Battle on the Ohio-Erie Canal

While the Civil War was primarily waged in the South there were skirmishes in Ohio, most notably Morgan's Raids into southern Ohio where a marker stands near a conflagration. But on an early fall weekend along the Ohio and Erie Canal, a battle waged that looked and felt like a step back into the 1860s.

Zoar Village is a living history village overseen by the Ohio Historical Society. Nestled along the Ohio and Erie Canal in northern Tuscarawas County, Zoar was a communal village that existed between the early 1800s and the late 1890s [see previous entry]. When you couple a historic village, replete with Victorian age homes and buildings that have been restored, with a passion for re-enacting the Civil War, you get a weekend unlike any other.

The Battle on the Ohio-Erie Canal puts over 1,000 re-enactors for a weekend encampment in this historic place. Camps were pitched throughout the town and as you walk the streets you could get a sense of real history. This is what many places looked like during those war-torn years. Fittingly the units portraying the north were camped along the northern edges of the village and the rebels the southern and western parts. While walking along one set of tents, marveling at how authentic the scene looked against a home built in the mid 1800s, you still can chuckle seeing a 2008 Mustang parked in the driveway.

What sets this re-enactment apart from many others is the air of authenticity of the village. It feels like this is the way things should look. Even a baby being pulled along in Victorian-age baby carriage did not seem to strike me as unusual. Although later walking through House #1 in the Village and the display in one room of Victorian baby gear (a kind of 1860s Babies R Us display) made me think of checking close to see if one of the carriages was missing.

Walking among the Sutlers (for non-Civil War folks, these are the merchants that trailed armies, selling them the wares they did not get from the Army), the sounds of a fife and drum unit demonstrating their military purpose could be heard wafting among the smells of kettle corn and other modern concessions. Certainly an unusual juxtaposition of vintage and contemporary! The care and detail the living historians take to present both military and civilian life in the Civil War is inspiring. These musicians range in age from elderly to juvenile and are as serious about their reproduction period pieces as any musician is about their modern instrument.

The earthen dam constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the village from flooding provided terrific theater seating for both demonstrations of artillery and cavalry fighting and the actual battle itself. A demonstration by the Battery A, 1st Ohio Statehouse was a special treat, as the highly polished bronze cannon is one of those on display of the ground of the Ohio Statehouse [see previous entry]. On Saturday night of the event weekend a dusk fire-off was held that provided the equivalent of a fireworks show for spectators. From a distance of about 30 miles I could hear the cannonade in my Stark County home!

It is a rare treat to watch a cavalry demonstration, as re-enacting is expensive enough to do as an infantry unit but a unit with horses brings a new level of cost and care [see previous entry]. The 6th Ohio Cavalry portrays both Yankee and Rebel units and demonstrated several cavalry tactics and manuevers, which was no small feat on the slope of a hill and a small plateau rife with gopher holes.

It is amazing to see how well trained the horses are and can only imagine and the sheer number of these animals used during the actual war. The unit spokesperson who led the public through the demonstration while on his own horse equated the use of the animal to how we treat our cars today. Cavalry horses were worked hard and not necessarily treated any better than the old beat up Chevy in the driveway. It was also neat to see just how much fun the re-enactors had in engaging each other in this demonstration.

The terrain offered a great, albeit condensed, view of how many of the battles during the Civil War played out. A Union skirmish line took on advancing Confederates, who wove through a field of goldenrod to reach the battlefield. The open fields offered a great vantage point to see the tactics of the time. Cannon exploded from the hilly and wooded slopes surrounding the field, adding an air of authenticity from a visual, acoustic and aromatic standpoint.

It is a combination that needs to be experienced: the authentic village hosting authentic living historians. Although it occurs bi-annually, it is well worth a day, if not two, to wander the village, order some bread from the still operating bakery, spend a night in a historic bed and breakfast and absorb all that was during a time very long ago when advancing armies engaged each other not far from a crossroads in America.

- J.

The Great (insert ethnicity) Festival of Ohio!

Ohio is home to many different ethnicities in large part due to its geographical placemark in the history of our nation. While early settlers found Ohio a great wilderness, the movement westward during the 1800's saw the state rise to prominence as lake (Erie) and river systems (Ohio) were connected by a series of canals. Railroads later continued the criss-cross of people through our state and with the explosion of industrialization of the 20th century, the coal mines and steel mills (see Youngstown monument right, click to enlarge) brought even more unskilled immigrant laborers into the state.

