We left our lodgings in Ft. Wayne and set out to locate the grave of Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman). He is buried in a grave in a small park as the sole gravesite.
John Chapman was born in 1774 and the common image is that he went about randomly planting apple trees. However, he mainly planted apple orchards and sold trees to settlers. He lived a nomadic existence and was well thought of.
Johnny Appleseed (Click the link)
After visiting this gravesite, we headed east on Route 30 and the Lincoln Highway that follows a very difficult to trace path throughout this area. The route does not follow a single highway number, and Route 30 is a realignment of the original Lincoln Highway. Still, Route 30 served as a way to return to the path when we would get lost on the original highway, which was easy to do.
The road took us through a lot of small towns with great historic districts.
Ft. Wayne ---> Van Wert led us to a great French Style City Hall in Van Wert with an old style breakfast place next door that served extremely hot coffee. In California, the owner would have been sued by someone for burning their tongue at the very least.
Next, we encountered the Miami and Erie Canal in the town of Delphos. This town was land locked and they used this canal to transport goods from Toledo, OH to Cincinnati, OH. This created a water route from Lake Erie to the Ohio River. Currently, portions have been filled in for various business parking lots. This small town does not have the funds to restore the canal to its former glory. It is amazing that the locks still hold water.
Lock on the canal
There is also a great history museum in this town that is worth seeing. Admission is free with a donation jar at the exit.
Early vacuum cleaners - pull on the handle to create suction.
Earline admiring vintage quilts
A "Magic Lantern" projector
An early foot x-ray machine for fitting shoes. Remember the Buster Brown stores radiating little boys testicles?
The museum from the street
After Delphos, we went to Lima, OH, then Upper Sandusky, Bucyrus, Mansfield, Ashland, Wooster, East Liverpool and finally to Pittsburgh. The travel was slow at points and much of the scenery repeated itself with small farms, and little towns with old buildings of similar architecture. Still, it was very interesting to travel roads off the Interstate highway system.
Earline makes the most of relaxing after a day of riding in the car! We decided to get off the road at Green Tree, just north of Pittsburgh, because of intense traffic congestion at 6 PM.
Tomorrow we move toward Gettysburgh to visit the battlefields for the 150 year celebration.
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