Searchin'

 Thinking about all the things that can be found in near-by areas, I came up with quite a list. The amount of “cool finds” is limited only by your own imagination.

    In our travels, we have discovered old ruins where houses used to stand along with barns and sheds barely standing. Old abandoned bridges crossing streams and rivers, ghost signs barely perceptible on the walls of buildings and stores and shops, abandoned to the elements. We’ve found religious statues covered in dirt and vines, forgotten in the backyards of empty churches. We’ve searched out and found piles of rocks which once were used as furnaces to make iron.

    Our geocaching adventures have taken us to fantastic views from the tops of cliffs and have brought us to hidden waterfalls deep in forest valleys. We once came to a spot where an airplane had crash landed and not far away was an old mill stone quarry, the stones laying in piles, some half finished, all covered with leaves, small saplings and weeds. We’ve found old cars and even trolleys sitting in the woods. Huge limestone mines and tunnels, no longer used except by explorers and graffiti artists.

    There are so many things hidden in the hills and woods and alongside the roads of the tri-state area. All you have to do is go out and look for them.

    We’ve stopped to look at old construction equipment, rusting away beside the road. I’ve photographed old tractors with trees growing through their frames, farmhouses made of logs and collapsing with the weight of time, good for nothing except a person with a camera. We never know what we might come across.

    This past Friday, Ann Marie and I took another trip. We headed to the west towards Weirton, West Virginia. There were a few geocaches I had in mind to look for and there were also ruins of old steel mills that might be photogenic. I also had the general location of an old iron furnace that we’d try to find. Anything else we came across would be an added bonus.

    The day was loosely planned, our route was open to change, it all depended on what we came across. Weirton isn’t far from Pittsburgh, less than an hour drive. We entered the town shortly after 9. Our first stop was at a restaurant where we got some breakfast. Specializing in biscuits, we both had breakfast sandwiches. Properly fueled, we headed towards our first geocache.

    The Veterans Memorial Bridge was opened in 1990. It is like no other bridge in the surrounding area. Suspended by cables strung from a high center tower, it was the third bridge of this type in the world when it was built! The cache was very close to it. We needed to find some numbers and they would tell us where the cache was hidden.

    We walked up a gravel road and found the numbers we needed written on the back side of a guard rail. A walk of about a ¼ mile brought us to the end of the Veterans Bridge. The cache was hidden about 10 yards away from the bridge, a view that very few of the drivers crossing the bridge ever see. 

    We returned to the car happy, we got some fresh air, a nice walk and a successful find. We then headed towards the northern end of town to see what was left of the old steel mills. Sadly, most of the buildings were gone, torn down leaving only a few unremarkable buildings, lots of pipes and wide empty fields.

    We were driving on Main Street but it didn’t look like one. Open empty lots were on one side with a wall and fences on the other. The buildings were all gone, only a couple houses remained, it was mostly scrubby lots alongside a dirty brick road. There was hardly anything that showed how industrious this area used to be. Closer to the center of town the mills are still in operation but here it is another story.

    Driving up the hill we came to another cache. Hidden on a hillside covered with weeds and jagger bushes, I scrambled up to where I found some partially covered cement steps and some yellow brick walls. This spot was once someone’s front yard. The brick walls lined their sidewalk, now they were slanted and falling down, their only purpose now was to hide a geocache. 

    Not far away was another remnant of the mills, some sort of tower. The temptation to climb it was strong but I managed to resist it!

    A short drive then took us to the Peter Tarr Furnace. Built in the late 1700’s and working until 1815, all that’s left is the stack. Finding it wasn’t as tough as we imagined. It was sitting right beside the road, looking sort of like a decoration for the housing plan beside it. Reading up on it, we found out it has been rebuilt twice. What makes it interesting is that it is round as compared to the normal (?) square pyramid shaped furnaces. 

    We were a bit disappointed when we found it; it is built around a steel corrugated pipe and held together with modern cement. The “neatness” of it sort of takes away from the historic aspect of the location.

    We’ve found piles of stones hidden by trees and weeds, stones which once were a point in history. I would feel excited after finding them, feeling as if I was the first one to find them. Perhaps I was, the first in a year or two or maybe even decades. This furnace posed no problems, its neat shape was sitting right beside the road, we rounded the curve and there it was.

    We were still happy finding it; it was another furnace to add to our list!

    Crossing the Ohio River and entering Ohio, we headed north into East Liverpool. We drove around the town looking for a spot to get some coffee and some lunch. We saw lots of ghost signs and plenty of nice buildings, built in a time where decorations were commonly added. Nice decorative woodwork over the windows and doors and inset balconies set in between windows adorned many of them. Victorian types of gingerbread and cupolas, it was enjoyable driving around the town. 

    While driving along a brick street below a highway I caught a glimpse of something behind an old, bedraggled building, it looked like a furnace. Luckily, the traffic was nonexistent, and we were able to back up to see what we nearly missed. It was a large bottle kiln sitting behind the building. Used in the pottery industry these kilns, named after their shape, were commonplace in the town. 

    Trying to find more information about them, I found that they tended to be rather dangerous. Fires were often started resulting in factories burning down. We explored around it and the building, took a few pictures and then headed across the river, back into West Virginia.

    A quick stop at “The Largest Teapot in the World” for a snapshot (Hmmm, have they ever been in Bedford??) and then we headed towards Pennsylvania and home.

    Four caches searched for and four found, 100%, can’t complain about that! We found the furnace we were looking for, even though it wasn’t as exciting as we had hoped. We also found a pottery kiln that we weren’t expecting. We saw nice views of bridges and the Ohio River and enjoyed exploring the river towns we passed through on a nice day. It turned out to be a great trip!

    Why do we search for these things? Is it our curiosity, our yearning to learn more about our history or just the enjoyment of being out on the road together, enjoying each other’s company? Perhaps it is all of these things! There is so much more out there waiting to be found and seen and we will keep looking for them as long as we are able. It is fun and exciting following the impromptu maps in our heads and finding out where they lead us!

    (I just saw an article about another iron furnace we haven’t seen yet in Clearfield County. Hmmmm…could be another road trip in the near future!)

Alongside the Roads

 In the early days of automobile travel, often on poorly maintained roads, towns and businesses had a desire to pull visitors into their establishments. The tourists provided income to the local stores and people, visitors, were always welcomed. Gas stations and restaurants were frequent draws since both types of fuel were necessary for any trip.

    During long trips, stops would help break up the monotony. Places started advertising along the roads to bring people in. If there was something “interesting” in the town, it was that much better.

    We’ve all seen the “Wall Drugstore” bumper stickers. The town of Wall has been described as the geographic center of nowhere. To draw customers in, they put signs up offering free ice water. What once was a small store in an almost deserted town has become a HUGE store, pulling in a million visitors a year.(?) Dare I say…"tourist trap", but still, it's a break in a long trip.

    Roadside attractions, they can be a big draw! There is a house in Eastern Pennsylvania shaped like a shoe, built by a shoe company.  The World’s Biggest Ball of String, the World’s Largest Tea Pot or The Smallest Church in America, they are all over the place, all you need to do is search them out! Within the last year, Ann Marie and I found a fork in the road, a six foot high fork sitting in an intersection. We had to stop and look at it!

    This last week, Ann Marie and I were on the road again, this time driving out past the center of Indiana to visit her relatives. We passed a few interesting sites and even took a few detours to visit some others.

    Crossing the state of Ohio, we exited the highway at Zanesville to see their unique Y-Bridge. Built originally in 1814, it crosses the Muskingum River. It has an intersection in its middle where it splits, allowing three ends to the same bridge. The current bridge is the 5^th one built here. 

The third one, built in 1832 was a covered bridge.

    While roaming around the bridge, we came across a railroad drawbridge and a canal beside the river. We never know what we might find!

    We also visited Zane Grey’s house while we were in the town. He was a writer of western novels and stories such as Riders of the Purple Sage.

    Back on the highway, we passed a robot holding the sign for a metal supplier and a couple bowling pins that were a couple stories high. After we crossed the Indiana state line we passed “The World’s Largest Candle”. We had previously stopped for pictures, so we kept moving.

   In Paragon, some say this is where John Dillinger started his crime career, whether that’s the case remains to be seen!  About 25 miles to the NW of Ann Maries brother’s house was another “place of interest”, The House of Bells.

    It took us a bit longer to get there due to a bridge being out just a mile or so away from it. A detour of about 7 or 8 miles got us there... eventually. Passing fields recently harvested, we came to a section of trees and there was the place we were looking for.

    Bought at auctions, this collection is comprised of bells, anchors, chains and windmills. I’m guessing that nothing has been added in years if not decades. The owners have passed on and the property is cared for by relatives. We met one of them who was cutting grass and raking leaves. He allowed us to roam around and ring a few of the bells. They are covered with lichen and haven’t been cleaned in ages. They are showing their age. There is no order to the collection; they seem to be placed as they were bought. A big tree has fallen onto some of them. The clappers are still loose, and they sound good! It took us a little over an hour out of our way but we both feel that it was worth the effort! They may be gone soon.

    It's little places such as these that stick in our memories. I can remember another spot like this, I believe it was called Bell Acres. Located somewhere near Freeport, we would pass it occasionally when we’d go to visit my mother’s relatives. Rumors had it that every 4^th of July the public was allowed to come by and ring the bells. As a kid, I dreamed about doing that. By the time I was old enough to drive, it had disappeared. It may be gone but it’s still there, stuck in my memories!

    Coming back through Ohio we dropped into the southern half and searched for a few charcoaled fired iron furnaces. The Hanging Rock area was the center of Ohio’s iron production in the 1800’s. We visited 3 sites. They were right alongside the roads.

The first was the Hope Furnace located near Zaleski. As we neared the site, I realized that we had been there about two years ago when we were looking for the remains of Moonville, a ghost town. (It’s a small world) It is in fairly good shape and has some nice signs describing how furnaces worked. The furnace was built in 1854 and was shut down in 1874, twenty years later.

    Our second furnace was the Buckeye Furnace near Wellston, Ohio. This furnace was reconstructed decades after it shut down in 1894. It produced iron for 42 years.

(Internet picture from aprox. 1940)

    When reconstruction started around 1972, all that was there was the stack. This was one of the best furnaces we have seen. 

    We stopped to find one more, this one was The Lincoln Furnace, located about 5 miles from The Buckeye site. We didn’t have any idea of what this furnace looked like or exactly where it was. There was a geocache that was supposed to be within sight of it. We found the cache but not the furnace. 

(Internet picture)

    Later research showed that it was built into a cliff face. The Lincoln furnace was built in 1855 and produced iron until 1885, a total of 30 years. Not bad for a furnace dug into a hill! We had been looking for a pyramid shaped pile of stones, I guess our furnace finding genes just weren’t working. Then again, it might have been the idea that home was just a few hours away…

    We were so close in our search…but not close enough! For some reason I feel as if there might be another trip into Southern Ohio in my future!

    We left Ann Marie’s house at 5AM on Tuesday and returned at 5PM on Saturday, 108 hours later. Our little jaunts to these sites made the trip a little more interesting, they broke up the long highway times and they also stimulated our curiosity and imagination. We both agreed, they make it much more fun than a simple, straight through drive. We’re always happy to get back home but we’re also, always looking forward to the next trip…and the next roadside attractions we’ll come across!