Showing posts with label counties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label counties. Show all posts

Saturday, January 20, 2024

2021-06-25: Searching for Lake Erie Lighthouses in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio

Welcome back to our AwayWeGo's Adventure blog. While the motorhome was getting some work done in Indiana, my wife, her granddaughter and I took a road trip to Connecticut and back in the Jeep. For todays leg of our travel journey we added lighthouses to our "to-do" list as well as geocaching counties. So climb aboard the GeoJeep and let's go for a drive... 



Our first stop was along the shores of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County and the town of Dunkirk, New York. The St Hyacinth Cemetery (GC4013R) has over 4,000 internments dating back to 1880. Land was purchased for the St Hyacinth Parish in 1875 and the newly completed church dedicated in 1876. This land wasn't purchased until 1902 to become the church cemetery. The cemetery chapel was blessed in 1942.



On the north side of Dunkirk jutting out into Lake Erie is Point Gratiot. The Dunkirk Lighthouse (GC4KMHE) and Victorian keepers residence was constructed during 1875-76 to replaced an eroding first light from 1827. Bricks from the original keepers house was used for the foundation in building the new house. When the cylindrical light tower was moved next to the house, a square walled tower was constructed around it to better conform to the aesthetics of the house.



Driving down NY-5 along the lakefront, we arrived in the town of Barcelona for our next set of geocaches and another lighthouse. We first stopped by the Barcelona Harbor Pier. Took a nice look around, took some photos of the water, and grabbed a geocache here too (GC1RMBW).



Off the edge of the pier near the road stands the Barcelona Lighthouse and Keepers Residence (GC1RMBW, GC60BK0). The 40-foot tall Barcelona Lighthouse was constructed in 1829. It was the first natural gas lighthouse in the country and was part of the Federal Lighthouse System up until 1859. From then it had been under several private ownerships over the years until the early 2000's when it became a state historical site.



Moving down into Erie County, Pennsylvania, we visited our next lighthouse and geocache. Located on the shores of Presque Isle Bay on Lake Erie is the "Land Lighthouse." The 49-foot tall sandstone tower was constructed in 1866-67. There is an earthcache here due to the fossils that can be found in the sandstone (GC93AYG). This was the third lighthouse to be constructed at this location due to the previous two having structural instabilities. The light was in use until 1899.



A few blocks away is Dobbins Landing named after Captain Daniel Dobbins, an Erie Pioneer and Mariner who sailed the Great Lakes as a merchant ship master and naval officer. As we walked towards the Bicentennial Tower we got to watch a little pirate show taking place off the pier. The Scallywags Pirate Adventure Show is a tourist sightseeing ship on Lake Erie which had a pirate navigating a small dingy trying to cause trouble. This made for an entertaining few moments for those on board.



Located at the end of Dobbins Landing stands the Bicentennial Tower Observation Deck (GC890ME). It was built in 1996 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of Erie. The top observation deck stands 138 feet above Presque Isle Bay and provides spectacular 360 degree views up to 27 miles on a clear day.



Also nearby is the Erie Cemetery. We stopped by there before leaving town to attempt a Geocaching Adventure Lab (AL). Of the 40,000+ internments here I want to highlight this one. The Brown Mausoleum is more commonly known as "The Vampire Crypt." 

Local folklore says that a Romanian businessman was living inside the crypt. After his death of consumption, weird things began happening around Erie. The cemetery groundskeeper discovered that the man was living inside this crypt. The vault was then burned, the door chained, and the named chiseled off.


Moving over into Ohio, we continued our geocaching adventure along the Great Lakes. The first geocache was a quick parking lot park and grab cache (GC3NNRY) located in Ashtabula County.

The next two were in Lake County. The geocaches are located in the North Madison Cemetery (GC8JZDC, GC4CT2Z). According to the Find-A-Grave website, there are more than 2400+ internments dating back to 1811. In the midst of all the graves is the old maintenance shed. It looks kinda spooky itself.




It was getting late in the day so I found two more quick geocaches to pick up two more counties. The first was in the Mount Sinai Cemetery in Cuyahoga County (GCTNKW). There were over 2000 internments but I just found the geocache and moved on to the next. The final one was a light post cache in Geauga County (GC5FZGR).

That's it for today. Tomorrow we finish up Ohio and back into Indiana. Until then...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Friday, December 29, 2023

2021-06-24: More Sightseeing and Geocaching Cemeteries, Old Bridges, and Yard Art in Pennsylvania

In today's edition of the AwayWeGo's Adventures, with the RV still getting worked on, we spent another day in Pennsylvania sightseeing and geocaching. While out exploring today we found a couple of old bridges, a couple of cemeteries, and some custom auto art made of old cars and parts. Like the "Buzz Box" says: Look Inside by clicking on the link and seeing some of the unusual and creative pieces of yard art.



