane street area ) ... it looks kinda poverty stricken now, is it very different now to how it was when you were a child?
     
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  3. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    When we were first looking for a place to buy in Maine, we found a cottage for sale on Matinicus Island, which is in the Atlantic, about twenty miles east of the mainland. It was affordable, and I kind of wish we had. It has a population of less than a hundred, although it gets busier during lobster season as people base their lobster operations from the island.

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  4. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    HEY HOLLY, We left Wheeling Island in 12-1944 when I was 8 years old. Up until then I never paid any attention to the economic status of the Island; I was just a kid living the Tom Sawyer lifestyle!

    When I returned with my wife for a nostalgic visit 50 years later in 1994, The first thing I noticed as we crossed the bridge from Ohio to the Island, was a house or sale, for $9500! We lived in a house on Zane street, as I recall.

    As we drove around the island in an airport rental car, I did notice that in general, the place didn't look any too prosperous!

    But it was my home town! :)

    Hal
     
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  5. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    oh of course, you would have very fond memories of it when you were a child.

    I did the same thing as you, I left a city and a brand new apartment with my family when I was 8 years old.. at 35 years old I returned to visit on my way to somewhere further north..Oh dear, just in that short time, everything had changed in it was a less than salubrious place shall , but in my memory it will always be that brand new apartment in that newly built road...
     
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  6. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson I never realized small islands like that existed in the ocean! Does it's size support use of vehicles to get about? How is fuel transported there and stored? How is electricity generated? 20 miles out is a pretty good distance.
    Frank
     
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  7. Chris Ladewig

    Chris Ladewig Veteran Member
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    I just went on realtor.com to check housing on Wheeling Island. The prices are right for me but when I checked the crime rate, it made that a no go. Looks like it would have been a great place to grow up though. I'm sure it was different back then.
     
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  8. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    There are cars on the island but it's smaller than 10 square miles so, except for transporting heavy things like furniture, I don't know that a car would be necessary. There is a weekly ferry going to the island. As far as fuel, my assumption is that they use fuel oil or kerosene, or maybe butane.

    They had a shooting there a few years ago; it was a lobster feud. It made the news for a long time.
     
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