Historic Roscoe Village

One more Ohio story...

Priscilla (blog name) wanted to see historical things, so sister-in-law took us to Historic Roscoe Village. It's in Coshocton located on Whitewoman Street. Of course, Priscilla questioned that name ("an interesting choice"), but it turns out that the name is there for a good reason. There was a QR code at the end of the street which led to this website. 

The "white woman" was named Mary Harris, who at ten was taken by the local Mohawk tribe, and she eventually became a tribe member, married, and had two sons. Now, if you recall Priscilla from the castle post, you'll understand that we read into that history a bit and wondered at what sort of life Mary had. 

Anyway, onto the tour... 

The tour started at the visitor center, where we were directed to the path we'd be taking and where we checked out keys for the buildings that were locked. (The tour did cost money, but I can't recall how much.)

Our first stop was to the blacksmith. 

There was a real working blacksmith in the small, hot building. He talked about how the job was back in the day, informing us that the first skilled worker in a village would be the blacksmith, and he would have likely been the only one in town who could read. 

Then we moved on to Hay Activity Center where we learned how they printed stuff and how they made brooms. 

It was a hot and humid day. Everything after the blacksmith was air conditioned. Whew. Not period appropriate, but we really appreciated seeing the sights in nice and cool. 

The activity center also contained a little gift shop. It had been a slow day for the guy behind the counter. We enjoyed the a/c. He thought it was a bit cool. 

For the rest of the tour we needed the key (which was a fob that electronically opened the doors). 

The next building was Dr. Johnson's office. It was set up the way it would have been back in the day. I took no pictures. It was set up with the tools he would have used. We went up the (very steep) stairs to find more 19th Century medical stuff. 

Next to his office was his home. That I did take pictures of.

And upstairs.

Then came the home of Daniel Boyd, a weaver. They call it the craftsman house, and they moved it from its original location. 

And his looms, which were in a back room. There were video monitors in each place which gave background. Apparently the looms could be disassembled and reassembled in barns in various locations, as the weaver would travel around to make cloth for communities that did not have a weaver.

Our tour ended at the schoolhouse. 

There was a woman sitting at the teacher's desk, there to answer any questions we had. There were back rooms with displays of the materials the kiddos would have had. Those desks do not look comfortable.

We finished up right about 4 o'clock, which was technically closing time for the tour, although the other buildings had no people, and we had a key to the locks. But as we were leaving, the guy from the gift shop was at the schoolhouse to pick up the woman at the teacher's desk, and rather than us returning the key to the drop box, he said he'd take it up for us (as he was heading that way anyway). That was helpful. 

It's a cute little tour. We did it in about an hour, but a bigger group could totally take their time. (There were a bunch of cute shops along the way, too, but they were all closed the day we were there.) 

It was interesting to see what life was like on the Erie Canal back in the day. This village was right on the highway, but it was then too, just a different sort of highway. 

After leaving, we headed towards dinner, but I already talked about that in a post last week. 

13 Days in Ohio

For the last two weeks, I was in Ohio visiting my brother and his family. Here's what I got up to. (This is a Thursday 13.) 

DAY ONE

Flight day. 

The TSA line was non-existent. The agent checked my ID and then sent me back because somehow my birthdate was wrong in the system. (I must have entered it wrong. Oops.) 

Onboard the plane, the pilot introduced himself as Abe Frohman and his copilot as Ed Rooney. I laughed. No one else got the joke. Not my neighbor, who was on his way to Texas for the World Cup game with Egypt. 

We arrived at Dallas 15 minutes early, but we had to circle for 15 minutes due to weather. I had a two hour layover, so I had time to eat something and I had plenty of time to make my flight. 

We arrived on time. My brother picked me up from the airport, and it wasn't terribly late when we got back to his place. 

DAY TWO

The plan was to go to Berlin to explore the Amish shops and such. But I woke with a terrible migraine (with nausea), so I cancelled. (My sister-in-law had other visitors in town, so they all make the trek.) I slept until about 4 PM. 

DAY THREE

The 4th of July. 