All of this growth, from building canals, railroads and mining the ores that fueled the steel, and later, automotive industries, Ohio is awash with nationalities from all over the globe. It is a tribute to these "Little Italies" and "German Villages" (see German Village photo left, click to enlarge) that each summer festivals dot the state honoring the different ethnic heritages. You can literally pick a nationality and attend a festival celebration unique to that culture.

Early July brought two competing Italian Festivals to northeast Ohio, one in downtown Akron and the other at the Stark County fairgrounds. Akron's downtown festival was full of the typical vendors of Italian fare, offered live music, inflatables and even the strolling accordian musician (see right, click to enlarge).

Akron's festival was centered at Lock 3 (see left, click to enlarge), located between the historic Civic Theater and the former O'Neil's Department store (wiki history, photo) -- now a parking deck, law offices and two bar's on the Main Street frontage. A former lock along the Ohio and Erie Canal, Lock 3 has been turned into a open air event venue. Winter brings German artisans at the annual ChrisKindl Market along with ice skating on a large outdoor rink. Summer brings a stage and camp-chair seating for many live musical and arts events throughout the summer.

Staged along Main Street were vendors featuring many Italian dishes (see right, click to enlarge). The vendors included the local and regional Italian organizations as well as vendors of all types of food and merchandise. As tempting as it might be, it was hard on this day to partake in typical fair food such as snow cones, dippin' dots or waffle fries when there were cannoli and calzones for the taking.

An impromptu parade flowed through the vendor row on Main Street on the final day of the festival, as two historic 60's era cars (see left, click to enlarge) with the festival court pre-empted the Budweiser Clydesdales (see below right, click to enlarge). It was a neat juxtaposition of two very different, yet very similar, modes of transportation offering heavy horsepower. Despite their youth and beauty, the three festival queens may have been upstaged by the dalmation roaming atop the Budweiser wagon.

A car show was also part of the festival, with a handful of cars from the '50s through modern times, including several eye-popping red Ferrari's. But even the speedy sportsers couldn't match the ambience of a '60 Oldsmobile that personified a different time and place in Ohio with a little car-hop tray sitting atop the window with a meal and a Big Boy doll set atop (see right, click to enlarge).

But pick your ethnicity and you can transpose this festival to many big and little towns through the state throughout the year, as festivals celebrating German, Polish, Irish, Russian, Slavic, Greek and other heritages dot the countryside. The hometown feel of each is unique and part of what makes Ohio unique as well.

J.

Zoaring above it all

In 1817 a group of German separatists took root in Tuscarawas County not far from the river of the same name. They formed a commune and until 1898 successfully separated not only from the German Lutheran religion, but also somewhat from American society as well. A visit to Zoar Village (see right, click to enlarge) brings you into a world almost unto itself, even in the modern 21st century.

Located about 45 minutes south of Akron and not far off I-77 (map), Zoar offers a glimpse of life in the 1800s that was a simpler time fraught with long hours of hard work. But it is a village that sheds the contemporary for its history. Residents are allowed to operate stores on their property, but only if they reside at that location. It increases the dedication of those who live there to the village and the care is evident. There are no rundown, blighted old properties in the village.

Due to Ohio Historical Society budget cuts, legislated by the Ohio General Assembly and done at a deep and lasting manner, the extent of guided tours may be limited and inconsistent with printed or web-posted literature. A guided tour offers a costumed interpreter detailing the nature of the Zoar commune as well as the individual jobs at various buildings.

House #1 is a large brick building that was originally intended for the aged as they moved to a later stage in life. A senior assisted living facility as it were. However stubborn seniors of the day tended to refuse moving into the facility. Wide entries and hallways with extremely high ceilings give a vast open feel to the rooms. Each room today displays various aspects of the Zoarites culture, from baby carriages, clothing, typical bedrooms to even musical instruments including a massive pipe organ. Through a breezeway the kitchen and laundry facilities can be found (see left, click to enlarge).

Several of the homes around Zoar feature clay roofing tiles that were kilned in Zoar (see right, click to enlarge). They have a striking resemblance to cedar shakes. Bricks were also kilned in the village and many pottery items were made there as well. Zoar was quite the self-sufficient commune in many senses of the word.

Central to the town are the gardens, which have religious symbolism in the planning (see left, click to enlarge). At the center tree rises to heaven as the Tree of Life or Christ, surrounded by hedge represnting heaven and 12 others trees which symbolize the 12 apostles. Paths lead from outside the gardens to the center and are representative of the paths people walk in life. At the edge of the garden is an innovative greenhouse, including a furnace that piped in heat via terra cotta pipes from a basement to the main greenhouse.

