Groundspeak Portal

Yes, its a re-write of my submerged settlements. I still think this one is doable and want to know if there's anyone willing to help me talk this one.

Submerged Communities are town's, villages, hamlet's or any other type of established areas of human existence who are wholley or partial submerged due to the construction of a dam or natural disaster that caused wide spread flooding. All efforts should be made to obtain coordinates and photo's from a vantage point that allows people to see a remnant of that past. Ex: A cellar hole, old road, stone walls, ect.. In the case that a town is wholley submerged then an overlook of the area with a compass bearing should be given to the general location.

If aquiring a photo in these areas is not feasible then a photo of a historical sign with information about the submerged community will be required. A website link with information about the dam / natural disaster and the community or communities effected is also required.

Its still a work in progress and I appreciate all of the good and the bad comments that will go with this. Thanx, Swizzle

I'd love to help out with this one. We have family living in Shasta, California. When they were younger, they used to go to a bar that is now at the bottom of Lake Shasta. I think this could work like other historical locations: 1. Take a picture of what the place looks like now. 2. Provide information of what it was like earlier (either from a website or a sign at the location).

Count me in.

Great, Anyone else want to join or at least throw some feedback my way. Right now it will be submitted as it's written above so if you're thinking nay then tell me why. I know some of you are going to be nay no matter what but I'd still like to see your comments. Any help with the write up or wording would be greatly appreciated as well. Even if you don't want to join. Swizzle

Count me in. New to waymarking here, but willing to help.

This does sound interesting. I will try to help out too. Any place where a dam is involved probably has lots of these places. The TVA covered many communities and I would imagine in the western US there are many too.

What do you want waymarked?  Unless the person submitting the waymark is a diver the waymark will be a lake.   Can't these be submitted as ghost towns?

BruceS:

What do you want waymarked?  Unless the person submitting the waymark is a diver the waymark will be a lake.   Can't these be submitted as ghost towns?

I would suggest a sign or historical marker indicating the the location of the community. Does the Ghost town category allow this type of place? I will have to check it out.

I think I understand the concept, but can't think of a way to make it into a meaningful waymark category, except in a few rare instances.

I it reminds me of when I lived on Cape Cod.  Ask directions, and you know immediately how long someone has lived there.  Wash-ashores like me would try to give route numbers and street names, people who were permanent residents would give landmarks to go by, but a real Cape Codder would say, "Go down past where the orchard that the Macey's used to own, then take a right where the shingled barn was that fell down in the Blizzard of '78, and you'll see it right next to where the old school used to be!"  None of those landmarks would be a waymark.

Waymakring a bar that is at the bottom of a lake somewhere doesn't make much sense to me, or other non-existent locations.  The exceptions are where there are signs, memorials, or displays of some sort, which is, then, what one is really waymarking.  There are a lot of state historical markers that are like that -- "Here once stood . . . " 

If you are talking entire settlements or towns, then I'm pretty sure this would be one type of ghost town anyway if there is something actually to pinpoint with coordinates.

I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, I just can't personally figure out how to make this work.

I see one way this might work - make this a category for divers. Waymarks would be limited to those submerged communities that can be legally dived and explored. Coordinates would be for a location on the water directly above the submerged community, or a standard dive site approach nearby.

Then and now photos, featuring underwater 'now' photos, would be most cool.

I'm not a diver, and have no idea if this approach would be feasible, or if enough sites like this exist to make the category worthwhile.

but this is just a subset of the existing 'dive site' category.

Only if the submerged community is 'regularly visited by divers' (the stated requirement on the Dive Sites category page).

define 'regularly'

That's not my word - that's the word that came from the Dive Sites category. So my definition doesn't matter. Also, as I said, I'm not a diver, so I don't know what 'regularly visited by divers' might mean.

I'm just saying that I don't think that a 'Submerged Community' category for divers necessarily and automatically overlaps completely with the Dive Sites' category. If it does, then my suggestion won't work.

I'm not pushing this idea, it was just a suggestion.

The only way this would be able to work would most likely be with a physical marker. On our local lake we have only 2 signs that covers the communities that are wholly or partially beneath the waves. A then and now category wouldn't work either unless you could pinpoint a particular building or street based solely on a mud filled cellar hole and possible tree stumps from the street. These are two examples that would work for my local lake but they wouldn't work for lakes where the water levels are constantly maintained.

At first it sounded good to have a multi-faceted waymark in which you could choose your own experience. On land with a historical marker, in a boat overlooking the community or dive to see the ruins. I think at this point the only thing that would be suitable would be some type of marker that is on the lake near the actual site itself. Maybe I need a catcher title. Modern Atlantis, maybe? Swizzle

i know, but i was pointing out a subjective idea.....

I think this is just one that has to have all the fun layers ripped off of it to reduce the subjective nature of it. Of course every year we have divers diving the old town of batchellerville. I don't know if its the same people every year or if its different people everytime. I never really paid much attention to anything else other then their dive buoys and flags while I'm driving by. Diving is allowed on the lake. Maybe I should find one or two of the better dive areas and waymark them. One year we had divers going under the ice searching for my Uncle's stolen snowmobile. $100/hr and they found 6 snowmachines and one ice bike. There's a spot where the water doesn't freeze as much because of a creek that runs into the lake and people dump them or ride across thin ice and lose them. Swizzle