Middle nephew is in the high school marching band, so we headed out to the town's 4th of July parade. After the band passed, we headed out, but hit crazy traffic. 

A couple hours later, my niece, her boyfriend, SIL's friend's twin 13-year-old daughters, and I all headed out to the town's street fair. 

There was grilled meat. There were party guests. And there were fireworks. A great time was had by all. 

DAY FOUR

...was a very chill day. One of SIL's friends headed home. The other (Priscilla) took her daughter to skate camp and was gone all day. I watched TV with SIL, did some crochet, and wrote a blog post for Monday. 

DAY FIVE

I got invited along with SIL and her friend Priscilla (blog alias). We started off at Historic Roscoe Village (which should become its own blog post, maybe next week). Then SIL wanted cinnamon rolls from an Amish bakery, so we headed out that way, but when we arrived, it turned out the bakery was closed. Sigh. 

We had dinner at Olde Jaol in Wooster. The fun part was that the restaurant was in the brick basement which used to be the jail. The food was good. 

DAY SIX

Priscilla, Liv (my niece), and I started off in German Village in Columbus. There was a visitor's center where we learned of the history of the area. There was a bookstore with 32 rooms of books. We visited a couple shops, and then we had lunch. 

And then we headed to Loveland Castle which I already wrote a whole post about. 

We drove right by the place first as Priscilla had entered her daughter's skate camp into her GPS, but she figured it out before we went too far beyond where we were supposed to go. And then, on the way back, we met SIL in Columbus at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. (Definitely a different vibe than Mexican restaurants in SoCal.) 

DAY SEVEN

I woke to find a text from my niece. She'd taken the day off work, and would I like to go to Yellow Springs? Yes please. 

Once we finally departed, we had much of the family in tow. Only my brother, who had to work, and middle nephew, who just didn't want to go, stayed home. 

We looked in some shops. We had lunch at the restaurant that has live music in the evenings. 

And then we headed back. We went in search of a rock garden, but didn't make it as the neighborhood it was in was kind of sketchy. 

DAY EIGHT

It was time for a day of rest. I baked chocolate chip cookies with eldest and middle nephews. (I instructed. They did the work.) And that was about it. 

DAY NINE

This was another quiet day. Sitting and watching TV (and crocheting) with the family and getting to just talk to them was nice. Since they don't live close, I don't really get to talk to them that much. And we made plans for Saturday. (This was a Friday.) 

DAY TEN

While looking at a map of the US, I noticed that Ohio borders West Virginia. And I thought it would be cool to drive to West Virginia. 

Point Pleasant, West Virginia, is famous for Mothman sightings prior to a bridge collapse in 1967. They made a movie about this. The family wanted to see the museum. I was happy to tag along. 

Niece and eldest nephew decided to go somewhere else. SIL was feeling terrible, so she stayed home to rest. So, it was just my brother, middle nephew, and the twins with me. 

The drive was very wet. The rain came down pretty hard at times. But it wasn't raining when we arrived. 

It's a cute town. The local shops all cater to the cryptid crowd. And the museum has all sorts of stuff about the Mothman sightings. Maybe not worth the long drive if you don't like the drive, but I had a great time. 

And I got to see the Ohio River. 

DAY ELEVEN

It was a lazy Sunday. This time I baked chocolate chip cookies with Liv. The TV was on. I wrote the blog post about Loveland Castle (see day six). I caught up on some blog visiting. And we didn't do a whole lot of anything else. 

DAY TWELVE

Liv stayed home sick from work, but by the afternoon she was feeling a bit better. She found a yarn shop in Columbus for me to visit. We saw a couple more shops in German Village, but then we headed back as she was tired. And I took a nap as well. 

DAY THIRTEEN

As I prepared for my departure the nephews all wished me well. One of the twins: "I hope your plane doesn't crash." Yeah, he can be a bit blunt. Spoiler: my plane did not crash. 

My layover in Nashville did not go so well, but I already wrote about that yesterday. I got home after 9 PM, and I slept well in my own bed. 

I Blame Nashville (Airport)

I've been home from Ohio for a week now. I had mostly scheduled my posts for when I'd be out of town, but now that I'm back, I have some stories to tell. (I did start a bit last week with the tale of Loveland Castle.) 

Last year, when I went to visit my brother, weather was an issue during my return flight. Waiting for an opening to land in Denver lasted so long, I missed my connecting flight home. Sigh. Yet, at no point did I blame Denver for this. I'm not sure why. 

(I did not want a repeat, so when booking my flight, I made sure not to use Denver as my layover this year.) 

I do, however, blame Nashville. 

When booking my flight this year, I noted that the layover in Nashville would be almost four hours. (We were due to land at about 1:15 PM. The flight was close to on time. We were due to take off at 5:55 PM.)  Considering last year, I was fine with that. 

After deplaning, I went in search of a monitor so I could locate my next flight. The destination cities were in alphabetical order. Los Angeles... Las Vegas... some M city... Um. Wait. You're missing something. I was flying into Long Beach. I checked again. No Long Beach. 

Did I get on the wrong plane? They scanned my ticket before getting on board in Columbus. They would have said something. (I had seen them say something to passengers before, so they do confirm you are where you should be.) 

I checked my phone and the airline app. It gave me a gate number. D6. I was somewhere in the upper Cs. 

Okay, so here's a diagram of the airport: 

The red arrow is where I deplaned. The blue arrow is the gate my phone told me was the gate I'd be leaving out of. The distance between the two was roughly a half a mile. (This will become important in a bit.) 

I hiked to my departure gate. I checked the screen, but it didn't show my destination yet. I didn't expect it to. I was way early. But I double checked with the lady at the counter, and she confirmed that this was where my flight would be. I found a seat and relaxed. 

An hour or so later, I got hungry. I headed back up the way I'd come to find a Burger King. (About halfway up the concourse.) I double checked the monitors. Now it said I'd be departing from gate D7. Okay, then. 

I didn't want to walk all the way back, so I sat at the gate nearest where the restaurant was, and I overheard a flight going to Milwaukee getting ready to board. It was going to be the pilot's last flight, as he turned 65 the next day (and the FAA mandates pilots retire on their 65th birthday). His son, daughter-in-law, and grandson were all joining him on the flight. 

I headed back to gate D7. Double checked the screen. The flight after the current flight was not Long Beach. It wasn't even close to Long Beach. We'd been moved again? 

The departure screen still read D7. My phone? C22. All the way back. 

That seemed like a monumental hike. Deep sigh. No help for it. 

I struggled. And clearly I looked like I was struggling because an airport worker pushing a wheelchair asked if I needed assistance. Sigh. (I declined. Yes, it was a hard slog, but I could do it.) 

By the time I got to the Cs (all the way through the whole C concourse, basically back to the red arrow in the image), the monitors had finally caught up. Long Beach: C22. Only, now my phone said C23. 

I sat down and texted my brother. Whining. (I still had plenty of time before my flight. I'd get home that day. But now I was wiped out.) And that's when he noticed my gate had been changed. Again. To... 

D4. 

I couldn't face it. I sat for a bit. I had to make that hike. Again. 

But I'd have to do it sooner or later. I gathered my tatters of energy, and I set out again. This time I started my walking app so I could measure the distance. And at least no wheelchair pushing staff were around to point out how terrible I looked. 

D4 showed Sacramento as the destination, but a good hour before my supposed departure. My phone continued to show D4. And the monitors had finally caught up. 

Throughout this, I was getting texts about my flight being delayed. 5:55 was a distant memory. It became 6:08. Then 7:15... 

My brother did some sleuthing. The airplane scheduled for our flight was coming from Washington, D.C. And it hadn't left yet. 

I watched the Sacramento peeps line up and board. Those of us who remained looked around. Was this the Long Beach gate? Would we get moved again? Yes, there were others who knew my pain as it was their pain. And we noted the changes in our departure time... 

And suddenly departure time was 6:08 again. Huh? Via my brother, I knew the flight hadn't left DC yet. They were stuck on the runway. 

The pilots showed up. The flight attendants showed up. No airplane, but the staff was there. That we would be boarding soon was announced. Um... 

I don't know which plane it was, but they had given up on our expected plane and found us a different one. Good enough. 