The bakery still operates on weekends and the freshly baked bread is a local favorite and quite popular (see right, click to enlarge). A large and smaller oven originally produced hundreds of loaves a day. Frequently on their way home children would stop into the bakery to bring home bread to the family. At times it was even passed out the front windows.

Bread making was often a slow process, as a Starter was created and fermented (see left, click to enlarge) many months for the sourdough bread that is so popular in the village. Starters were often begun in January. Men often also cut wood in January as it was the time sap was lowest in the tree (making it easier to cut) and would dry faster for use later in the year.

The blacksmith and tinsmith were two of the more highly skilled trades operating in the village. The tinship shop today (see right, click to enlarge) is loaded with a plethora of highly specific tools for various types of products. While seemingly frail and flexible, many of the tools added strength and durability to the product making it lightweight and built for longevity.


The Springs building (see left, click to enlarge) is one of the locations tin products can be seen as used. Spring water was fed into the room below and behind the town's general store and into pools that drained very slowly. Milk from the adjacent dairy was placed in tin containers in the Spring building to cool and to have the cream skimmed for use in making butter. Each house number was stamped on the tin container denoting the family's milk for the day.

Preservation efforts turned the run-down, decrepit dairy building into a beautifully restored masterpiece over several years between 1988 and 1992. Today the Zoar Community Association preserves and educates about the time, place and principles of the Zoarites.

While some buildings, such as the Treasurers House (see first photo of this essay), are privately owned and not part of a guided tour, others are open to the public regardless of any touring. The former Town Hall (and Firehouse) houses, on separate floors, a learning center and museum that includes Zoar's involvement in the building of the Ohio and Erie Canal through the region (see rleft, click to enlarge).

While state funding continues to decline and slow to a trickle, here's hoping that Zoar continues to soar as a living piece of the history of Ohio for the future to understand how the past created the present.

- J.

Then and now: Seeing Ohio at 5 mph

Ohio grew from a wild, frontier state to a commercial hub during the 1840s thanks to the building of the Ohio & Erie Canal from Lake Erie at Cleveland to Portsmouth on the Ohio River. The earlier creation of the Erie Canal in upstate New York made it possible to ship goods from the Atlantic the west (at that time Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois) quicker and cheaper. Goods then could flow from the west down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic.

Akron, Massillon, Newark, Chillicothe and Portsmouth all became hubs of activity and grew by leaps and bounds thanks to the canal system. Today when many drive through some of these towns, or other smaller ones, and wonder "why is this city here" or "why are there so many century homes in this town" it is very likely due in part to the canals. Mills especially thrived along the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers that fed the canals. (see left, click to enlarge)

The superhighway of its time, traveling the canal wasn't exactly like driving with the top down in a roadster clipping along at 7o mph with the wind whipping through your hair. Canal travel topped out at about 5 mph as your mule or horse pulled you through still water along the towpath. But unlike travel elsewhere over land, this was flat, continuous movement.

Today Ohio has been blessed with several organizations and societies (Ohio & Erie Canalway, Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, Nation Heritage Corridor, Visitor's Guide) that have preserved and reworked canal sections and opened them for tourism and recreation. One of the popular destinations in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park is the Towpath trail (see below, click to enlarge), that follows the old Ohio & Erie Canal. Hikers and Bikers hit the trail in large numbers to take in sun, shade, wildlife, plantlife and a lot of history. Those walking the trail are not far removed from the "speedy" 5 mph pace of days of yore.

The Ohio & Erie Towpath is a stretch of over 100 miles of crushed limestone, asphalt or even at times wood planked boardwalk from Cleveland to New Philadelphia (map of trail, detailed towpath descriptions). As of 2009 there are small sections that are incomplete or require sharing the road with automobiles, but for the most part you can travel a protected and scenic trail the entire route (towpath construction updates here).

Many of the old locks, which were used to elevate a boat to the next canal level, still exist in some form (see left, click to enlarge). Most are identified and have a learning station with historic photos included. At many locks one can walk on, around and between the thick, chiseled rock walls of the lock. Some are 10-15 feet tall, others are massive structures of 30 feet or more high.



At Peninsula, the Cuyahoga River actually passes below the canal. What may seem odd today, they actually built aqueducts to carry the canal over rivers, and the sharp turn the river makes at the remants of Lock 29 clearly show the labor and materials needed. One can walk deep inside this tall lock and marvel and the cut stone and even read at learning station that masons would mark their stones for quality assurance, in this case with Roman numerals. (see right, click to enlarge)

Lock 29 in Peninsula is a popular jumping on point to canal towpath. Located on Route 303, it is a short drive from either State Route 8 or I-271 to reach the historic town of Richfield (map) and Peninsula. Bikes can be rented here for a towpath ride. Along the towpath you also can see the mode of transportation that made the Age of Canals short lived. A major rail line mirrors the canal and is used by the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway for historic and picturesque tours of the valley. On weekends bike riders can hop on the train with their bikes for a few dollars and ride back to their starting point.

