[pic]
Apparently, this dude is on an existential quest to discover and record the locations of all 2,100 historical markets in Virginia. I am not making this up.
Visit Jason Watson’s site: Historical Markers. He even has an interactive map where you can browse through the 1,300 or so he’s already marked. Wicked cool. You can also view some of his other pictures.
[via INRICH]
Popularity: 4% [?]
Tagged as: Celebrities, Government, Virginia
wow, im dyslexic and can’t write today. fixed.
Who has two thumbs and all the time in the world?
This guy right here, baby!
Historical Markers? You mean like, really, really old Sharpies?
[rim shot cymbal crash]
Oh man, my lifelong dream has been scooped. I’ll have to invent another time consuming hobby that revolves around leg cramps, reading, and GORP some other way.
Thor, it’s nice to see ‘wicked’ being used down ’round these herr parts. I’m used to hearing it back home followed by “pissah” or “…good shot by Larry Bird”.
guess he doesn’t read much…
http://tinyurl.com/26jlv4
Aaaannndd Blanco Nino delivers the swift kick in the hobbies to Jason Watson.
oof!
actually, he does mention that there’s a book in the “acknowledgment” section way down on the bottom of the page. but says the new one is coming out in jan 2007. so that’s out of date…
clearly i’m getting a lot of work done today.
Thank heavens there’s a NEW book coming out. They update those roadside historical markers so frequently that I can hardly manage to keep…
part of me wants to laugh at this, really really hard. the other part tells me that i’m a bad person for laughing at a man’s
something something something. so i’m going to make light of this with a question. if they are “markers,” then haven’t they already… been found? is this existentially redundant?
of course i’m right!
parlez, I will allow myself to laugh out loud if 3 or more of the following criteria are met:
1 - Walking stick in hand (permanently)
2 - Beard
3 - Likes to walk on big highways and gets pissed when honked at
4 - >$300 in REI, EMS, Patagonia, North Face on body at any given time
5 - Has read a marker in the rain
6 - Has and conducts his explorations on/with iPhone
On the other end, I’ll only feel a little bad about chuckling if he turns out to be a nice guy with a penchant for faded metal historical markers.
Shouldn’t there be a conspiracy theory criterion, e.g., believes that the stock market is rigged and controlled by seven bankers in Switzerland, who take their cues from the OPEC governing council?
He has got to read this site. He is in CVille. he will see the incoming links… I give him 24 hours to appear.
Thor… can I get a new screen name and pretend to be him? SillyFucker appeals for some reason.
You can do whatever you want as long as it’s not illegal!
haha!
What are you talking about, I AM him. And Thor’s a girl. He just taught me how to be convincing when whining about “feminine problems” and “body insecurity.” Did it work? You suckers.
I for one think it’s pretty damn cool. The man has a constructive hobby in which he educates himself and others. What do I do with my time??? I drink, torment the weak, and light fires in vacant buildings… So yes I have hobbies, but … and they are constructive in their own way, but… oh, and they’re fun, however … ok yes I do learn from them, but really … I mean … when you think about … Oh damn, I guess what I do is every bit as “positive” AND more cool. Wow now I feel better
SS, add “typing lots of ellipses” to your list of hobbies.
Wow, tough crowd
Just a few points of clarification (or fuel for comments). The RTD article characterizes my project as a hobby — which in a way it sort of has become — but it was not started as a hobby, bur rather data gathering for a research project that I was working on. I figured I put enough time and effort into it and that there was a public interest in having this type of information available online, so I started the site back in 2004 (long before the latest version of the historical marker guidebook came out, which by the way used my site to verify marker locations, texts, etc.). There was such a surprisingly positive response/public interest in my site that I felt compelled to try and keep updating it as I had time (which lately hasn’t been very much). Since then, there have been several articles about the project (The Hook did a cover story last year), numerous classrooms, museums, etc using material for educational purposes, etc., textbooks, history books, etc.
Today, I’m adding markers as I come across them on my travels for my photography business. There are still several hundred in VA that I have yet to visit, but will do so as I come across them. The site is entirely self-funded through advertising (which pays for the server and bandwidth and an occasional fill up of the gas tank).
Resume the banter….
Jason
…
THE DUDE HAS SPOKEN
Shuts me up. Right on, man.
Thanks for posting James. BW I was being serious in my comment. The only thing I was joking about was the drinking.
Yes Tuffy I love elipses… and semicolons
You from Massachusetts??? I’m goin’ to the packy to pick up some beeer-a, can I get youze guyz anything? Maybe a frappe? I love a nice frappe and a grinder
i knew it! i’m an asshole!
silm…you gonna be my date thurs? We can pick up hot women together…
Yah Baby!!! We’ll be unstoppable! I’ll bring the condoms; you bring the dental dams.
Oh dear god.
… ™
i feel like i’ve already seen this show before. is this a re-run?
Jason O. Watson, do you have a favorite/most bizarre marker? I’m partial to the one that denotes the burial place of Stonewall Jackson’s left arm.
Good question, h-d
Back to your full name I see
OK I retract my earlier perv comment
Jason, SO cool you commented. I have a tradition of welcoming newbies with awkward things, but mostly I just wanted to ask what h-d did in 31.
silm, guess I owe you $$ for comment #20…
parlie you’re a real drag.
i know, that’s why i have to make friends on the internet.
i can’t even keep them for very long.
damnit, but you’re still cute! let’s makeout
Thanks for the love Caroline. I will be your humble date and protector
silm, check your email….â„¢
you’re so cliquey
stop trying to make history sound cool thor! we’re not buying it. history is so passe!
Ya gotta read the Hook more, Thor….:)
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/06/15/cover-amalgam.aspx
i was busting balls b/c the first sentence of this post suggested he was trying to find all of the markers (which had clearly already been done by the authors of the two guidebooks). seems however that he’s visiting and documenting them, which i must admit is a pretty cool passtime. if i had the time and means to travel our great state studying it’s history, i’d do it in a heartbeat.
I was just being silly. Ive got some pretty weird hobbies too.
I feel the sudden urge to start leaving scavenger hunt-style notes on the back of the markers… but that would probably take a lot of work/planning and now the wind is out of my sails. The energy needed to mess with maker dude (aka Jason) has left me, but that just could be the effect being in Ohio has on my soul.
Already been done -
http://www.signsofhistory.com/virginia/albemarl/Q29.htm
captain, these are gps tagged and on a map, not some creepy drive down the side of the highway and find this sign next to the old pumpkin patch.. ps 4 murders happened here last year
HILARIOUS:
Non-political facts about every president
Adams, Polk, Madison, Truman. Very nice.
lilith: great site. the one about james madison is very true. his wife is definitely more famous now, but they were about even when they were alive. she also used called him her “little jimmy.” i’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming she was referring to his stature.
I bet Jackson was a hottie in his day, and Grant too, minus the beard. Great brow bones.
Nonsense. Beards are teh hott. QED.
Yupster, Stanley’s is really good on him.
*swoon*
Jason also happens to be a great sports photographer for a *cough*localnewspaper*cough*.