MY HYPOTHESIS—

Today’s standard of excellence is mediocrity.

The battery in my lawn tractor failed so I called the Interstate battery store on N. Mulberry St., in Mansfield to see about a replacement.

I gave them the brand name and model information from the old battery and inquired if they had a replacement.

"Yup, we sure do," chirped the guy on the phone.  "$39.95 plus tax which includes disposal of your old battery," he continued.

"Marvelous," I responded.  "See you shortly," I added after asking about their hours.

An hour or so later I arrived at their store and plopped my deceased battery on their counter. "I called a little while ago about a replacement for this," I told the clerk.

He took a peek at my battery, shuffled through some paperwork and announced, "That will be $59.95."

I looked over my glasses and informed him about my very recent phone call.  "What happened to the $39.95 model the guy on the phone told me about," I asked, with visions of 'bait and switch' beginning to float through my cynical mind.

He sputtered a bit then said, "Let me check," as he headed somewhere into the bowels of their store."

Soon he was back with a new battery and said "I can sell you this one for $39.95."  I looked at its performance numbers and told him it was 25% less powerful than the one that had recently failed.

"Where's the one they told me about on the phone."  It's out of stock," he said.

"Must have sold your last one in the hour it took me to get here," I offered and challenged him to explain why he was attempting to sell the lesser battery at the originally quoted price.

While he stood there and struggled with that combined concept, I left.

...and headed to Mid-Ohio Gravely where I bought the tractor originally and had an informative conversation about battery life.  I brought home my replacement--same terms as originally quoted by Interstate, my ex-battery supplier. 

TRAVELING ACROSS OHIO--
On the Lincoln Highway

We launched our Lincoln Highway (LH) excursion on the square in Mansfield.  Long before the expressway was built, US 30 (and the LH) passed through Mansfield on Park Ave., so we headed east from there on what is now SR 430 through Mifflin.

In fact, the Lincoln Highway had several alignments on Ohio roads through its history.  The original LH left US 30 in Wooster and followed what we now know as US 250 to Ashland then US 42 to Mansfield where it regained route 30.  US 30 also split into a north and a south version between Mansfield and Delphos.  The original LH followed the south version which we now know as OH 309.

Notice the "30" in the different route's numbers.  That numbering protocol is used throughout Ohio when a state or federal highway changes it's status like in the next sentence.

From Mifflin route 430 changes to County Road 30 in Ashland County and continues east through Hayesville and Jeromesville and on into Wooster where it passes through that town on Liberty St.

We arrived in Hayesville about the same time as lunch so we stopped for some tasty munching at the Olde 30 Inn near the town's square.  There, we had the good fortune of a maturing waitress who told us about the town's watering trough which used to be located in the middle of the road but had to be moved when the increasing auto traffic and the town's vandals became perilous.

It now resides in a dedicated, protected location near the town's ball field just northeast of the LH intersection with SR 60.  She also told us about the Vermilion Institute that used to be located in town.  It was a private college chartered in the 1840s and one of its buildings remains standing on the east side of town.

Hayesville also has an Opera House which was opened in 1866 and remains in operation to this day; featuring mostly movies.  The institute and the opera house are on our agenda for future blog stories.

As townsfolk finished their lunches and cleared the counter area its unique seating was revealed:

Antique tractor seats welded to milk storage cans seemed like some dandy, home-spun practicality in small town USA!
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Saturday we will continue with our romp through eastern Ohio then we will follow with pieces on Smucker's nifty retail outlet near Riceland and another piece on the Pine Tree Barn south of Wooster; not on the LH but a treat to see also. 

An estmated 100 plus junior high school-aged girls formed this scrum as officials prepared to launch them in their age group of a cross country meet at Marshal Park in Ontario Saturday.  They represented 15 area schools and were part of an estimated 1,000+ contestants in the meet.

Adopted granddaughter Mackenna Curtis-Collins (center) is part of the pack shortly after the start of the race.

Mid-way in the 2 mile event Mackenna has caught and joined the leaders.

Digging for every ounce of energy and heart Mackenna closes on the race leader as they approach within mere feet of the finish line...

...and congratulates the winner as the following runners just begin to approach the finish in the distant background.

Mackenna (12) is one of the youngest and smallest competitors in the junior high division.  She just started in junior high school this year and already has multiple, first-place finishes.  As you can imagine, her high school cross country coach already is paying attention.

Then...

...about an hour later she (#6) competed with her soccer team...

