December 15, 2011

Hopewell Culture and McKinley Memorial

My luck with gorgeous weather ran out and Sunday dawned gray and rainy. However, it was in the 50s so it was a nice warm rain and I couldn’t complain. My last day of this Thanksgiving trip brought me to Hopewell Culture Historic Park in Chillicothe, OH. I got to the mounds about 8am and walked the self-guided interpretive trail of the mounds. This place was so unlike anything I had seen before and it was very interesting to learn about. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society, but a widely dispersed set of related populations connected by a common network of trade routes. Hence why many artifacts were found here that originated in other areas of the United States. The greatest concentration of Hopewell ceremonial sites are in the Scioto River Valley. These cultural centers typically contain a burial mound and a geometric earthwork complex that covers ten to hundreds of acres. No one really has a clear idea of why the mounds were built. Although many do contain burials, some scientists think that these mounds were built as a lunar observatory. There is also another trail circles the outer perimeter of these earthworks. Part of the trail follows the Scioto river. Across the river is another mound group that is not open to the public as it is still being explored.There is also an old lock along the perimeter trail.After I finished walking the trails, I went inside to the visitor center where there is a small museum with more information about the Hopewell People and some artifacts. Here is an artists rendering of what they may have looked like.

After leaving the park I headed towards home. I decided to drive part of the way on U.S. 40 aka the National Road. On last year’s Thanksgiving road trip in PA I learned all about Washington and how he helped create the National Road while fighting at Fort Necessity so I thought it fitting that I drive some of it. However it runs East/West and I needed to head north so I hopped back on the highways. I saw a sign for William McKinley birthplace and memorial which piqued my interest so I hopped back off the highway. William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States. He was born in Niles, OH and there is a small plaque outside of his birth home. What really caught my eye though was the large memorial in town. I pulled up behind it and when I approached there were two huge gates with a lock on them. Upon closer inspection I saw that it wasn’t really locked and I pushed my way in. There is a museum and presidential library but neither were open so I wandered around the small garden with his memorial in the middle.
It is quite a large monument and very impressive. It was a nice place for a rest before the long drive home.


December 13, 2011

Cincinnati, William Howard Taft, and Kentucky

Driving down to Cincinnati I caught sight of an IKEA so I decided to stop by and check it out to see what all the fuss is about. I did a lap through the massive store (300,000 square feet!!) which took about 20 minutes. I guess the concept is that you get ideas on the second floor and then you go down to the first floor to pick up everything you liked from above. Honestly it was way too much stuff so I got out of there as soon as I could.

Cincinnati is the home of William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States and his boyhood home is preserved as a NPS site. Before my tour started I spent some time in the visitor center and learned all about the Taft family (who apparently are the Kennedy’s of Ohio). The Taft family members have served in various positions, such as Governor of Ohio, Governor of Rhode Island, U.S. Senator (two), U.S. Representative (two), Attorney General, Secretary of War (two), United States Secretary of Agriculture, President, and Chief Justice. Every half hour there is a tour of the home William lived in from his birth in 1857 until he went away to college in 1874.

Here's a childhood portrait. Yes he is deliberately dressed like a little girl.

We had a short tour with the ranger and then were free to wander and explore the exhibits. I learned a lot of great information about William. For instance, I never knew that after he was President he became the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both offices. Taft is also the last President to have sported facial hair while in office. And he was the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He also was instrumental in the construction of the first separate and spacious United States Supreme Court building (the one that is still in use now). He believed that the Supreme Court needed to distance itself from the Congress as a separate branch of the Federal Government. Until then, the Court had heard cases in Old Senate Chamber of the Capitol Building. The Justices had no private chambers there, and their conferences were held in a room in the Capitol's basement.
I like this picture of a cow grazing on the front lawn of the White House.

Taft is known for his large size.His wife as First Lady came up with the idea to plant the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin in D.C. where we can now enjoy them every year at the Cherry Blossom festival (attended in April 2011 by yours truly)!

