It's a Start
Comment via blog
Check Granny's letters of the day
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Day 1: November 4, 2020 It's a Start Comment via blog Check Granny's letters of the day |
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No, this wasn't Granddad's first stop on his way to Florida although it
could have been. The Whistle Stop has been around since 1886. It's in
Ansonia, Ohio, which I consider my home town. I've been here many times,
of course, but never for breakfast and this
seemed the perfect opportunity to do that.
"The Whistle" brought fortune and fame to this village of 1,174 (2010) in 2017 when it was home to a runaway Queen of Hearts game. Plumped up early by fans on the way to nearby Eldora Speedway and increasing weekly through the drawing of forty-nine cards, the game paid out over 2.5 million dollars including $434,955 to local schools and other organizations. More details and some photos here. |
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On the short drive to the real trip starting point, I passed right by Old
Teegarden Cemetery, where many family members are buried, and made a brief
stop. Names may have been painted on the cement base when the water carved
stone was first set but they didn't last long. It's unknown whether or not
Granddad would approve of the fancy addition to his handpicked grave
marker, but the family thought it a good idea to do something before our
memories went the way of that paint. The plaque was added in 2015. The two
black and white photos were probably taken within a year or two of the
Florida trip. In the first, Frank and Gertrude's son-in-law, my
grandfather, stands between them. The second is of their daughter, my
grandmother, who received and saved Gertrude's letters. A more
conventional tombstone marks my grandparents' nearby grave.
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Granddad and Granny lived in Woodington when they made their trip to
Florida. Fore the 2001 trip, I did a little write-up on the unincorporated
cluster of buildings that is
here. I officially launched
today from the Congregational Christian Church which is the only
non-residence left in the town. It's the same place I began in 2001
although this time I had to take my own picture. In that write-up, I
mention that my great grandparents once lived in the house where Lowell
Thomas was born. It is unknown whether that's where they lived when they
made their big trip, but since I don't know of anything better, I'm going
to pretend they launched from this spot where the Lowell Thomas house once
stood. It's about six lots south of the church and three lots north of
where the railroad once ran.
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The Lowell Thomas House is now on the grounds of the Garst Museum in
Greenville where I stopped to get a current picture. While passing through
town, I also took pictures of the courthouse and the county fairgrounds
because that's what we did in 2001. I grabbed a picture of Annie Oakley
because that's what everybody else does. With Halloween a full four days
in the past, Annie's ready for Christmas. In 2001, we passed the
fairgrounds on the last day of the fair so captured lots of people at the
gate in that year's picture. It's a shot that could not have happened this
year with the fair a COVID causality.
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When Granddad and Granny crossed this bridge, it just a little more than
fifty years old. It will turn 154 on January 1.
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I'll close the day with a couple of roadside curiosities. The "tin
tepee" was associated with a gas station that operated near
Williamstown, Kentucky, in the 1950s. The small building and its Shell
sign are the most prominent bits that are left of Fisher's Camp near
Corinth, Kentucky. It operated through the '30s, '40s, and '50s.
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