...and celebrates (below) what turns out to be the winning goal made by her teammate late in this 1-0 contest, much to the chagrin of the competitor behind her.

Can you see the smile on this very proud grandpa's face!

(That's me behind the camera.)

TRAVELING ACROSS OHIO--
On the Lincoln Highway

The Steel Trolley Diner is aglow (above) after a warm summer rain on the Lincoln Highway in Lisbon, OH recently.  It was the most colorful venue we enjoyed on our recent trip across the eastern half of that storied route in Ohio.

Our adventure began with an overnight, round-trip drive from Mansfield to East Liverpool where we explored the various segments of roadway that highway has followed since its construction beginning in 1913--mostly along what we now know as US 30.

Classic American diners are often characterized by an exterior skin of shiny, stainless steel and, in their heyday, over 6,000 of them dotted the US landscape.  Today, fewer than 2,000 remain.

The Steel Trolly Diner was built in 1954 by one of the largest diner manufacturers in the US and transported to Salem OH where it operated for 24 years.  It has operated continuously in Lisbon, OH since May of 1979 just a block from the county courthouse at 140 E. Lincoln Way--as the highway is known in that county seat village.

Only 20 of this particular make of diner remain in existence throughout the world.

We got acquainted with the diner staff during an afternoon visit then returned for the night photography where Sue enjoyed a yummy oatmeal pie concoction and I some chocolate ice cream in an old time, stemmed soda-fountain dish.

We were entertained by the folks in a nearby booth where a minister was providing wedding rehearsal coaching to a soon to be bride and groom

I regretted we would not be around as we speculated on the etiquette of that wedding ceremony.

We poked around the diner's souvenir shop and wound up with matching and saucy tee shirts advertising the diner's pie by asking "Gotten a piece lately?"

I'm not sure we'll ever wear them in public.

The grill cook (above) prepares a taste treat for a night-time, diner customer.  Several stories will follow on our recently concluded tour of the eastern half of OH.  We expect to do the western half as soon as our schedules allow.  Please stay tuned.

DEW POINT--

Defined, dew point is:  The temperature to which a given parcel of humid air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water.

That condensed water is called dew as in the above photo.

When the temperature cools to the dew point, as defined above, water vapor also usually turns into fog.

Pilots need to have a very clear comprehension of that fact.

Poets sometimes refer to it as involving locomotion on little cat's feet.

These days I like to think in the latter terms.
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The above photo was taken during yesterday's foggy morning while hiking the trail below my dam using Canon's 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens on a Canon Rebel XTi digital single lens reflex camera.  I didn't want to get my new Rebel T3i wet while frolicking in the weeds. < Smile >

A rural Hayesville, OH resident chuckles at the kneeling photographer as the resident leaves the village post office and the photographer (me) adds him to the composition of the Lincoln Highway monument at the intersection of that highway and SR 60.

Lady friend Sue Brooks and I were launching our tour of the Lincoln Highway in eastern Ohio that rainy morning and had stopped for lunch at the Olde Inn in that rural, Ashland County town.  A series of stories from our tour will begin Saturday with a piece on the Steel Trolley Diner in Lisbon, OH.

BOOK REPORTS--


Then and Now: Mansfield by Jeff Sprang and Tim McKee

This book takes a look at old photos from Mansfield's beginning in 1808 and features current photos done by Jeff from the same vantage point.  The comparisons are remarkable--a sometimes jolting peek as history marches along.  It was a nice dose of nostalgia for me as my memory easily spans the last 60 years or so of that history and I have fond memories of working with Jeff at the Mansfield newspaper back in the 1960s and early 70s.  Thanks for both Jeff.  This nice addition for your library is available at Main St. Books in Mansfield.


Ford Country (short stories) by John Grisham

All stories set in a rural Mississippi town:  A mother and two sons take a road trip to visit a third son who is on death row.  A low-life divorce lawyer makes drastic plans to escape his life-style.  A life-long dull, data collector hones newly discovered blackjack skills and adds substantial ambition to his sedentary life.  ...and four more dandies just like these.  Perfect bedtime stories from a favorite author.   


The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson

I was amazed recently when I picked up a paperback copy of Anson's book at the local library and discovered it was non-fiction.  It is about a house on Long Island, NY where a family was murdered in 1973 and 13 months later it was bought by at a bargain price by the Lutzs' with full knowledge of the house's history.  They moved in and were driven out within 28 days by a series of haunting experiences.  Or were they.  Many critics dispute the legitimacy of the facts upon which the book is based.  I believe them and am compelled to wonder why this book continues to pose as non-fiction.


