Alum Creek State Park, Delaware, Ohio
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ~ Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus’ purpose in coming was not to take the place of the Law, or the words of the prophets, which is evidence of the importance He placed in them, which in turn, is evidence that we also should consider the Old Testament as valuable as the New. I know some Christians who believe that the Old Testament is invalid and no longer necessary since we were given the New Testament. This thought contradicts what Jesus says here. And He even stresses His point by saying that the Law will not disappear until everything is accomplished – meaning His return one day, when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Praise be that glorious day!
7/25 – The first day of our Columbus area “vacation” wasn’t a particularly interesting one. It was spent blogging about last week, doing paperwork, and replenishing our chocolate chip cookie stash. And recouping from our Hocking Hills adventures. 😊
7/26 – I ventured out on my own and did laundry. It turned out to be the most expensive laundromat I’ve ever used! $5.50 for a washer! And that’s not even a large capacity one! And the dryers only gave me 5 minutes for $.50! Each additional quarter only gave me 3 minutes, and the dryers weren’t particularly hot, so it took a while. Good grief! At least it was a clean, nice place. But unlike most laundromats on the road, there was hardly anyone there. Is it any wonder? Oh. For future reference for us, the name of the place was Super Wash.
In the afternoon, we wandered around the State Park a bit, walked a trail we had little or no idea where it would take us (not good signage), then drove to the dam.
Blaine walked to the top. