Today I finished all of the NCT miles in Ohio! My total is at about 4082. (I'll double check it when I get home with my spreadsheet.) I had a GREAT time, and met some wonderful people. I'll tell you more in the next few days and also respond to the many great comments you have left while I was hiking. I'll be home on Saturday, and will then have more time to get caught up with blog stuff.
It's also a great day for another North Country Trail hiker. Nimblewill Nomad has finished his thru-hike today, by completing the SHT in Minnesota. I'll do an entry about that at North Country Trail News in a few minutes.
One of the great people I met helped me spot my car for one of my hiking days. He is also a local history buff, which I love, so he drove me all around showing me some of the interesting sites.
One of the places he took me (near but not on the NCT) was to see all that is left of a home called Buckeye Station. It was (depending on who you believe) the oldest, the second oldest, one of the oldest frame houses (not a log cabin) to be built in Ohio. The boards were all sawed of buckeye wood. It stood on a high bluff above the Ohio River near Manchester, and was built by General Nathaniel Massie in 1797.
Is this sad or what? Do you see a house? No, I'm sure you see a cell tower. Let me help you a bit.
Now, if you look just to the left of the regular utility pole you can see just a hint of some horizontal lines where some of the house is still standing. I climbed through the weeds to get the next two pictures... just a corner of what must have been the fireplace and chimney, and then a corner of the house with a few of the boards.
The family wanted to donate the house to the state, but the state wanted enough land to create some sort of park or preserve or something, and the family only wanted to give them something like 3 acres, so nothing was done, and now it's just another cell tower site. Less than 100 feet away, at the edge of the cliffs that fall off to the Ohio River is this "lane," which is still clearly visible.
This is a former stagecoach road which led up from Manchester, which was originally known as Massie Station (also for General Massie)
Gotta catch some Z's! Thanks for stopping by! I promise I'll visit your sites when I get home!
See what Buckeye Station still looked like in the 1940s at the Ohio Historical Society
Glad you had a ggod hike in Ohio. I haven't been to that area of Ohio in ages may need to make a trip
ReplyDeleteI love your journeys, I get to go with you :) Thanks
ReplyDeleteI would not have spotted the house unless you zoomed in. But nature reclaims the land so much faster than we think it can.
ReplyDeleteThese cell towers are a necessary thing, but it's a shame to see them in such awkward places. We have one near me that they dressed up like a huge tree.
ReplyDeleteJoe- Shawnee SF has lots of rec opportunities, and just driving the back roads can reveal many interesting sites.
ReplyDeleteGlynis- I'm happy to have you come along!
Julia- I know... I had already been told where to look, but when I saw the picture it was nearly invisible!
Ratty- I've heard about those ones that look like trees.
Wow..thought I was pretty up to speed regarding Massie's many accomplishments and place in Ohio history; but I don't recall ever reading this. How sad, and short sighted of the State not to accept the gift, preserve house etc. Which then makes me wonder if the claims regarding the house aren't accurate or well substantiated thus their interest was less? Hum, though it wouldn't be the first time history was lost due to some red tape, or oversite on someone's part.
ReplyDeleteIt is odd though that we both gave this gentlemen notice on our blogs. Thanks for the heads up so I could read your post.
Anyone else interested...please pop over to my travel blog regarding Chillicothe.
Sandy
my feet hurt reading your miles.
Hi Sandy- Well, it's in the county history book, and I saw local art work of what it looked like just 10 years ago. So I didn't really check the pedigree of the documentation, but it seems genuine
ReplyDelete