Rollin' By The River
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Day 1: September 2, 2006 Rollin' By The River |
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I left home just a skosh before 9:00 and picked up US-52 east from
Cincinnati's big circle - I-275. I started breakfast shopping once I was
off of the expressway and picked a semi-familiar stop in New Richmond.
I've eaten dinner at The Landing but never breakfast. Pretty good. Other
than a fellow sipping coffee, I appeared to be the first customer and I
sat at the bar partially so as not to interfere with the guy mopping the
floor. Soon another customer arrived, took a seat at the bar, and ordered
the "breakfast of champions" - Budweiser. When another fellow did the
same, I started to feel a little out of place eating bacon and eggs. But
other egg eaters arrived before too long and before I left, coffee
drinkers outnumbered Bud drinkers by a good five to one.
I've been through New Richmond many times and, as I said, have eaten at The Landing but have never walked the town. I did a little of that today and found the place pretty interesting. My walk was limited to Front Street which runs along the river. It is, after all, a river town. Actually, I learned today, it's two river towns. Jacob Light laid out New Richmond in a conventional pattern with streets set square with the river. Thomas Ashburn designed neighboring Susanna with streets radiating from the river like spokes in a wheel. In 1828 the towns were joined at the appropriately named Union Street. Today most of the town is aligned in a conventional grid but Western Avenue still runs through town at an angle Mr. Light would appreciate. Several high mounted speakers along the street were playing classical music for my walk. Nice touch. |
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I've visited Ulysses Grant's birthplace before and been inside at
least once but it has been closed the last few times I've been by. It was
open today and I took advantage of it. Only the one room section at the
front comprised the Grant home. There are two rooms in the small addition
at the rear. That addition was left behind when, shortly after Grant's
death, the house became a traveling exhibition. The story of its travels
and return is a worth hearing or reading if you get the chance. The chest
on the floor belonged to Ulysses' father, Jesse, and the one in the wall
display is from his presidency. The current Grant Memorial Bridge is a
1985 replacement for the 1927 original. Although not signed here (There is
an Ohio River Scenic Byway sign.) this section of US-52 is designated as
the Grant Memorial Highway.
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I hung out at the Augusta Ferry landing long enough to watch it exchange
pickup trucks. When I later learned the
Rosemary
Clooney Museum is now open (It has been for a year.) I regretted not
ferrying over. I did get a picture, though.
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In Ripley, it was a brief stop at the now familiar Rockin' Robin's Soda
Shoppe for some ice cream and a from the fountain vanilla Coke.
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Heading to Portsmouth and knowing that one of that city's main attractions
is a flood wall full of 52 Robert Dafford murals, I figured that a refresher view
of his work in Maysville was appropriate. I entered and left Kentucky on
the recently renovated Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge seen in the last two
pictures.
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There are many Mail Pouch barns between Maysville and Portsmouth and this
one earned its web space by putting an ad on both ends. The first picture
is of the barn's west face and the second shows the east facing end. The
area has lots of other barns, too. Some are in fairly good condition and
are being used. Others, and I believe I could say most, are not. Many,
both with and without advertising, have fallen and more are getting ready
to. There's just little need for barns anymore and someday they will be
gone.
"Dad, what's a mail pouch?"That kid may someday have to answer "What's a barn?" |
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In Portsmouth, I took a look at the not quite ready cable stayed bridge.
These things are popping up everywhere. There's one in Maysville that I
didn't photograph this trip but
did in July of '04.
I did peek at the murals but didn't spend much time there since I intend to be back tomorrow. |
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Some downtown streets were blocked off and I knew that some sort of
festival was in progress. After finding a motel, I asked and learned that
River Days were in full swing and that the Georgia Satellites and Marshall
Tucker were performing tonight. I timed my return to downtown so as to
grab some festival food and catch some music. There were some kiddy rides
and some arts & crafts vendors but the only food I saw was pop corn,
cotton candy, and someone selling "Super Italian Sausage". I opted for a
place called The Old Tavern and had a sit down meal. The concert area was
on the other side of the flood wall and, even though it was free, I had
decided that I should eat before passing through the "gate". Not too
bright, eh? Turns out that's where all the food vendors were. I coulda had
a corn dog!
The Georgia Satellites were on when I got there and I stayed through the end of their OK set. But I didn't want to see Marshall Tucker bad enough to hang on through the switch so I headed back to the motel. I thought this "paddy wagon lite", parked near the concert entrance, was kind of cute. I would have loved to have seen how they convinced the rowdies to get inside but I didn't feel like waiting around for that, either. |
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