The Mansfield Riots of 1900 by Robert Carter

This 90 plus page 8 1/2 x 11 published, paperback by my friend and local historian Carter reveals a shocking chunk of Mansfield history rarely told.  The riots surround a Chicago church described as being in the "faith cure racket".  Traveling apostles of that church were becoming established in Mansfield and interfered with the medical treatment of a deathly-sick 2 year old local boy, a child of their parishioners.  The riots that followed made national and international news.

The book is lavishly illustrated with photos and illustrations of the time.  Much authenticity for the story also came from a scrapbook-heirloom of Carter's family whose mother was the oldest daughter of the sheriff involved.  This is another nice addition for your library of local history, also available at Main St. Books in Mansfield.  My copy is autographed.  < Smile >

THE WORLD'S FAIR

Bellville style...

In a Facebook post Saturday I described the top photo thusly:

"An amusement ride spins a neon glow against the night sky at the "World's Fair" Friday night in Bellville.  For my photography friends, this exposure was 2 seconds long at f/22 and ISO 400 with my digital single lens reflex camera mashed solidly against a steel utility pole at the north end of Main St."

As darkness asserted itself the village green was packed with an enthusiastic crowd enjoying the ageless and highly popular music group Phil Dirt and the Dozers (lower photo).

The midway was jammed with a boisterous, serpentine crowd doing the Bellville slither up and down and up again along Main Street munching on those annual "fair food" delights and frequently colliding with old friends in this annual homecoming celebration.

For those magic moments in this four-day extravaganza, all is right with the world.

THE GREENVILLE TREATY LINE--

If you take a peek at the border line of Richland County down in the southeast corner below Butler, you will see a chunk of the county was sliced off by a gentle bevel.

If you explore a little further on an Ohio map you will see the same bevel across southern Ashland County and along part of the border between Stark and Tuscarawas counties.

Here's what that is all about:

The Battle of Fallen Timbers took place in August 1794 just south of present day Toledo and was a decisive battle between US forces and Indians for control of the Northwest Territory.

Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket with 3,000 braves had chosen the defensive position along the Maumee River because a large stand of trees had been blown down by a heavy storm (Fallen Timbers) and were believed they would help hinder the advance of the army.

Peace negotiations had been going on with Indian tribes as US authorities sought to confirm possession of the lands north of the Ohio River they had claimed from Great Britian after victory in the American Revolutionary War.

The Indians wanted to maintain control of those lands as established by a previous treaty with the British, and, in fact, which had been the birthright of their people--forever.

The negotiations gave General "Mad" Anthony Wayne time to train his 4,600 plus troops during 1794 and the August battle did not last long.  The defeat of the Indians led to the signing of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 which led to the ever-increasing settlement of Ohio and finally statehood in 1803.

The Greenville Treaty Line began at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in present-day Cleveland and ran south between Akron and Canton and on down the Tuscarawas River to near present day Bolivar.  From there the line stretched straight across present day Ohio in a west, southwest direction to a branch of the Great Miami River near present-day Fort Loramie, Ohio as shown in the large map above.  Richland County is shown in blue.

From there the treaty line zig-zaged west-northwest to the Wabash River near the present Ohio-Indiana border then south-southwest to the Ohio River and a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.

The portion of that line shown in red on the map to the right is along the southeast border of Richland County to this day.  That is the result of the 1795 treaty.

Another nearby reminder of this historic period is a marker on Yankee Rd. (Co Rd 55) in Knox County which runs west from Ankenytown and crosses State Route 13 just south of Palmyra.  The marker is located just east of SR 13.

So, everytime we pass north and south across the Richland-Knox County line in that general area we are also crossing the historic border between US territory and Indian territory as it was established more than 216 years ago.

Knox County was in the growing US territory.

Richland County was in Indian territory.

This treaty, like most with the Indians, was largely ignored. however.

Just 47 years later the Wyandots gave up their claim to their reservation at Upper Sandusky and in 1843 the United States government sent the Indians off to another reservation in Kansas.

They were the last Indian tribe to leave Ohio.

OHIO BECOMES A STATE--
More or less...

The outline of Ohio in this 1803 map is recognizable.  That is the year it became a state.  The grid lines in the east, southeast and southwest are the results of early survey work to establish base and range lines from which townships, villages and ultimately cities would be formed.

