February 1, 2010
Travis Dove, Skatopia. Travis Dole received his BA from Wake Forest University in 2004. A year later he began freelancing for newspapers in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. “The road to Skatopia is barely two lanes and often unmarked. It winds past a field of sheep, a white clapboard church (Page Free Will Baptist), a yellow highway-crossing sign showing an Amish buggy instead of a deer. A handmade warning at the top of a steep dirt drive — “Skatopia Enter at Own Risk!!!” — lets pilgrims know they have arrived. They come at all hours, most any time of year, from as far away as Argentina, Japan, Finland. The gates are always open. Brewce Martin began building Skatopia in 1996. Skatopia sits on 88 acres of hilly, forested land in Rutland, Ohio, an Appalachian town with a population of approximately 420, about 20 minutes from the West Virginia state line. Martin has been a skateboarding fanatic since he was a kid. That was in the Seventies; he is 42 now. Martin and his girlfriend, Amber Cavender, revel in the chaos of this year’s Bowl Bash, the annual summertime festival that’s Skatopia’s answer to Woodstock. It seems like a dream assignment to be sent to shoot something that you’ve already found compelling— when you accompany it with an incredible story (by Mark Binelli) in a National Magazine, it’s even better.”

Travis Dove, Skatopia.

Travis Dole received his BA from Wake Forest University in 2004. A year later he began freelancing for newspapers in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

“The road to Skatopia is barely two lanes and often unmarked. It winds past a field of sheep, a white clapboard church (Page Free Will Baptist), a yellow highway-crossing sign showing an Amish buggy instead of a deer. A handmade warning at the top of a steep dirt drive — “Skatopia Enter at Own Risk!!!” — lets pilgrims know they have arrived. They come at all hours, most any time of year, from as far away as Argentina, Japan, Finland. The gates are always open.

Brewce Martin began building Skatopia in 1996. Skatopia sits on 88 acres of hilly, forested land in Rutland, Ohio, an Appalachian town with a population of approximately 420, about 20 minutes from the West Virginia state line. Martin has been a skateboarding fanatic since he was a kid. That was in the Seventies; he is 42 now. Martin and his girlfriend, Amber Cavender, revel in the chaos of this year’s Bowl Bash, the annual summertime festival that’s Skatopia’s answer to Woodstock. It seems like a dream assignment to be sent to shoot something that you’ve already found compelling— when you accompany it with an incredible story (by Mark Binelli) in a National Magazine, it’s even better.”

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