So yesterday was a lazy day off the road. We spent an extra day at the hotel to catch up on a weeks worth of laundry and just relax in front of the TV.

This morning after breakfast we drove west across Pennsylvania on I-80. North of Pittsburg, I exited the Interstate and drove north on US-19. On a previous road trip a few years ago we picked up US-19 on the south side of Pittsburg and drove it all the way down to Florida.

Driving north up the road, we caught a pair of racoons crossing the road. I had barely enough time to stop, grab the phone, and take a photo.





Our first geocaching stop was a little further up the road but still in Mercer County. In the town of Clarks Mills was the Perry Chapel Cemetery (GC51V01). The cemetery has just over 700 internments dating as far back as 1851.



About a mile up the road another geocache (GC51V05) brought me to this old railroad bridge across the Old Shenango River. I tried to find some historical information on this bridge but wasn't having any luck.





Taking another backroad about mile to the north of town and another geocache (GC51V0P) brings me to yet another old bridge. Only this time I did find some information on this bridge. The 82 foot long single span Pratt through truss bridge was built in 1885 by the Penn Bridge Company of Beaver Falls, PA. It is supposed to be demolished but hopefully it will never come to that. I like finding these old bridges.



Moving on up into Crawford County, I stopped for a geocache in the Johnston Cemetery (GC8Y2J3) near Keborts Corners. It's a small country cemetery with less than 100 internments dating back to the 1850's.



The final geocache of the day was a virtual cache and one that was on my bucket list for nearly ten years. But I'm just now getting around to this area of Erie County. Schaefer's Auto Art (GCJ8M8) was created by Dick Schaefer in 1988. Using his imagination while working in a junk yard, he began welding pieces and parts together to give them life.









Well that's it for today. Along with geocaching, tomorrow we add sightseeing stops at the Great Lakes lighthouses to our traveling journey.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Friday, December 22, 2023

2021-06-22: Ghost Hunting in a Haunted Cemetery While Geocaching in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut

Today's leg of our geocaching road trip adventure takes us from eastern Pennsylvania, through New York, and into Connecticut in search of a Haunted Cemetery. There's one thing I can say for sure about the northeast... too much traffic! We drove some nice backroads up here but even they were busy. Not a whole lot of stops today, but let us see if we can find some ghosts! Climb aboard the GeoJeep and let's go.

After breakfast this morning we hit the ramp to the Interstate. The next few counties I already had completed on my geocaching counties map. So we drove north on I-99 and then east on I-80 into Union County, Pennsylvania.

The last exit before leaving the county, I caught the off-ramp for a quick urban park-n-grab geocache in a parking lot (GC20E51). Then a few more miles later at a rest area in Montour County (GC2TVJG). Taking I-81 north and having all those counties already, the next stop is off I-84 eastbound. Another quick off exit geocache stop for Wayne County, PA (GC8NKGZ).

Finally next up in Pike County, PA, it was a 2-stage geocache at an interesting location. The Simons Town Cemetery (GC1JPJV) is a small well kept cemetery with just over 200 burials dating back to the early 1800's. This stone wall that outlines the boundary is original and approximately 200 years old. As for the geocache itself, I found the first stage but not the second. 





Crossing over into New York, it wasn't until we got into Putnam County that I made a quick exit off of I-84 for a parking lot geocache to claim that county (GC4ZZFV).

Now it was 6:00 in the evening before we finally made it to our destination. My wife and her granddaughter are fans of the "Annabelle", "The Conjouring" and similar paranormal movies. They like all those scary movies. To me... they're comedies. Mainly because of watching them jump, scream, and react to all scary scenes! They're having heart attacks, I'm laughing!

Well it was here in Greater Bridgeport County, Connecticut and in the small community of Upper Stepney that we come to our last geocache of the day. Located in the supposedly haunted Stepney Cemetery (GC40985) are the graves belonging to Ed (1926-2006) and Lorraine Warren (1927-2019). They were paranormal investigators and were highly regarded to be the leading experts of the supernatural.



They were frequently asked to give lectures and speak about the supernatural phenomena around the world. They consulted police investigations multiple times in relation to satanic ritualistic murders. Authors of many books, some which were made into movies, they were one of the few handpicked investigators who looked into the Amityville Horror Case and later consultants for the filming of the movie. He was one of only seven religious demonologists in the country.



The Stepney Cemetery, formerly known as the Birdsey's Plain Cemetery or the Beardsley Plain Cemetery, was officially established in 1794. The oldest headstone is that of Nathaniel W. Knapp from 1787. The "haunted" part comes in several folklore stories. The most common is that of the "Lady in White." A dark haired woman in a long white Victorian dress who supposedly originally buried in the Union Cemetery four miles away. Sometimes she makes her way here for a visit in the Stepney Cemetery. Some say she's looking for a lost love. Other stories say she was murdered and wants to reveal the guilty person. And another legend was that she was falsely accused of murdering her husband and wants to tell her side of the story. For our visit on this day, we didn't see any ghosts or strange activity.



As for the geocache, it was another cemetery DNF for the day. We "Did Not Find" any cemetery caches or cemetery ghosts today. And getting late, we decided head west and to get back to a more rural less congested area, grab some dinner and find a hotel.

Until we meet again...

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Friday, December 8, 2023

2021-06-20: Road Trip on the Historic Lincoln Highway US-30 East Through Ohio

Today is Day #1 of our road trip from Indiana to Connecticut and back to Indiana. We followed along the historical Lincoln Highway / US-30. We spent today driving across Ohio. There were plenty of geocaches to find, history to discover, cemeteries and old churches, and the original red brick road. So hop on board the GeoJeep and let's go for a ride.



Our first geocaching county stop was one of my favorites. A quick find at the Glenn Presbyterian Cemetery (GCRYA9) to fill in the map for Van Wert County, Ohio. I didn't spend any time walking through it and nothing caught my attention so a quick park and grab and on our way.



Passing through the southwest corner of Putnam County, I run up to the Mount Calvary Cemetery in Fort Jennings. There I find another quick geocache (GC7PTFR) to fill in that blank spot on the map. I noted a couple of graves there of veterans who were killed in combat during WWI and another in WWII. Just up the road was this historical marker at the location of the original Fort Jennings constructed in 1812.



Returning to the original Lincoln Highway / US30 alignment heading east through Allen County, I stop at this historical marker for my next geocache (GC28P2K) near the town of Gomer. Crossing the Ottawa River was this bridge built in 1927 by the Allen County Engineer's Office. It served locals and travelers alike for 75 years until it was removed and replaced in 2002.



I dropped south a couple of miles into Hardin County and the town of Dunkirk, Ohio. There wasn't much to see there other than the signs signifying the earliest alignment route for the Lincoln Highway from 1915-1918. It was also the location of my geocache (GC3D6BM).



Over into Wyandot County and the town of Upper Sandusky are my next two geocaches. The first was next to the Wyandot County Museum. The 1895 one-room schoolhouse (GC4MR4Z) was donated and relocated to here in the 1960's. Early in the 1970's it was restored, electric lighting and heat was installed. Looks like it was getting a new paint job when we had stopped by for a visit.



On the other side of town we made another quick stop for a geocache along an old section of the Lincoln Highway that still had the original red brick road surface (GC87GCE).



Driving further down the highway, before leaving the county, I spotted this old church with a historical marker out front and wanted to stop for a closer look. Traveling preachers began visiting this area of German settlers in the 1830's. The first log meeting house was built in 1845. This church building was constructed in 1861 and was known as the Salem Congregational Church. The bell and tower were added in 1906. While I was here I looked up and discovered there was a geocache here too. (GC1DP9D) Found it!



Oh, I haven't mentioned this in a while, but do you know what the difference is between a cemetery (below) and a graveyard (above)? A graveyard is a burial place outside of a church.

The next stop was in Crawford County for two geocaches at the Oceola Cemeteries #2 (GC2R99C) and #3 (GC1BHWR). Nothing caught my attention so just a quick photo and finding the caches.



We passed through Richland County because I already had that one completed. The next county needed along the Lincoln Highway was Ashland County. It was a quick stop for a geocache at the Zehner Cemetery (GC4GGKC). Then I skipped Wayne County and moved on into Stark County.

The Massillon Cemetery has over 15,000 burials dating back to the early 1800's, including several Civil War Medal of Honor Veterans. The Massillon Cemetery superintendent’s residence was constructed in 1879 of locally quarried stone. It served for a century as both the sexton’s family residence and the cemetery office; now only the office.



Near the entrance to the cemetery is this memorial statue honoring those who have served in the Civil War. Erected in the 1870's to centralize the location of the veterans. Many of those already buried and scattered throughout the cemetery were relocated around the statue.



Of course while I was here I found three of the numerous traditional geocaches (GC5YCV0, GC6V59K, GC7QGX4) that were hidden as well as completed the 5-stop Adventure Lab. There was a lot of history located at this cemetery. And many of these mausoleums built into the side of this hill made it look like a Hobbit community.