The white area--not surveyed--in the southwest part of the new state was known as the "Virginia Reservation".  That area was then set aside for Virginia veterans of the Revolutionary War as homestead land in payment for their service.

The white area--also not then surveyed--in the northwest part of the new state was simply called "Indian Lands".  It was the area carved out of the new state by the Greenville Treaty of 1795; a line that forms part of the southeast border of Richland County to this day. 

That is the topic of Saturday's blog story.
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We tip our hat to Mike Cecil, a project manager with the Richland County Engineer's office, for providing the copy of this map by Rufus Putnam, first Surveyor General of the US.  Mike made his debut on Fogeyisms with his friendly and professional help on the blog story we did August 28, 2010 on Richland County's highest elevation.  Thanks again Mike!

My adopted grand daughter Mackenna Curtis-Collins, 12, coolly confronts overwhelming force on a Lexington soccer field last night. 

A NEW CAMERA AND A JOCK! 

My new camera, a digital, single lens reflex, Canon Rebel T3i arrived just a day before my adopted grand daughter's next soccer game so I had a few hours to immerse myself in its 300+ page manual.  Since I was transitioning from an earlier model in the Rebel line, an XTi, I went to her match with some confidence I wouldn't embarrass myself.

Here' s how I described the shoot to my friend and fellow photographer, Dave Richardson:

"Attached is a shot from last evening's soccer game with my adopted grand daughter participating.  I loitered around the goal with the T3i wearing my Canon 70-200 mm f/2.8 L lens--which is 2.8 across the full range of focal lengths BTW.  Awesome.  This shot also appears on my Facebook page today.

 

I always worked sporting events in Nikon's only mode--manual--so that carried over into my first Rebel and my very few sport shoots.  Last night I did the "sports" mode thingy and it was amazing.  It selects the ISO and a fast shutter speed with the appropriate aperture setting then adjusts that stuff automatically as the light changes.  It went from ISO 100 to 400 and changed the aperture down to 2.8 as the light dropped; keeping the shutter speed as high as possible.

 

It also shoots short bursts with a slight delay of shutter release, so you can capture images all around your intended shot at something like 3+ frames per second.  How's that for a motor drive!  ...which I never owned during my working/shooting career.

 

I simply had to fiddle with the focal length and keep the shutter button half plunged to keep the auto focus engaged while Mackenna ran this way and that.  The camera did an outstanding job even when she was headed toward me.  I read about all that stuff yesterday afternoon.  And, it worked.  Can you see me scratching my head--in amazement!

 

Another thing I like about this new camera is the articulated and huge LCD screen--and it shows a live view.  Handy feature when holding the camera high above the crowd or at ground level on a rainy day.  And, with an 18 megapixel sensor you can crop a shot fairly sharply and still be left with ample resolution for good quality. 

 

The 300+ page manual will be a constant companion--perhaps forever!"

 

Congrats, Dave, on your recent success in your local photo competition, and...

Go Mackenna!!

Malabar Farm; 7th in series

OHIO'S HISTORICAL MARKERS
Richland County

When acclaimed author Louis Bromfield returned to Ohio from Europe in 1938 the average annual salary was $1,368 and the US population was just over 123 million.  All of his 30 books were best sellers which made his dream of creating Malabar possible.

He had developed a vision of farming in harmony with the environment; of soil restoration and new types of tillage.  Inspired by his love of the land he created Malabar Farm with a 32-room home where his family, friends and neighbors could share the pleasure of life on the farm. (1)

The farm often hosted celebrities back then and is well known as the location of the wedding of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall of Hollywood fame in 1945.  Bromfield died in 1956.

From 1958 to 1972 the farm was operated by a foundation and was nearing foreclosure.  The state accepted the deed in August of that year and pledged to preserve the beauty and ecological value of the farm.  In 1976 Malabar became one of Ohio's state parks.

Today the farm includes 875 acres of land and 3 acres of water.

This historical marker is located on a walkway between the modern visitor center and the Bromfield home and barn complex. (2)

(1) Malabar Foundation
(2) Malabar Farm ODNR homepage

A FALL CRITTER--

I found this caterpillar on a fallen branch while both of us were meandering along the driveway today.  The lens on my camera was my Canon 17-40 mm, f/4 L, my usual walking-around lens.  To do the photo I set the lens at minimum focus distance and maximum focal length on the automatic mode then simply held the little branch in front of the lens and moved it about until I found the composition I liked.

I positioned myself so this happened with the critter back lit by the early afternoon sun and a dark woods in the background.  The shutter speed was 1/200th of a second and the aperture was f/8.  That shutter speed was sufficient to stop any blur from either the critter or the camera moving and the aperture was small enough to give sufficient depth of field to keep the critter in focus while obscuring the background detail.

The odd shaped white lines in its fur are evidently from a piece of stray, weedy fuzz.

The little caterpillar was virtually motionless during its portrait episode.  No matter how hard I looked I could not find its head as it appeared to be climbing the small branch.  When we were done I laid the branch in the shady weeds with an expression of appreciation for its cooperation.

That's when I noticed its direction of travel was to the left.

Unless it was backing up, that would put its head on the end opposite where I was looking, of course.

MACHINES OF WAR--
As treasured collectibles

The proud owner of this portable, 700+mm missile (above) regaled me with minute details of his treasure.  "It had a range in excess of 20 miles and even had nuclear capability--but never was used in that role,"  he continued.

Value?  He wasn't sure But, after pondering my question he was able to account for more than $40,000 invested in its purchase and restoration.  If I add sweat equity it's probably worth more than $60,000" he thought.

I wondered if his wife knew this.

The show had other vehicles from the popular deuce and a halfs (2 and 1/2 ton trucks) to an armored personnel carrier to a track driven missile loader to an outstanding, military version of a dune buggy on display at this, their third annual event at the Planktown Hardware near Shiloh one recent weekend.

It was fun to wander around the vendor tables and ponder current uses for some of the displayed paraphernalia.  I could visualize a .30 caliber machine gun mounted on the tripod (right) while it sat in a woods in front of a fairly desperate squirrel hunter.

Or, how about the mag or grenade pouch pictured below the tripod?  "Mag" stands for magazines, for your 30-06 M-1 Garand, rabbit rifle perhaps.

Can you envision a current use for a supply of grenades in that same pouch?

I watched one hobbyist fiddle with his lurching, WW-II missile transporter-loader.  It evidently was balking at the taste of modern day fuel.

The show was put on by Ohio Motorpool, Inc., a group of fellows from around Ohio who enjoy the hobby of collecting, operating (sometimes) and displaying old military equipment.

It reminded me of a bass fishing expedition in Quebec, Canada a dozen years or so ago.  One of my fellow fishermen specialized in vintage, military radio equipment.  I was a short-wave radio listening enthusiast then so I enjoyed helping him assemble his rig including an hour or so heaving his long, wire antenna over some challengingly tall trees.

That night, with a cooperative ionosphere, he was able to coax his signal to another vintage equipment pal located in the mountains of Colorado--who was then talking to a mutual friend in south Florida.

I had hoped to tell you more about this show but the vice president of the group who lives just a couple of miles from me failed to show up for an interview.

Kinda reminds me of my hypothesis about today's standard of excellence being mediocrity.

That's lady friend Sue Brooks taking a peek at a marvelously restored military "dune buggy" for lack of an official name.  Wouldn't my inept friend, the vice president of the group, be surprised if I showed up at his house in this thing to encourage him to explain why he did not show up for this story!

General James Hedges; 6th in series

OHIO'S HISTORICAL MARKERS
Richland County

To take a close peek at today's historical marker you will have to enter the parking lot of Mansfield's Masonic Temple on Middle-Bellville Rd., and drive around to the west side of the building.  The marker is very close to the building, just north of the main entrance.

To find information on Gen. James Hedges, you will have to work harder than that.  Since I have been doing research on-line, I never have encountered a subject with less information available.

From the marker itself, you will learn Hedges arrived in Ohio in 1803 and worked as a deputy (US) surveyor in Richland and surrounding counties.  He wound up owning 19,000 acres in Richland county and became one of the city's founding fathers in 1808.

In 1811 he had the privilege of naming the first male child born in Mansfield.  The name given was Mansfield Hedges Gilkison.

In the book "A Pioneer History of Richland County Ohio" General Roeliff Brinkerhoff says, "In the early part of the summer of 1809, the father of the writer drove the first team into the town of Mansfield.  A party consisting of himself and family, Capt. James Hedges (afterwards known as Gen. Hedges)...and Johnny Appleseed dined on the public square....This was the commencement of the city of Mansfield."

The square then was a field of stumps remaining from recently cleared trees and a blockhouse.

The marker goes on to explain "Hedges served in the War of 1812....In February 1818 he obtained the Deposition for Mansfield Lodge #35, Free and Accepted Masons" which explains the location of this historical marker.