I enjoyed my time at Taft’s home as I had never really known much about him. My favorite part of my visit though was when I got myself a Junior Ranger Badge! You can only enter the home with a ranger but after your tour you are free to stay and explore the exhibits. I of course spent a lot of time there and let myself out a half hour later. Walking back to the visitor center I saw another couple entering the home but I assumed they were going back in because they had forgotten something. However, a ranger came running out of the visitor center shouting at them. He looked at me and said “why didn’t you stop them!”. I said “I don’t have a badge, I can’t yell at people”. He laughed and took me back to the visitor center and presented me with my very own junior ranger badge and told me “there, now you have the authority to yell at people”. I was so happy and I had the biggest smile on my face. It’s my first badge! Thank you Ranger.Since the weather was so gorgeous (68 degrees and sunny!!) I decided to head over to Devou park in Covington, Kentucky. I walked a short nature trail that was very muddy but spent most of my time on a picnic table overlooking the river and downtown Cincinnati. It was a very scenic spot and obviously very popular as there were a bunch of people taking pictures with the vista in the background.

December 11, 2011

Wright Cycle Company

After finishing my self guided tour of the Visitor Center, a park ranger then took me next door to the Wright Cycle Company. The bicycle business of the Wright brothers, the Wright Cycle Company occupied five different locations in Dayton, Ohio. Orville and Wilbur Wright began their bicycle repair business in 1892, and soon added rentals and sales. In 1896 they began manufacturing and selling bicycles of their own design, the Van Cleve and St. Claire, named after their ancestors. The Wrights used the profits from the Wright Cycle Company to finance their aviation experiments.This small shop has more great exhibits. I loved this advertisement showing the names of the bikes and the prices they charge. Definitely not cheap!

I want to take a moment to acknowledge my wonderful ranger at the Wright Cycle company, Karen Rosga.I visit a lot of National Parks and I love it when the rangers who work there have a genuine love of their park and are passionate about sharing that with visitors. Karen has such an appreciation for history and the Dayton Aviation area and she walked me through the building and gave me some great insight and learnings that I really appreciated. I was really impressed so thanks Karen!The Dayton Aviation park is a fairly new park and a lot of the Wright buildings and memorabilia had already been snatched up by the time it was established. This area of Dayton fell into disrepair over the years and when it was discovered (by happenstance) that this was the original building where the Wrights has operated, it helped contribute to the resurgence of West Dayton. Behind the parking lot is a fenced off area where their boyhood home once stood (now with just a porch replica). The home has since been relocated to Michigan by Henry Ford. However, a local contractor built a private home that is an exact exterior replica of the house next door.

My last stop in Dayton was the Paul Laurence Dunbar house. Since I’d already learned so much about him at the Visitor Center I decided just to stop long enough to take a picture.

December 10, 2011

Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center

My next stop was the Wright Cycle company. The visitor center at that site is wonderful. It is filled with great exhibits including a grocery store. Here I am, chatting up a kind lady. There is also more stories about how the Wright's got their start. I love this quote from Orville:
Wilbur and Orville started their careers as printers and operated their second print shop, outside the home, in this building. In this location, the Wrights edited and published newspapers for the West Side patrons.

The Dayton Tattler, written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, was also printed at this location. Dunbar was a famous poet who is known for his colorful language and use of dialect. There was a section of the upstairs dedicated to the life of Dunbar.There is also a small parachuting museum which I found really interesting. I got to sit in an ejection seat! In the corner of the room was the story of Joseph Kittinger who set many world records. Here is his story: In 1960 he climbed to an altitude of 102,800 ft. The ascent took one hour and 31 minutes. He stayed at peak altitude for 12 minutes, waiting for the balloon to drift over the landing target area. He then stepped out of the gondola to begin his descent.

The small stabilizer parachute deployed successfully and Kittinger fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, setting a still-standing world record for the longest parachute free-fall. At an altitude of 17,500 ft, Kittinger opened his main parachute and landed safely in the New Mexico desert. The whole descent took 13 minutes and 45 seconds and set the current world record for the highest parachute jump. During the descent, Kittinger experienced temperatures as low as −94 °F. In the free-fall stage, he reached a top speed of 614 mph. Insane!