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      06-24-2013, 04:26 PM   #2
Rick F.
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The next morning gave promise to another beautiful day. I was up early and managed to find my first destination without difficulty—namely the Wood Old Homestead, where Bob Evans (yes, that Bob Evans), his wife Jewell, and their six children lived for 20 years. Back in the 1820s, the Evans' brick home had been an inn on a stagecoach route.



As I continued on, I spotted any number of interesting old buildings and even a couple of Baptist churches in Fishkill for Cathy and Kim. I was invited to tour the inside of the First Baptist Church by its pastor, Andy, but I had another 300 miles of touring to do before reaching Wooster in time for dinner with Buzz and Linda, so I reluctantly pressed on.




I found this covered bridge over Pigeon Creek in the semi-nonexistent town of Byer on only the second try. (And why do some people insist upon parking their cars in the middle of a one-lane bridge, anyway?)



Eventually I reached Chillicothe and found its oldest surviving building—the former home of Mary Tiffin Worthington and her hapless husband David McComb. Her father was Thomas Worthington, who was governor for the Territory of Ohio and was instrumental in achieving its Statehood. He soon became one of the first two Senators from Ohio and later served as the State's governor. In the meantime, poor Mary discovered that her new husband was ineffective at farming, business, and pretty much everything else he tried. The couple lived in this 1813 home for several years before trying to make a better life in Florida. When that failed, they were moving to Texas when Mary became ill and died at age 39, with her husband committing suicide a year later. Their graves are in Texas but have never been found.




The Ross County Courthouse in Chillicothe hasn't changed much over the years—but the surrounding traffic certainly has.




Mound City is situated 4 miles north of Chillicothe, and it is one of 14 areas comprising the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park in Ohio. The Native American Hopewell Culture dates back to 200 BC and is famous for its ceremonial and burial mounds, geometric earthen designs, and beautifully crafted figures, copper decorations, and other items. The 23 mounds at this location were primarily used for funeral and cremation ceremonies. For good measure, the Hopewell people constructed an earthworks wall around the entire site.




Sadly, much of this area was either destroyed or badly damaged by the Army's construction of Camp Sherman during World War I. The Ohio Historical Society restored the mounds where possible following the demolition of the camp.



The National Park Service's museum at Mound City is small but fascinating. It has an excellent display of artifacts found in the area, and the NPS Rangers are very knowledgeable and quite helpful.



The nearby Wesley Chapel was the center of community activities for tiny Hopetown, OH, starting in 1834 with the portion on the left in this photo. The five-sided addition was built in 1888, and—prior to a devastating lightning strike in 1926—the rectangular section surrounding the main entrance supported a large tower. The church is no longer used, but its Gothic Revival architecture is still in good condition.



Hocking Hills State Park merits a several-day visit, but I only had time for an hour. I used it to take the short hike to Ash Cave, which is a spectacular overhanging rock formation, complete with a small waterfall. This and other "caves" were popular tourist attractions as far back as 1870, although that history pales compared to that of the Native American Adena Culture that lived here as long as 7,000 years ago.




The scale of these "black hand sandstone" formations is hard to appreciate in photos. If you look carefully in the earlier two, various sightseers are visible beneath the cliffs. I'm told that some of the other areas of the park are even more stunning.



By comparison, farms that were abandoned in the 1970s or 1980s seem as recent as yesterday.



Although this trip report is designed to focus more on ghost towns than ghost stories, there's one that must be told. Long ago, there was a house made of mud near Lancaster, Ohio. The dirt path that led to the home was improved over time and named "Mudhouse Road." Nicer homes were built, along with large farms, and eventually the original mud house ceased to exist.

The grandest of the farmhouses in the area became known as "Mudhouse Mansion." The once-elegant "second empire" house was built in the early to mid-1800s and is visible in the distance in this photo. You can't get any closer without Serious Trespassing, and this property is owned by a woman who dearly loves to prosecute miscreants.



One can, however, zoom in on Mudhouse Mansion from the safety of a public road. Even without any associated ghost stories, this view should be enough to make your skin crawl a bit.



