Leo J. Beachy
Photographing the National Road
“My camera lens does not lie. It took just what it saw, no more, no less.” –Leo Beachy
Leo J. Beachy (1874–1927) left us a special legacy. One of seven children raised on a farm named Mt. Nebo, he lived in these mountains all his life. He enjoyed drawing pictures and began his career as a teacher. At thirty-one, he found his real calling.
“What induced me to take up photography was that I wanted our home photographer to go to that old log school where I taught my first school and take some pictures of it and the great hills lying about it and the rocky Savage River. He never got the pictures for me.”
For the next two decades, Beachy lovingly chronicled the mountains, the villages and the travelers who passed on the National Road. He was stricken with multiple sclerosis and, as he weakened, his sister Kate drove him and carried him to spots where he could work. Made on glass plates, there are 2500 of his distinctive photographs remaining, a priceless record of a lost era on the National Road.
Marker is at the intersection of Main Street (Alternate U.S. 40) and Bank Street, on the right when traveling west on Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
