Catlettsburg, Kentucky

Catlettsburg is a small town on the river between Ashland, Ky and Huntington, W. Va. It is the location of Merdie Boggs' Landing and The Boat Store. Merdie Boggs ran a barge fleeting service and mid stream fueling operation. The Boat Store was owned by Bill and Barbara Forbes. It is a grocery store for towboats. We would drop our barges at Ashland Oil's terminal on the river in Kenova, W. Va. for unloading then we would cruise lightboat to The Boat Store to reprovision. We called home from the pay phone located on the dock. Usually we had about 24 hours until our barges were ready to be picked up. When off watch the older deckhands would walk into town for a beer. Being a teenager at the time I couldn't get a beer unless one of guys brought one back for me.

The pictures are of the floodwall in Catlettsburg. The murals were painted by an artist well known to South Louisiana, Robert Dafford. More about him in a subsequent post.