An airplane arrived. Passengers deplaned. Our pilots and flight attendants boarded to prep. And then we could board. 

6:08? Nah. It was more like 6:45 by the time we left. But I did not care. I was on a plane headed for home on the same day that I left. I was good with this. 

We were supposed to arrive at 8:15. The flight was supposed to be 3 hours 50 minutes. We landed at roughly 8:40. (Time zones are so much fun while flying. We were on the edge of sunset for a good hour at least.) 

Whew. Home. 

And now I have another airport to maybe avoid. (Will I avoid Denver in the future? Will I avoid Nashville? Meh.)

And that was a good reminder that I need to continue my daily walks. Which I will do once I've recovered from this trip. 

Chateau Laroche

While in Ohio visiting family, I got a chance to see some of the sights. (Assuming all went well with my flight, I'm at home today.) This is not a travel blog, but I'm going to post about my trip anyway. 

I was not the only visitor. My sister-in-law's friend and her 16-year-old daughter were also in town. 

On the 4th of July, Priscilla (blog alias) asked the various local friends about what things she should see while she was in town. The Ohio natives gave her a list, and on that list they all concurred that Loveland Castle was something she should see. 

Priscilla researched via internet what this castle was all about. (Here are some links: Loveland Castle, Wikipedia Page, Chateau Laroche.) She read out loud stories of this Harry Andrews who was declared dead in World War I, and when he finally returned home (and declared alive), his fiancée had married someone else, and he dedicated his life to teaching his Sunday School boys to camp and fish. 

Harry taught the boys the lessons of the knights. The boys said they couldn't be knights without a castle. Harry decided to build them a castle. 

Okay, so Priscilla (and the rest of us) drew some Conclusions about Harry based on the stories of his life. (I will not repeat said conclusions, but we highly doubt the assertions that he turned down fifty marriage proposals.) And we gave the castle some inappropriate nicknames. But Priscilla decided she had to see it. 

Somehow I got invited along on this excursion. My niece Liv decided to join us. Priscilla's daughter was at her skate camp (the reason they were in town), and my sister-in-law ended up with doctors' appointments, so neither were able to join us. 

The castle is outside of Cincinnati. My brother lives outside of Columbus. Those two cities are about 100 miles apart, so the journey took us under two hours. 

We found a guy sitting at a table, and we paid our fee to get in. He directed us to a small room with a video on loop that showed the guy, at that point in his 90s, continuing to build the castle. 

(Not the video, but this shows some of what was in that video. Someone recorded the video, and you can find that here.)

Then we made our exploration. We headed upstairs, a very narrow, very steep staircase. (There was a handrail, which I totally needed.) The whole castle is stunning, but it was a hot, humid day. We were a bit punchy. And our Conclusions were at the forefront. 

In the entry, there was a woman running the giftshop and answering questions. Her father had been a Knight of the Golden Trail (KOGT), and she had been visiting the castle since she was a small child. Priscilla expected that she should also be a knight. Apparently, the knights would not allow female members (except for one exception, now deceased). 

Priscilla had lots of questions. It sounded like the current knights use the place as a sort of clubhouse. Our guide kept trying to go back to the script (she repeated things we had read online before arriving) and told us about the "security" door (with three different ways to open it and a sword at the ready). I got a picture of a different door upstairs. 

The castle is gorgeous. It's amazing how one random guy built this thing mostly from rocks picked up near the river (and from bricks made using milk cartons), even if he was probably a kook and maybe worse? 

We wandered around a bit more, taking in the gardens out back. 

And finally we were ready to leave. Priscilla had questions for the ticket seller outside. Namely, why the woman inside couldn't be a knight? He hemmed and hawed about how women couldn't be knights, and ultimately, neither saw the other's point. (Priscilla was sure he was cursing her out under his breath.) 

The umbrella covers the ticket seller and his table.

The trip was definitely worth the price of admission ($5). It is an amazing structure. But Harry was definitely an odd duck. 

(We met up with my sister-in-law for dinner. We laughed so much about the whole trip. It was a crazy day.)

One more video, this one is a great description of the place: