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Day 1: August 21, 2004 |
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Day 1: August 21, 2004 |
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In downtown Piqua, OH-66 starts off with little fanfare. No
"begin" or "end" markers. Just an arrow pointing the
way. It jogs around a bit but soon heads north west separated from the
Great Miami River by an earthen flood wall. Piqua used to have an annual
"Underwear Festival" but no more. The site of the original
Allen-A factory, near where 66 heads out of town, now holds Heritage
Green park.
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I reached the John Johnston farm, at the
Piqua
Historical Area, a few minutes after the scheduled starting time for
the first tour so had about half an hour until the next one. In the
outdoor kitchen area, I chatted for a bit with Marla & Sherry before
heading off to explore the barn area. That's Sherry carding wool for the
spinning wheel at her side. The house and barn are original early 1800's
structures. So is the spring house which holds this 18th century loom on
its second floor. The loom is still used occasionally for demonstrations
and training. I had actually thought I might check out the barn and
springhouse plus the museum at the far end of the parking lot before tour
time then quickly jump back on the road as the tour ended. But the barn,
an Adena mound behind it, and the springhouse were just too interesting
and the museum too far. I listened to Marla's excellent descriptions and
stories with the museum visit still ahead of me.
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The museum contains some good displays of local history and pre-history.
Something that you won't find just anywhere are artifacts from Fort
Pickawillany. This was the first English settlement in the area. It is
believed to have reached a population of nearly 400 before being attacked
and destroyed by French and Indian forces in 1752.
The museum sits on a section of the Miami-Erie canal where visitors can ride an authentic canal boat. The first trip of the day is at 12:30 and I knew when I arrived that I wouldn't be there that long. But a few minutes here and a few minutes there and I found myself in the museum with cruise time less than half an hour away. A ride on the canal won out over a few miles on the road and I was on the overlook when Jack & Jim brought the boat up the canal. That's Joe leading the pair of mules. It's not long before we are gliding quietly over the smooth water. The turnaround, at Lock #8, is just as smooth. Fort Pickawillany was somewhere up the banks to the left of the lock. During the ride, Jim filed us in on the building and use of the canal and answered any questions. If you look hard, you can see the boats power plant, Joe, Jack, & Jim, through the window. The last picture shows Josh (What's with all the Js?), who steered the boat from on top, along with Jim. |
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Possibly the most interesting series of locks on the canal is the set at
Lockington. During the canal's heyday, Lockington was home to 30 bars and
5 brothels. Both are greatly reduced in number today. I did not walk all
the way along the locks today but do have some pictures from a previous
visit that I'll try to get up later.
ADDENDUM: Some pictures of the locks, taken in September of 2002, can be seen here. |
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I finally got back on OH-66 but was detoured at Ft Loramie. After being
routed around the town, I did get to the lake for a couple of pictures.
Lake Loramie is one of three reservoirs built to power the canal.
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The town of New Bremen has the remains of a canal lock in the middle of
town but the area was a bit more crowded today than normal. This is the
weekend of the Bremenfest and the canal was right in the middle of the
fun. I was told that Sunday is the big day with a parade in the afternoon
and a concert (Danger
Brothers - from Columbus) in the evening. Route 66 is shut down for
the concert. Even so, it's going to be tough to top a mud-volleyball
tournament. Those Danger guys better be good. The lemonade was.
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In the town of St Marys, a boat sits on a bit of canal in the park. There
was a gangplank that could be dropped but the boat did not seem likely to
head off down the waterway. There was no one around to ask whether this
was a museum, a static display, or something else. The covered bridge is
of fairly recent construction but the twisted tree looked like it had
been around for awhile.
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I again ventured a bit off of OH-66 to photograph another canal reservoir,
Grand Lake St Marys. It is no longer needed to feed the canal but it's a
great place for jet skis.
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These two canal landmarks are not far apart. "Bloody Bridge"
gets its name from an 1854 axe murder. Accounts of the story always report
that Minnie fell from the bridge after seeing her husband beheaded. I've
always wondered, with hubby headless and the axe-man found only after he
was reduced to a skeleton, just how do they know?
For 30 cents a day, and a jigger of whiskey, men with picks and shovels made a 6600 foot long cut through up to 52 feet of tough clay. Not very photogenic but the canal water is quite a ways down from the overlook. |
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Delphos has some nice 19th century store fronts and a museum devoted to
the canal. The museum is open four days a month: 1st & 3rd Sunday;
2nd & 4th Monday. Today was none of those. The Delphos Herald
building has a nice mural of the Delphos Herald building.
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Here's proof that there is space between towns on OH-66. There's actually
quite a lot of it. This is the Defiance County court house in Defiance.
The bell, sitting beside the courthouse, was made in Cincinnati from a
German cannon dated 1502.
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OH-66 ends just as unceremoniously as it began. Harry's Tavern is about a
half-block beyond and I celebrated with a long-neck Bud in "the
tavern at the end of the road".
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I turned back southward since the next byway starts in Defiance and that
looked like the most promising place for lodging. I could, of course, have
stopped at the inn at Sauder Village near Archbold but I'll save that for
another day. But I couldn't pass up Mom's Diner in the same town. Lots of
signs and other goodies plus table-side consoles that played genuine vinyl
45s in the Wurlitzer with bubbles on the front. I played "That'll Be
The Day" for a quarter.
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