We stopped first at the historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio, The Ohio State Reformatory. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until 1990. It was made famous by the film The Shawshank Redemption in 1994, when it was used for most scenes of the movie.
Designed by architect Levi T. Scofield, the Ohio State Reformatory opened its doors in 1896 as a facility to rehabilitate young male offenders through hard work and education. A self-sufficient institution with its own power plant and working farm, the reformatory produced goods in its workshops for other state institutions and provided inmates opportunities to learn trades. As social attitudes towards crime hardened in the mid-twentieth century, it became a maximum security facility. The six-tier East Cell Block is the largest known structure of its kind. Considered substandard by the 1970s, The Ohio State Reformatory closed in 1990. It has served since as a setting for several major motion pictures.
Built in a castle-like fashion
Old-fashioned original fire extinguisher
Visitors .... not Inmates!!!
More of the castle-like design of The Ohio State Reformatory
The gate to nowhere ,,,
Leaving The Ohio State Reformatory, we drove to Sandusky for our visit to the Follett House. This was another vital station of the Underground Railroad. Approaching the Follett House, on the corner across the street was the Hubbard House. This is not related to the house of the same name that we visited yesterday, but it is a stunning-looking, beautiful home. Had to take a couple of pictures just because it looked so great! It is now being used as an office building!
Oran Follett, a wealthy book publisher and railroad investor, built the stately limestone home in the 1830s. He and his wife are believed to have hidden freedom seekers in the outbuildings on their property that no longer stand.
Oran Follett
The Bookholder "Kalamazoo" was a great invention for reading books and documents!
Portrait of Harriet Emily Merry Nason, active in the Underground Railroad safehouse stations. This portrait is believed to be her wedding picture.
Located on the Lake Erie shore, Sandusky was a pivotal stop on the Underground Railroad. Freedom seekers would catch steamships to Canada or trains to Buffalo. Sites of importance, including homes of “conductors,” still stand throughout the city. The Follett House Museum, run by the Sandusky Library, is the only one of these sites open to the public.
Oran Follett - Built this house between 1835 and 1837
Eliza Follett - the family's driving force in the Underground Railroad involvement
Sandusky was perfectly located to be a major force in the Underground Railroad
Stairs leading to the lookout from the house as a vital part of the Underground Railroad
Travel from Sandusky to Fremont, Ohio, and the Presidential Library and Museum of Rutherford B. Hayes was our next journey. Even while serving in the Civil War, Rutherford B. Hayes envisioned one day having a museum dedicated to his legacy. The 31-room home that Hayes and his wife, Lucy Webb Hayes, lived in, mostly following their time in the White House, is that dream.
The fancy in-house tub and toilet!!!
Looking up the stairwell from the main floor
The Hayes Home Library
Rutherford B. Hayes
The Rutherford B. Hayes Library and Museum
The Resolute Desk
The Resolute Desk
Every President since Rutherford B. Hayes, except Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford, has used this desk
Another Presidential sundial --- this one for Rutherford B. Hayes
.Rutherford B. Hayes and Lucy Webb Hayes are buried on the 25-acre estate known as Spiegel Grove.
Thursday morning, the 24th, we drove from Fremont to Marion, Ohio, where our first visit for the day was the Warren G. Harding Presidential site. William G. Harding was the last president of the United States from Ohio, and his Queen Anne-style home in Marion welcomes those who want to learn more about the front-porch campaign our 29th president conducted here in 1920. The 2,500-square-foot home is filled with artifacts. A presidential museum that opened on the property in 2021 delves into Harding’s life and time in the White House, which ended with his death in 1923 during a cross-country train tour.
The front-porch campaign of our 29th president was conducted here in 1920
The house was not isolated and had close neighbors. The George Christian Jr. home was next door and everything from the Harding House could be heard through the open windows of this house. George Christian rented his home to the National Republican Party to be the Harding Campaign Headquarters.
The interior of the Harding home is spectacular, featuring the family's furniture and memorabilia.
Warren and Florence Harding
In 1920, the recently widowed Isabelle Freeland and her two daughters, Isabelle and Eleanor, had a ringside seat for the front porch campaign next door. Eleanor, 38, a local teacher, wrote a series of articles, which were published nationwide. Entitled "The Girl Next Door," the series offered a light-hearted, colorful view of the campaign.
Later in the 1920s, the Freelands moved away, and the Harding Memorial Association purchased the home. The association had the house razed in the 1950s to provide buffer space for the Harding Home, which had opened to the public in 1926.
Press House
Built over two days' time in July 1920, this cottage was a workspace for the approximately 17 journalists writing about Warren Harding's front porch campaign for their respective newspapers and wire services.
We finished our fabulous time at the Harding Presidential Historical Site by going to the Harding Memorial Gravesite.
Now being lunch time, we headed out to the little town of Waldo, Ohio, where I had read about the G&R Tavern's Bologna Sandwich. As the "Home of the Bologna Sandwich," we could not pass it up! This was thick-cut bologna, which we never had as kids, but it was grilled to perfection and was the size of a hamburger. A delicious lunch and a real treat for us!
From Waldo, it was a drive to Toledo and seeing some familiar areas of especially South Toledo, in my old home neighborhood. Changes over the past 50 years are pretty apparent! We met cousins Bill and Brenda Facey in Lasalle, Michigan, for dinner at Trapperz Restaurant.
It was great being together and doing some catch-up. Family is so important! I had to have frog legs and onion rings as they are on very few menus and it had been a long time since having them! The food was GREAT, but the company was better and could not be matched!!!
We went over to Bill and Brenda's home to talk for a while. The time flew by, and we certainly didn't have enough time together. We could not have asked for a better evening ... just loved it all!
The complete photo album can be found at this click link
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