Heading north from Lock 29 towards Cleveland, a few miles walk or pedal will bring you below two massive bridges that span the valley as they carry vehicular traffic on the Ohio Turnpike and I-271. For those with a love of architecture, the towpath offers many different bridges to marvel at. Beyond the two recently rebuilt bridges over the valley, there is also a large span on Route 82 near Brecksville that is near the Rock Bridge trailhead in southern Cuyahoga County. An iron bridge carries foot and bike traffic from the trailhead parking to the towpath. (see left, click to enlarge)

Further towards Cleveland, two suspension bridges were built to safely move towpath travelers over busy roads in Valley View (see left, click to enlarge). All along the towpath, great care and forethought was made to keep the towpath protected. Along the Akron stretch two bridges have been built, one a steel span that crossed the busy innerbelt highway system and another south of town is a floating Brazilian wood deck that resolved the issue of purchasing private right-of-way along Summit Lake. In southern Stark County, near Bolivar, a bridge was built to carry towpath traffic over I-77.

For the visitor who wants to learn more of the history of the canal, there are four important stops to make along the towpath in each of the three most northern counties of the canal. Just south of Downtown Cleveland, the Canalway Visitor center (see right, click to enlarge) is a trailhead and two-room museum to Canal, the Cuyahoga River and the economic history both had in Northeast Ohio. A short video loop is informative and the exhibits are very family-friendly.

In Summit County two stops are easily accessible in one day for the moderate biker. Both are general stores and likely stops on different days during the canal era. Today they are about 10 miles apart and both offer a restored look at history.

Just a stone's throw from the Boston Mills ski area, the Boston Store (see left, click to enlarge) serves as a rest break along the towpath but offers a small museum to the canal era. The back of a canal boat has been constructed in cut-away style to show the size and the inner workings of the stern. Hands on exhibits allow you to build the ribs of the boat and a diorama gives a realistic vision of a busy lock area. Next door is a mid 20th Century garage and gas station that today serves as an art gallery. Ice cream and natural snacks can be found across the street.

Just outside of downtown Akron is Mustill's General Store (see right, click to enlarge). While serving as another trailhead for the towpath, this store has been carefully restored to it's 1840s look when it was a thriving business (see related news story). The sharp rise in the geography from the Cuyahoga Valley to the "summit" in Akron led to a series of over 20 locks. Making your way through Akron would take some time and hence the growth of Akron resulted from overnight stops and general shopping while waiting to traverse the locks. Mustills also offers interactive exhibits and photos of the thriving general store business during the height of the canals.

To see how a town was impacted by the rise and fall of the canals, visit Canal Fulton in northern Stark County. Many historic buildings still exist and there is a small town, historic charm to the main street along the canal. But it is also evident to see how a community changed once a town was bypassed after the canal era ended. Canal Fulton is a popular trailhead, there is a small museum here as well, plus a picnic, park and top-notch ice cream parlor open during warm weather months.


A mile south from this trailhead along the towpath is Lock 4 (see above, click to enlarge), which may be the best location along the canal today to see what a typical lock would look like. While not operational, the gates for the lock have been rebuilt and the lockkeepers station house, a well-built brick building, still stands. While empty with no plans evident for the historic building, Lock 4 is a trailhead with a well-manicured park and Ohio historic marker explaining the canal system.

One can take a ride on a reproduction canal "packet" boat -- one used primarily to haul freight -- on a two-mile round trip down the canal that begins in Canal Fulton and turns around here at Lock 4. The boat, the St. Helena III (see right, click to enlarge), is at times is pulled by pair of horses and at times by a large motorized farm tractor. The St. Helena sometimes has difficulty navigating the canal as plant life growing in the water make it hard for the animals to pull. The State of Ohio is responsible for maintaining waterways and the one-mile stretch of canal is not top priority.

While the rapid growth of the rail system in the 1850's impacted the value of the canal, it was still in use until 1913, when massive flooding in Northeast Ohio rendered the canal economically impractical to restore. Along the towpath you can see the remnants of the many hours of manual labor, and where the still water allows for wildlife to take refuge.

One wonders if the during the 1830's while sections of the canal were being carved from the soil, if the low-paid, unskilled, primarily immigrant labor pool would have envisioned thousands of hikers and bikers each year traveling along the canal for fun and fitness? At 5 mph, it's not a bad way to see Ohio.

- J.