Bob and I woke up bright and early and rarin’ to go on the morning of Sunday, July 27, 2008 at the Travelodge in Fremont, Ohio. Unfortunately, we had discovered the night before that the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center didn’t actually open until noon that day. So after tending to my scorched ear hairs following Bob’s expletive, we decided to make the most of it and have a nice big breakfast at a nice little local restaurant after stopping in the center of town in Fremont and getting a new face-in-the-cannon photo.
Actually the cannon did have historical significance…as well as its own name: Betsy. This cannon was used by Major George Croghan during the War of 1812 to defend Fort Stephenson from the British and Indians on this very spot. At age 21, Croghan took command of the fort and defended it against 2000 Indians, with only 160 men and one cannon…this one in which I now had my face planted. Croghan was also buried on this site.
With the rock commemorating Fort Stephenson
Old Betsy and me
With the grave and memorial to Major George Croghan
Since we were right in the center of Fremont, and I noticed the Sandusky County Courthouse situated nearby, I had my photo snapped in front of it too. The reason for this is that my boss Sue recently gave me a nice coffee table book highlighting all of the Ohio County Courthouses and I envisioned that in my old age, after everything else had been checked off my list, I might decide to try and visit them all. And since I was here, I thought I’d go ahead and get this one out of the way. Can you tell I’m enthused about this ‘potential’ project?
My first County Courthouse: they are not essential yet, but I’m not going to walk right by a photo op and regret it ten years later again
Then it was off to that big, delicious breakfast at the Sweet Home Cafe. I had bacon, eggs, and biscuits and gravy, which would tide me over all the way to dinner time. We had enjoyed our breakfast so much, that we were actually nearly late in arriving at the Hayes Presidential Center. We had only a few minutes to spare so we waited to visit the grave until after we had had our tour of the home. Then we went through the museum where I found yet another historical cannon to peer into. All of the details of our Hayes Presidential visit may be found here. (The photo at the top is Bob and me at the Hayes Library Museum behind the iron gates donated by the White House).
Places that have been around this long must be good
Bob and I at our second Presidential grave of the trip
Cannon presented to Rutherford B. Hayes’ son Webb Hayes by Russian Army officers who captured it near the protective wall around the Forbidden City outside Beijing
It was after 2pm by the time we headed out of Fremont. Our next stop would be a rather brief one – Milan, Ohio, birthplace of Thomas Edison. I had visited this location before on Thursday, August 28, 1998. At that time we had actually toured the house, but this time since we were pressed for time (and it was also a bit pricy) I opted to merely get a photo in front of it and visit the gift shop right inside the front of it. I replaced the magnet I had purchased ten years ago since the old one’s letters had begun to fade. We also stopped at the town square in the center of town to enjoy the Edison statue and the interesting nearby antique stores.
The birthplace of Thomas Edison
…or so it says
Statue of a young Edison in the Milan town square
Apparently, Milan has several claims to fame
With a Stan Laurel statue in the window of a Milan antique store
The reason we had been pressed for time was so we could get to the house in Cleveland that was used in the film A Christmas Story. They closed up at 5pm on Sundays and were not open Monday-Wednesday, so we simply had to get there on time. It was quite worth it, but I will discuss this location in a future posting.
From there, we headed to the outskirts of Cleveland to a tiny town called Moreland Hills. Here was located the birthplace of President James Garfield. We had a memorable visit here as well, but as you may have guessed, this also will be covered in the upcoming James Garfield posting. But suffice it to say that I made Bob hike through a woods to see a rock.
Bob wants to rock!
He got even with me though as we scouted a place to stay for the night in Cleveland, sending me on a wild goose chase through the torn-up, disgusting city in search of a place near where we wanted to start out the next morning. Actually it wasn’t his fault at all, but he surely sensed my irritation as I skidded out of town to try to find a place outside of Cleveland. He bought me dinner that night at Harry’s Steak House, where I enjoyed a nice burger and the crayons on the paper table-cover.
Bob’s just wild about Harry’s
Drawing away the crummy-Cleveland-road blues
There are no woes that a nice burger won’t mend
I was happy again as we headed back to our room at the Comfort Inn on the quiet outskirts of town. The room was nice too. And they had internet access. Everything was good…oh, except for the people directly above us who paced back in forth from 11pm until 6am. Although Bob had requested a top floor room, the doofus behind the counter assured us that there was an elderly couple above us who wouldn’t be moving much.
Oh well. What fun is road trip if you’re not ready to collapse by the end of it?
We will continue back in Cleveland…
Check out the Christmas Story House here…
I understand you got a letter in the mail from Cleveland that makes you love it even more now!
Bob
August 25th, 2008