Old Travel Blog Photograph Ganavan Sands Beach Oban Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Ganavan Sands beach by Oban, Argyllshire, Scotland. The site where Oban now stands has been used by humans since at least mesolithic times, as evidenced by archaeological remains of cave dwellers found in the town Just outside the town stands Dunollie Castle, on a site that overlooks the main entrance to the bay and has been fortified since the 7th century. The modern town of Oban grew up around the distillery which was founded there in 1794, and the town was raised to a burgh of barony in 1811 by royal charter Sir Walter Scott visited the area in 1814, the year in which he published his poem The Lord of the Isles, and interest in the poem brought many new visitors to the town. The arrival of the railways in the 1880s brought further prosperity to local industry and giving new energy to tourism. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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Old Travel Blog Photograph Lynedale House West Linton Scotland

Old photograph of Lynedale House in West Linton in the Borders, Scotland. West Linton is a village and civil parish in the Tweeddale area of the Scottish Borders previously the in the historic county of Peeblesshire. At the end of the eighteenth century there were between twenty and thirty looms in the village, rising to about eighty in the early nineteenth century, some weaving household goods but most weaving cotton cloth for Edinburgh and Glasgow merchants. It is estimated that in 1834 about fifty hands worked in the mines and quarries of the area. In 1834 there were five tailors in the village, four dressmakers, two butchers, five carriers, nine retailers of meal, groceries and spirits, two surgeons and four innkeepers. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Glen Affric Hotel Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of vintage vehicles outside the Glen Affric Hotel in the Scottish Highlands in the almost uninhabited valley of Glen Affric, Scotland. Glen Affric, also written Glenaffric, was part of the lands of the Clan Chisholm and the Clan Fraser of Lovat from the 15th to the mid 19th centuries. By the early 15th century, Lord Lovat had passed the lands to his son Thomas who in turn passed it on to his son, William, who was recorded in Burke's Landed Gentry Scotland as William Fraser, first Laird of Guisachan. The lands included regions that would become the Glen Affric deer park and the Guisachan Estate, including the village of Tomich. Thomas Chisholm, Laird of Strathglass, was imprisoned for being a Catholic. The Battle of Glen Affric took place in 1721.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Father Patrick Power Edinburgh Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of Father Patrick Power in Edinburgh, Scotland. Father Power was born in Ireland on October 20, 1844, the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin. When he was four years old, his mother and father died, and he was brought to the United States by an older brother. He was mentored by Father James Fitton, the pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Church in East Boston. He attended the Petit Seminary in Laval, Quebec and Saint Joseph’s Provincial Theological Seminary in Troy, New York, He was ordained a priest in the Cathedral Chapel of the Holy Cross by the Bishop of Boston, the Most Reverend John Joseph Williams on September 7, 1867, the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The academic year of 1867-1868 found Father Power at the University of Louvain, Belgium where he studied canon law. Upon his return to the United States, he was assigned to parishes in Springfield and Chicopee, Massachusetts. When he left Springfield, after only six months, the parishioners presented him with a gold watch valued at $275, an amount equivalent to almost $5,000 in today’s dollars. This gift was a measure of the esteem the parishioners had for the holy priest. However, Father Power’s constitution was always frail and in Chicopee he became seriously ill. He was moved to his brother’s home in Brookline Massachusetts, where he died at age 25, on December 8, 1849, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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Old Travel Blog Photograph Road To Minnigaff Scotland

Old travel Blog photograph of the road to Minnigaff in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. A Scottish village and civil parish on the A714 road on the east side of the River Cree. Nearby towns include Auchinleck, Bargrennan, and Challoch. Minnigaff was the birthplace of Sir James Mirrlees, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Economics. Mirrlees was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and Trinity College, Cambridge, England. Between 1968 and 1976, Mirrlees was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology three times. He was also a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and Yale University in America. He taught at both Oxford University and University of Cambridge. During his time at Oxford, he published papers on economic models for which he would eventually be awarded his Nobel Prize. The papers centred on asymmetric information, which determines the extent to which they should affect the optimal rate of saving in an economy. Among other results, he demonstrated the principles of " moral hazard " and "optimal income taxation" discussed in the books of William Vickrey. The methodology has since become the standard in the field.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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