Friday - Saturday, September 9 - 10th 2022 … Two Lane Adventures Continue!

This morning, I was going to walk the trail from the campground. I started down the trail and I got to a sign, which said “Trail Closed.” So, I walked around the roads of the campground and out on the road into the campground.

After my walk, we packed up and headed out for Brown County Nashville Indiana KOA. The first time we came to was Circleville OH

Daniel Dresbach founded the community of Circleville along the Scioto River in 1810. The town received its name from circular earthworks that the Hopewell culture of pre-contact American Indians had constructed in the area, although urban development has destroyed many of those original mounds. Dresbach laid out Circleville in a circular pattern. During the 1830s, residents tired of the unusual street patterns. In 1837, the Ohio legislature authorized the Circleville Squaring Company to redesign the community with a more traditional grid pattern. The Circleville Squaring Company completed work in 1856. 

Circleville also has become world famous for its annual pumpkin show. Begun in 1903, the festival attracts more than 300,000 people a year. It is currently the sixth largest festival held in the United States, and since organizers charge no admission fee, the festival has become known as the "Greatest Free Show on Earth." The Circleville Pumpkin Show provides a showcase for Ohio's farmers and their products.

The once vacant, for 12-years, Independent Order of Odd Fellows Building is getting the restoration this historic building deserves. It was built before 1855 and took its present form in 1859, according to the Pickaway County Historical Society. The building is almost at the center of the circular earthworks, from which Circleville was named. It was the second three-story building built in the city’s center after the squaring. Columbia Lodge, No. 32 I.O.O.F of Circleville, instituted in 1844, purchased the block and in 1880, the property was valued at $20,000, “being one of the finest locations for business in the city. The lodge building is an ornament to the city, and with few exceptions, will compare favorably with any in the state,” according to a history of the county.

One of the boundaries of Circleville is the Scioto River, the Indians and Ohio’s early white settlers used the Scioto River for transportation. Water travel was much quicker and cheaper than land travel during this era. Ohio settlers used the Scioto and the state’s other rivers to transport their crops to market. A portion of the Ohio and Erie Canal also used part of the Scioto River. Both Indians and white people settled along the river due to the fertile farmland in the Scioto’s floodplain. Today, modern ships are too large to navigate the Scioto, and Ohioans primarily use the river for recreation and for drinking water.

Williamsport was founded along the banks of the Mahoning River as early as 1805 and formally listed as settled in 1827. The settlers arrived from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. William Teeters had a gristmill and a sawmill along the banks of the Mahoning. The Ohio historical marker located in Williamsport honors the Deercreek Frontier and the early history of the village. Williamsport was booming with industry and businesses in the 1950s and 1960s, but those jobs are gone today. 

The marker is located in the Williamsport Community Square, the site of the former high school in the village. The marker highlights some of the former features of the town including the high school operating from 1891 to 1964 which was later demolished; a weekly newspaper published from 1889 to 1979; and a theatrical company that toured from 1903 to 1929. The marker names David Jones, who visited sometime in 1772 or 1773. Local historian Wally Higgins said Jones, a local missionary who tried to convert Native Americans to Christianity, made some of the first contact in the area for settlers. “We’re talking two years before Lord Dunmore’s War,” Higgins said. “Jones did quite a lot of wandering around and tried to make contact with the Native Americans. It was safe to say that this one of the early frontiers where settlers met the Indians.”

Route 22 had a detour, so we took OH-138 to I-35 back onto Route 22. While we were on the detour, we went past acres and acres of farmer fields.

Plus, there was some low lying fog.

Wilmington, Ohio is the birthplace of the banana split. There's a local festival to celebrate the treat each year in June. For over 25 years, the Banana Split Festival was held the second weekend in June as a co-sponsored festival by both Wilmington Rotary organizations for the purpose of raising funds for local non-profits and Rotary Scholarship Funds. However, the long-standing Banana Split Festival was placed on hiatus for 2022 as the two community Rotary Clubs evaluate the event’s long-term future.

The City of Wilmington has a Sister City Partnership with three Ukrainian cities: Solonytsivka, Merefa, and Chuhuiv. The three communities are located in northeastern Urkaine in the Kharkiv Region. The relationship between Ukraine and Wilmington began when a group of Ukrainian officials came to Cincinnati as part of the Cincinnati-Kharkiv Sister City Partnership. Friendships were forged during this visit between the Ukrainian visitors and Mayor of Wilmington Randy Riley (t. 2012-2016). In October 2013, Mayor Riley was invited to travel to Ukraine with the Cincinnati-based group. While in Ukraine, he entered into Memorandums of Mutual Understanding or “Twinning Agreements” with the communities of Solonytsivka, Merefa, and Chuguiv. The war in Ukraine affected one of their sister cities.

