It is Friday and, boy, have I had a busy week in southern Ohio!  Sallie Jayne is my girlfriend from nursing school.  We went to Springfield Community Hospital School of Nursing in Sprinfield, Ohio.  When I arrived in Piketon, Ohio, on Tuesday, Sallie was afraid that there was not much to show me in southern Ohio but she was sooooo wrong!  It is kind of like the idea that everyone has a story and I find it is the same for places. Every place has a story to tell. So the first place we went to see was Portsmouth, Ohio.        
        As usual, I was distracted and now it is Monday, July 14th, and now just getting back to completing this entry.  Portsmouth is on the Ohio River and Scioto River.  Sallie took me on Wednesday, July 9th, to tour around the city. It was once a thriving city in the first half of the 20th century with shoe factories, steel mills, etc., but boom times have long past and it is just now starting to make somewhat of a comeback.  The Erie canal that ran from Lake Erie to the Ohio River was a vital part of Portsmouth in the 1800's.  Portsmouth also played an important link in the Underground Railroad.
          When Sallie and I arrived in Portsmouth she took me to the floodwall murals.  Even though the city was built on high ground, it still had floods occasionally and after an especially devastating flood in 1937 a floodwall was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers.  In 1993 a nonprofit organization commissioned mural artist, Robert Dafford and the result was over 60 murals 20 feet tall spanning a length of 2000 feet.  At the beginning of the murals is a short introduction and a phone number is available for a self guided tour that tells about each mural.  I highly recommend anyone taking time to see these murals. It is well worth the trip to Portsmouth! View a few of the murals at end of this blog entry.
         On Thursday Sallie took me to Adena Mansion and Gardens in Chillicothe, Ohio.  Adena was home to Thomas Worthington (1773-1827) who was the sixth governor of Ohio and one of the first United States senators for Ohio. During Worthington's life time, Adena was a 2000 acre estate and the Mansion was built by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and is currently only one of three homes still standing built by Latrobe.  Latrobe is considered the first professional American architect and was the architect for the United States Capital. (Information obtained from the Adena Mansion website)  What fascinated me was the blue ceilings troughout the mansion.  When our guide was asked about this she said this kept wasps from nesting in the house. When I was in Key West this past January I heard the same information about their historical homes only they painted their porch ceilings blue to cut down on the insect problem and they are still mandated to do this.  In the dining room at Adena, the walls were painted green.  This was unusual because the "public rooms" were usually the only ones wallpapered and since this was room in which the guests dined it should have been papered not painted.  However, this particular green paint discouraged insects and to this day, the guide said that during the season when lady bugs are so bad and they are sweeping up piles in other parts of the mansion, this is only room there is not a problem.  Fascinating!  In addition to the wonderful history of the house, the gardens and grounds are beautiful.  The Seal of Ohio is actually taken from a view on the property.
       On Friday, we went to the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe.  These burial grounds are 2000 years old and were declared a national monument in 1923 by President Harding.  As described in the literature these mounds are not just piles of dirt but long and complicated procedure of layering earthen materials often of clay and sand. There are several of these sites atound Chillicothe that have been included within the national park but the visitor center remains at the Mound City Group. It was pointed out in the film that the mound formations are the same at the different sites.  It is amazing to me that 2000 years ago these people could be so precise!
          Saturday was a time to reconnect with friends from nurses' training so we drove up to the farm of Nancy and Ray Steele in New Carlisle.  Pam Groves and Becky and Wayne Guy also joined us.  We had a wonderful afternoon of sharing our lives and eating good food!  On the way back Sal and I drove past the site of our school of nursing and we were saddened to see both Springfield Community Hospital School of Nursing and the adjacent Community Hospital both totally demolished and new grass growing where both buildings once were. I suppose it was the practical thing to do but sometimes I hate change!

The four pictures below are panoramic shots of the Portsmouth Floodwall.

Roy Rogers was from Portsmouth.

Branch Rickey was from Portsmouth and was well known in baseball. He was first manager to sign Jackie Robinson to play baseball.

Sallie having some fun with cat in the mural.

Below is Sallie with her friends from the Bristol Retirement Village, Dr. Claude and Ruby Hambrick.

Below is a historical marker explaining the Ohio Erie Canal.

Picture below shows a small, dismantled section of the Ohio Erie Canal

Barn at Adena

Below is a contract Thomas Worthington made with a gardner.  Interesting!

The following three pictures tells a bit about guest to Adena.

The marker below explains the Ohio Seal.

This picture is taken from the same site and view that is on the Ohio Seal .

The marker below explains the indian mounds at the City Mound Group.

Example of an Indian Mound.

Some fun road signs! This one was in country close to Nancy's farm.

This sign is outside of Piketon, Ohio.  Being a former urology nurse it of course caught my attention.

I have never seen a tractor pattern on a barn's shingled roof.  Kind of neat.

This is what student nurses look like 41 years after graduation!  :-) 

L-R  Nancy Steele, Pam Groves, Sallie Jayne, Becky Guy, me

Finally had a Hickie and it was great!  Actually these are little slider hamburgers that are delicious.  Hm, could it have anything to do with the lard used on grill? Ah, one Hickie can't kill me, right?

Below: Meet DC, Sallie and Henry's dog.