Before exiting the east side of the county near the town of Robertsville, I veered off of US-30 onto the old original Lincoln Highway alignment to grab another geocache (GC1WPE4) along a section of the old red-brick pavers which formed the roadway.



A few miles further down and another geocache (GC2388C) later, the original 1928 narrow bridge was replaced in 2002 with a wider modern bridge. The old red brick was reused to form the barrier walls of the new bridge.



While reaching for this geocache in the guardrail, I twisted in just the wrong way that it pinched a nerve in my back. Now it is hard to even get in and out of the Jeep. So the last cache planned for the day in the last county needed along the Lincoln Highway will just have to go unfound. Time for dinner and a hotel to rest my back.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

2021-06-18: Summer Road Trip to Buy Our "New-to-Us" Home and Geocaching Through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana

So here we are on this Day 3 of our 5300+ mile summer road trip from West Texas to Indiana to Connecticut, back to Indiana to Florida and ending in NE Texas. The main reason for this roadtrip is to look at and hopefully purchase our "new-to-us" home-on-wheels. Along the way, we'll be picking up as many new geocaching counties as we can and seeing some of the sites along the way. So hop on board the GeoJeep and let's go see what we can find.



Well we didn't quite make it out of Missouri yesterday. We stayed the night in the town of Sikeston in Scott County. We were going to have dinner at the famous Lambert's, where they throw the fresh rolls out to you. But we weren't up for the long lines and over an hour wait! So we came back this morning to grab the geocache (GC2JC3X) for the county and take some photos.







Driving east on US-60, we crossed over into Mississippi County. We stopped for a quick geocache (GC4KW34) in Bertrand for the county and kept moving.

Further down the road I spotted this roadside historical marker and had to stop for a photo. "Rev. Owen Whitfield with the support of local landowner, Mr. Thad Snow, and 1500 black and white sharecroppers camped here in harsh January weather several days in 1939 to protest the plight of Boot Heel sharecroppers. The event received national attention. Owen and Zella Whitfield met with Pres. Roosevelt and ultimately received his support for the cause. This community has dedicated January 10 as Thad Snow - Owen Whitfield Day."



My next three geocaches were all in one corner of a park. There was a virtual geocache (GC710E) and two earthcaches (GC1A369, GC1A36F). Fort Defiance State Park is right at the corner of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky as well as the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. It is also the lowest elevation point in Illinois.



On November 14, 1803, Lewis and Clark landed here with their Corps of Discovery party. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to explore and survey the recently purchased Louisiana Territory, their six days here was one of the longest stops made by the expedition. Their stay allowed Captain Meriwether Lewis to teach Captain William Clark how to navigate using a compass and a sextant. Because the 3rd Principal Meridian begins at the mouth of the Ohio River, astronomical observations at this point were crucial.



Above: nearly 175 million tons of goods are shipped via the Mighty Mississippi River each year. Below: Candy and her grand-daughter down at the southernmost point of Illinois and the convergence of the two rivers. The Ohio River is entering from the left. The Mississippi River enters from the right-rear and continues down to the far right.



Our last stop for today was just a few miles away in a town called Cache, Illinois (GCR01C). I can't find out much info on the community of Cache, IL other than it was laid out in January 1904. Found a newspaper article in April 1927 suggesting the town was flooded out. Then a few decades later the Cache River was rerouted to empty into the Mississippi River instead of the Ohio River. Whatever happened to the town, this bridge isn't singing anymore.



While researching the town for this blog, I came across some articles for a cemetery called "Seven Mile Graveyard" located between Cache and Cairo. The Find-A-Grave website had 7 memorials listed, but no photos. I came across another 8 newspaper articles of people that were buried there and added those memorials. Then I came across a more recent article of the cemeteries demise:

Excerpt from the Southern Illinoisan, April 30, 1999:
"The cemetery was incorporated in 1853. In 1878, many people who died in a yellow fever epidemic were buried there. By 1921, the cemetery was overgrown and unkempt. In 1955, the land was purchased and the cemetery was bulldozed and turned into a pasture, a piece of history turned to dust and memory."

So sad. Perhaps one day someone can further research local records and discover the location of the cemetery. Maybe even more names of those long forgotten souls can be discovered and added to the Find-A-Grave website. And if just one descendent can make that genealogical connection, even better!

Well we still had about 430 miles of driving to get to Decatur, Indiana by tonight. So the rest of my planned geocaches had to be bypassed. That's NOT something I like doing either. Tomorrow morning we go check out our potential new-to-us home-on-wheels!

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. And there's also my main website at AwayWeGo.US for the complete index of my traveling adventures going back to 2005. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: FacebookMeWeGabRedditTwitterGETTRInstagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.