Coal County - Day Two and a Half

Sunday morning we did two things:  go spy on the Lehigh Merchant's Bank and visit the "Dead Centre of Town": 



what Bill can't resist calling the local cemetery... every... single... time we pass one - I'm glad he enjoys himself, aren't you?



We walked all the rows and columns of the section that the genealogical society's records indicated - the top left corner was easy enough to identify.  It was to the left of where the road ran out into ... nowhere. 










However, the only grave we found was for two infant deaths in the early 1900s, the earliest of the graves we expected to find; and it was in the next section over.  


Given it was in such good shape, I was sure more recent ones would be also, but we couldn't find them. 





Mind, it was around noon and the temperature was in the high 90s; I could feel my blue-white skin pinkening (but it didn't, really; for one so fair my skin is amazingly resistant).  We'll have to tackle that project another time, armed with sunscreen and better info.


When I said we 'spied' on the Lehigh Merchant's Bank, you'll see it was an apt description of our activity.   

What else is there to do when the object of your desire is locked up practically out in the middle of nowhere.



There were some houses around, but none at which I cared to go knock on the door and make inquiries.  Just call me a chicken, but sometimes I think folks who live way out in the boonies like this maybe don't really like other people very much.

That's just a supposition on my part, mind.  


What I can tell you for certain is that this bank has murals painted on the wall,















a large suspended ceiling fan,



stairs leading up to the next floor,



decorative metal work around the entrance and a beaten metal ceiling (silver-coloured, but surely not silver).  

One day, I hope to go inside and see it for real.

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I guess 'Boyz' just wanna have fu-un...

We passed the Coal Miners' museum again in Coalgate on our way to Oklahoma City. There was a guy sitting on the front porch. Turns out a bike tour was passing through and they would stop for lunch there. The man was guarding the food until the ladies came along to open the building. Sadly, we were expected in OKC and so couldn't wait a couple of hours for that.

We'll definitely have to schedule those delights for our next trip to Lehigh.