But of course there are associated stories—at least three different ones. But this one is my favorite: In 1892, a husband, wife, and three children moved into the house. Neighbors saw them move in but did not ever observe them leaving the house or working the fields. After several weeks, one woman saw the mother standing in front of an upstairs window, wearing a white dress. The following day, the mother again appeared in the same window and again wearing a white dress. This pattern continued for a full 10 days before the witness asked the police to investigate.

The police had to break into the house, since no one answered the door. There, they found the woman in front of the window—but she wasn't standing… The entire family was hanging from ropes, each individual in a different room, and all of them wearing white bedclothes. Whether it was a mass suicide or a mass murder was never determined. Afterwards, the house was never lived in again.

The house has inspired a lot of commentary, secret visits to the interior (see Forgotten Ohio as an example), and even various forms of artwork. In the latter category, ElectricFunderal's "A Glimpse of the Afterlife" is in a class by itself:



As best I can tell, there is no truth to any of the chilling tales about Mudhouse Mansion, including the one above. Regardless, I still nominate this as the Best Haunted House Ever.

The beautiful views around idyllic Buckeye Lake were a welcome change from the mansion and its stories. But its monumental amusement park, which thrived from 1892 to the Great Depression, and lingered through the mid-1960s, is long gone.



Since I still had a quite a ways to go before reaching Wooster and my 7:00 PM dinner rendezvous with Buzz and Linda, I had to forgo a trip through Rushville. (Sorry Neil. Next time for sure.)

This photo shows the Native American "Alligator Effigy Mound" from the side. It doesn't look like much, since the mound was designed to be seen from above, from which vantage point it is shaped somewhat like an alligator. Later archaeologists believe that it actually represents the mythical "underwater panther," a powerful cat-like being with scales and spikes. No one knows why Indians would go to so much trouble to create something that could only be observed from high in the sky—but speculation abounds. The Fort Ancient Culture is believed to have built the mound sometime between 700 and 1200 AD. Today, the Alligator Effigy Mound is surrounded on all sides by a very upscale housing development, full of "MacMansions." (The photo of an Ontario pictogram of an underwater panther is courtesy of D. Gordon E. Robertson, Ph.D. and Wikimedia Commons.)




The Longaberger Company is headquartered near Newark, Ohio and has been making handcrafted baskets since 1919. This 7-story building is its headquarters!



The beautiful weather was holding up well so far, but I began to notice a gradual buildup of clouds. All the better for scenic HDR photos. This one was taken on the appropriately named "Crooked Road," which featured a dozen or so sharp right-angle corners connected by perfectly straight sections.



As best I could tell, these buildings used to be a granary alongside the Baltimore & Ohio railroad tracks in Butler.



The "Big House" at Malabar Farms was built by author, conservationist, and Pulitzer Prize winner Louis Bromfield in 1939. It appears as though sections were added onto the house over the years, but it was actually built this way to give such an appearance. In 1945, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at the Malabar Big House and honeymooned here as the guest of Louis Bromfield. Today, the Malabar Farms estate is a state park. On the day of my visit, the Big House was undergoing significant renovation, and the various sections displayed different shades of primer, rather than their traditional white paint.






As I drove the faithful Z4 into Mansfield, I realized that those fluffy photogenic clouds were taking over the sky in earnest. They provided a dramatic backdrop for this colorful house…



…and for the magnificent Park Avenue Baptist Church. And as I was walking back to the roadster, the skies opened up in a way that brought visions of Noah and the Flood. I decided to forgo the historic 1896 Mansfield Reformatory (which was used in filming the Shawshank Redemption) and to head directly for Wooster instead.




After negotiating 30 miles of driving rainstorm, I found my best friends Linda and Buzz and their granddaughter Savannah all waiting for me. We had a great reunion, somehow fitting dinner and ice cream into the mix, and Buzz gave me some very helpful route tips for the following day based on his extensive Ohio motorcycling experience. I was glad to tumble into bed that night, after 310 miles of heavy-duty touring.

Last edited by Rick F.; 09-23-2015 at 03:58 PM..
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