There were some unique and colorful murals in this town. 

Some are homemade and others are professional!

Arrived at Brown County Nashville KOA our home for two nights with friends from our “cruise gang.” We missed the opportunity to camp with Craig & Tracy earlier this summer, because we were still in Canada, when they traveled to NY to camp with the “NY Camping FRamily.”

We were lucky, because our neighbors came and did some “hotel” camping to see us! We were excited for Larry & Marcia to meet Craig & Tracy! Since we all own homes in the same community in Florida! We enjoyed a simple evening of great steak sandwiches made by Craig, a few beers and some great conversation!

Craig pulled a muscle, so I was on my own for walking! The KOA property is long and narrow. So my walk was back and forth, back and forth! But, I did get my 4-miles in!

On late Saturday morning, we went to Story is a quaint village founded in 1851, with the grant of a land patent from President Millard Fillmore to Dr. George Story. Dr. Story was a medical doctor who hailed from a clan of timber harvesters in southern Ohio. He and his progeny built many of the structures which distinguish this town today, from the then-ample supply of domestic hardwoods. His home managed to survive the forces of entropy, and now serves as an overnight accommodation.

Story soon became the largest settlement in the area. In its heyday (1880-1929) the village supported two general stores, a nondenominational church, a one-room schoolhouse, a grain mill, a sawmill, a slaughterhouse, a blacksmith’s forge and a post office.

Story never recovered from the Great Depression (1929-1933), as families abandoned farms in search of work elsewhere. Brown County lost half of its population between 1930 and 1940. This exodus of people created an opportunity for the State of Indiana to begin the purchase of 16,000 acres of wooded hills that are now the Brown County State Park, the largest in the state.  As years passed, thousands of additional acres were acquired to form the Hoosier National Forest, Yellowwood State Forest and the Lake Monroe impoundment lands.  These vast tracts of public lands now surround Story on three sides.

Today, the entire town has been turned into The Story Inn, one of the Midwest’s premiere inns and restaurants. The Story Inn is Indiana’s oldest country inn, featuring fourteen beautifully renovated rooms and cottages, a gourmet restaurant housed in the former general store, and a resident ghost named the “Blue Lady”. Charlie & Craig did not see the "Blue Lady", but they did find two Six Foot Blondes!

We went to Hard Truth Distilling Company for a few adult beverages and a late lunch. Founded in 2015, Hard Truth Distilling Co. has grown from a small operation in the upper rooms of a pizza restaurant to an 18,000-square foot state-of-the-art distillery featuring Vendome Copper & Brass Works equipment. The distillery produces and releases a variety of premium spirits to market — including popular Hard Truth Cinnamon Vodka, Hard Truth Toasted Coconut Rum, and the award-winning Hard Truth Gin. They also distill Indiana rye whiskey and bourbon. They are now Indiana’s largest destination distillery, Hard Truth lives on the 325-acre wooded campus in Brown County. The area is an artists’ colony and tourist destination known for its natural beauty.

I was not into beer or spirits, so I found me a cider. Over yonder a few counties or more, up the road perhaps a piece or two, across the water which runs clear, where the sky melts blue and the apples grow large like lazy cats, it sits. Beanblossom. This little unincorporated town in Indiana is a music lover’s paradise filled with eccentric folk, who quite spectacularly create, in a time honored way, hard cider — carefully, beautifully, passionately ... Beanblossom style. I enjoyed a bottle of Peach Beanblossom Hard Cider. It is made from the juice of gently-pressed Midwestern apples, it was crisp, light, exceptionally delicious and perfectly refreshing. Crisp and light.

Charlie and Craig started on Six Foot Blondes at the Story Inn, so they stayed with “the girls.” It is an American Blonde Ale brewed by Quaff ON! Six Foot Blonde’s light, golden malts and hint of hops come together for a crisp, refreshing beer. This handcrafted American blonde ale is highly quaffable. Yes, I am told that is a word! Tracy enjoyed some Hard Truth Spirits in the form of Vodka!

We dined at the Big Woods way at Hard Truth Distilling Company. We ate on the upper deck outside, every seat offers gorgeous views of the surrounding trees and one of the music stages!

 

We enjoyed Big Woods favorites including burgers and I had a salad big enough for 2!

While we were at the Hard Truth Restaurant, we shopped the store area for BWQOHT swag, or stop in to the bottle shop for Hard Truth and Quaff ON! treats to take home!  I found a tank top I really liked, but they did not have one in my new smaller size and I refuse to buy the bigger size anymore! But, we found this shirt that our friend, Dana would wear!

After all the touring and drinking, we were all ready for a short nap before our evening fire. It has been a great few days with Craig & Tracy. We will see them in about 6 weeks in Key West on the Yankee RV Tours rally!

It has been another enjoyable time with great FRamily!