The Retrop Expedition
Just when you think you have found all the historic places in your area, not one but two are found.
I was showing someone BlogOklahoma.us a few days ago and they asked how come I didn't have the Retrop marker listed.
Retrop? I didn't know there was a marker at Retrop.
I had to investigate. Retrop is roughly 20 miles south from my home in Elk City. So getting down there wouldn't be hard what so ever. I just needed a break in the weather. The first week of May 2007 has turned out to be a wet one. It's rained almost every day and night.
Saturday May 5th came and with luck there was a break in the weather and the sun was a shinning.
Donna, Eric, and I hopped into my yellow jeep and drove down to Retrop.
Yep, there it was. The Retrop marker. Just on the other side of the turn to Granite. No wonder I never seen it. When I travel that way I usually always turn down State Highway 6 towards Granite and Altus.
The marker has been obscured from east bound traffic even more by all the road construction. They've been working on expanding State Highway 6 from 2 to 4 lanes. (note: I really wish they would get it done, they've been working on Hwy 6 Carter to Retrop leg for years now.)
The Retrop marker confirms a story people have been telling me for year but though it was urban (rural) legend. The town of Retrop got it's name because Porter was taken, so the post office people just spelled it backwards.
Since the weather was on our side, we decided to travel on down to Sentinel to see if any more historic places showed up.
Sentinel has several historic looking buildings and a small community park downtown.
About 3 miles north of Sentinel on Highway 44 we saw a Historical Marker Ahead sign. Five miles down a county road (E1250 Rd) we find the Port School marker.
Port School was one of the largest consolidated school districts of its time. And this is a relatively new historic monument, being erected in 2001.
The clouds started to roll back in so it was time to head back home. Good thing too. Saturday night turned out to be the start of some of the roughest weather western Oklahoma has seen this year.
Related:
Retrop? I didn't know there was a marker at Retrop.
I had to investigate. Retrop is roughly 20 miles south from my home in Elk City. So getting down there wouldn't be hard what so ever. I just needed a break in the weather. The first week of May 2007 has turned out to be a wet one. It's rained almost every day and night.
Saturday May 5th came and with luck there was a break in the weather and the sun was a shinning.
Donna, Eric, and I hopped into my yellow jeep and drove down to Retrop.
Yep, there it was. The Retrop marker. Just on the other side of the turn to Granite. No wonder I never seen it. When I travel that way I usually always turn down State Highway 6 towards Granite and Altus.
The marker has been obscured from east bound traffic even more by all the road construction. They've been working on expanding State Highway 6 from 2 to 4 lanes. (note: I really wish they would get it done, they've been working on Hwy 6 Carter to Retrop leg for years now.)
The Retrop marker confirms a story people have been telling me for year but though it was urban (rural) legend. The town of Retrop got it's name because Porter was taken, so the post office people just spelled it backwards.
Since the weather was on our side, we decided to travel on down to Sentinel to see if any more historic places showed up.
Sentinel has several historic looking buildings and a small community park downtown.
About 3 miles north of Sentinel on Highway 44 we saw a Historical Marker Ahead sign. Five miles down a county road (E1250 Rd) we find the Port School marker.
Port School was one of the largest consolidated school districts of its time. And this is a relatively new historic monument, being erected in 2001.
The clouds started to roll back in so it was time to head back home. Good thing too. Saturday night turned out to be the start of some of the roughest weather western Oklahoma has seen this year.
Related:
- Flickr: Retrop Expedition Set
- BlogOklahoma.us: Port School
- BlogOklahoma.us: Retrop
- Google Maps: Route from Elk City to Retrop and Port School markers