Hedges died in 1854 from rheumatism and was buried July 4th in the Mansfield Cemetery.

BOOK REPORTS--

American Tempest by Harlow Giles Unger

Sub-titled, "How the Boston Tea Party Sparked a Revolution", Unger's book will have you feeling like you are walking the streets of Boston in the mid 1700s.  It is a marvelously crafted portrayal of life in those years leading up to the Declaration of Independence.  You will learn there were many "tea parties".  You will feel like you are peeking over the shoulder of John Hancock or Ben Franklin or Paul Revere and their colleagues who incubated the birth of our nation.  This should be required reading for all students, in fact, all US citizens.


The General's Daughter by Nelson DeMille

Another outstanding novel by a favorite author.  The daughter in the title is the lead character; a vixen with a nuclear powered libido whose escapades involve a host of fellow officers at her Georgia army fort.  Eventually she is murdered and the heroes of the story, two military cops with the Army's elite undercover investigative unit, are embroiled in a whopper of a whodunit.  It's a hard-to-put-down read with a happy ending.  Thank you Mr. DeMille.


For the Love of Physics by Walter Lewin

Yup, this one is about "physics" the scientific, not the anatomical kind.  Dr. Lewin has been a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for more than 31 years and is the kind of teacher we all should dream about.  A photo on his book's cover is perfect; showing him swinging somewhat capsized in front of his classroom doing a very personal demonstration of a pendulum--and, in the process, teaching us about gravity and Newton's laws of motion.  Horray for Dr. Lewin and all teachers like him who bring passion to the learning process.

A Time for Patriots by Dale Brown

This story lands somewhere between being a primer for Civil Air Patrol cadets and a rewrite of a 1940s era script for a Sky King radio show with bushels of fictional, war fighting appliances.  Nevertheless, it was a quick read for the brain candy it mimicked.

FUNERAL HOME and TANK--

Follow up

We drove by the site of yesterday's story on the tank in the front yard of the funeral home and...

...the tank was gone!

I began to have visions of the blog's "Pen" being "Mightier than the sword."

But, that would be a stretch.

It turns out--between the time the photo was taken and the blog story was published (maybe two weeks), the tank was moved to a veteran's post in Ontario.

A FUNERAL HOME
and a tank!

For some reason I found the above scene humorous, although, the operation of one could lead to the need for the other--and, that would not be humorous at all.

This scene exists on the east side of Mansfield where that town's largest American Legion post went out of business awhile back.

Sometime later, a funeral home moved into the site.

I'm sure the funeral home folks wrestled with the very obvious question, "What DO you do with that multi-ton tank in the front yard?"

Even though it still is wearing its desert camouflage paint job, it is quite obvious to most passers-by.

I could think of several very effective solutions for use of the tank when I pondered the craziness often experienced in vehicle traffic.

Can you imagine swinging the tank's main gun around to the rear when you are experiencing one of those insane tailgaters?

Just joking, of course....

Hemlock Falls; 5th in series

OHIO'S HISTORICAL MARKERS
Richland County

Speaking of historical, the Black Hand Sandstone underlying Hemlock Falls dates to the geologic, Mississippian Period of some 350 million years ago.

About 200 million years ago a river known as the Groveport flowed from the Appalachian Mountains through here and turned south in what we now know as the Bunker Hill valley, passing the present locations of Butler and Fredericktown to join the pre-glacial Teays River.

The Illinoian Glacier blocked the Groveport about 150,000 years ago and a new riverbed was formed; known today as the Clear Fork.  Waters you see flowing over Hemlock Falls today are tributary to the Clear Fork and ultimately travel down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico.

The feeder stream that feeds Hemlock Falls today splits in the forest above and forms two falls; one about 60 feet tall and the other nearly 100 feet.  Views of both falls are quite accessible by a moderate hike from the Mohican Outdoor School which owns the falls property.  You can contact them at 5370 Bunker Hill Rd., Butler to arrange your visit.

The above photo reflects the scene you will see as you proceed northbound on Bunker Hill N. Rd., approaching the Mohican School and their sign in the background.  This is about one mile north of the intersection with SR 97 east of Butler.

The small photo left is a file photo from a previous blog story on the falls.  Do a search for Hemlock Falls (above left) for lots of photos and several blog stories we have done on this marvelous venue.

Then do yourself a favor and take a hike--so to speak, of course.