Sunday, September 27, 2015

Towpath Trail IV (9/27/2015)

Sunday, September 27, 2015
(We hiked the "first" section of the Towpath Trail that follows the old Ohio & Erie Canal on July 6, 2014 from Harvard Road to the Marcy Trestle. We started at the Canalway Center near the trestle and walked to the overpass of Route I-77 on November 9, 2014. On December 26, 2014, we walked between the I-77 overpass and Quaker Steak on Canal Road in Valley View.)
This time we walked the Ohio & Erie Canalway Towpath Trail between Quaker Steak on Canal Road in Valley View and Lock 38.
Former Valley View Schoolhouse (c. 1940) at 6075 Canal Road
Thornburg Station, the northern end of the
Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad
At this point, the Cuyahoga River was
perhaps 20 feet below the level of the towpath
Lock 39 and its bypass
Ardea herodias/Great Blue Heron
Lock 39 and the iron strap to hold the pivoting end of the lock gate
The bypass looks like it could be a fun waterslide
A waste weir to rid the canal of excess water when it rises above 4 feet
Art Deco-ish Stone Road bridge (1950)
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae/New England Aster
Lock 39 still has its gates
Lock 39 (and the lockkeeper!)
Linaria vulgaris/Yellow Toadflax or Wild Snapdragon
Solidago gigantea/Giant or Late Goldenrod (Achoo!)
Time for the Oncopeltus fasciatus/
Large Milkweed Bugs
Backtracking past Lock 38

Monday, September 28, 2015
Harvest Moon, it looks more like Halloween

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Milan, OH (9/26/2015)

Saturday, September 26, 2015
After brunch at Big Al's in the Larchmere neighborhood, we headed once again to Milan, OH.
First there was the native settlement of Pequotting, where the Moravians had a mission in 1804-1809. Milan was an important Great Lakes port after the 3-mile Milan Canal connected the city with Lake Erie in 1839, mainly to export wheat. That ended with the railroad and the flood of 1868.
14 N Edison Street (1877) Victorian
This Victorian Italianate home had additions
Buckeye fan's fall decorations
9 E Front Street (1882)
Milan business district
Wonder Bar (1826) and town square gazebo (1960s)
Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1867)
and Town Hall (1889)
Kelley Block (1880)
Young Edison (1984) by Michael Tradowsky
29 E Church Street (1845 as a stage coach inn)
Street light with an "Edison" light bulb-shaped lamp
Milan Public Library (1912 using a Carnegie grant)
Zipcode bench outside the post office
This time the museums were open. The Milan History Museum has several buildings. We handed in our Groupon tickets at the Lockwood Smith & Company General Store.
Lockwood Smith & Company General Store
Pumpkin wreath
Read the small print at the bottom
Milan has its own stone brought by the Ice Age glacier from Canada
Hoover Potato Digger (invented 1885);
"Milan's gift to the farming world"
Sisty Blacksmith Shop
Four Seasons Sculpture Garden
The Edna Row Newton Memorial Building (opened 1971)
was purpose-built to house the collections of
Edna Newton and her husband, Bert,
from their world travels
All the cross-stitching was done by Edna Newton

Galpin House (1846) housed several exhibits
including an extensive glass collection
Glass includes insulation for the Apollo 11 spacecraft
It sure looks like a Dale Chihuly installation!
Interesting enameled vase by
Ludwig Moser & Sons
Tartan glass
Light fixture and young artists' wall
Kent and Brynne wait at the Sayles Victorian Home
This is actually the front of the Sayles house (1843)
Big maple tree
Finally, a visit to the Birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison.
Birthplace of Thomas Edison
When Samuel Edison brought his family from Canada to settle in Milan, he built a house in 1841-1842. He worked as a shingle maker. Samuel and his wife, Nancy, had three more children here, with Thomas Alva Edison being the seventh and last child, born February 11, 1847. In 1854, the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Thomas's sister, Marion Edison Page, bought the house in 1894 and added a bathroom. He became owner of the house in 1906, and upon his death in 1931, his wife, Mina, and daughter, Madeleine, took on the project to restore the home to its appearance when Thomas Edison was born. It was opened as a museum in 1947, the centennial of Edison's birth.
Our tour began in the house next door, where we were shown the progression of the invention of the phonograph, and heard samples played on a celluloid cylinder and a thick lacquer disc. Next a spirited fast-talking woman, in what she called her "Little House on the Prairie outfit," came to guide us through the Edison house. Because much of the family furniture was kept by the sister Marion, many original pieces were present in the house, including a high chair that may have been used by Thomas.
Many household items of the period were displayed, and of the most interest was the pole ladder, with hinged rungs which could be "folded" down so that the two sides of the ladder came together to form a pole. Very handy!
Pole ladder showing grooves where the rungs fold in
One small room held items from Edison's laboratory and a few examples of his inventions, including the Edison Talking Doll, known as Thomasina, where a man was likely used to make the recordings of the nursery rhymes the doll recites, creating a very creepy toy.
The backyard, behind which are the woods that
now cover the former Milan port
Time to head back home.