I’m keeping Sepia Saturday short and sweet this week. Things this summer have been so incredibly busy, and I’ve been just barely getting these posts up every week – I’m still getting it done, but it’s typically last minute! Here we have a photo of Earl Powis and his second son standing in front of the entrance to the Blue Mountain Tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. At the time, probably around 1955, it was one of seven tunnels on the turnpike that worked their way under the mountains of Pennsylvania. The photo looks just about exactly like this postcard and a better history of the turnpike and its tunnels can be found online here. Not long after these gents took this photo, three of the tunnels were bypassed and closed. A little later on, this tunnel as well as the remaining tunnels in the system were “twinned” which added a second tunnel and set of roadways making two lanes of travel in each direction. I know I’ve been through this particular tunnel in recent history, and it’s the eastern-most tunnel on the system. While it’s not quite as old as the tunnel in the prompt photo, this was the first one I thought of when I saw the image for this week.
Would I have gone through this tunnel on a trip from Chambersburg to Pittsburgh? I know I’ve ridden the Pike.
You probably would’ve just missed it, Wendy. The tunnel is basically straight north of Chambersburg and you probably would’ve gotten on the turnpike west of the tunnel. It’s a set of two (Blue Mountain followed by the Kittatiny Tunnel heading westbound) in rapid succession with a short blink of daylight between.
I’m impressed that you have a photo of an ancestor near a highway tunnel. It’s good he pulled his car a good way from the road, though I don’t suppose traffic was as fast then as it is now.
I like the Rays Hill tunnel because I can see the other end! Tunnels that are curved or too long to see the other end make me nervous.
The down/upward curved ones under bodies of water can be the most worrying! I believe the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel set actually has drivers available to drive your car or accompany you through the set of bridges and tunnels since a lot of folks feel those same nerves or worry about the length and uncertainty of tunnels and bridges.
Short, sweet but nevertheless an interesting post.
I like this one. It’s a great match for the theme.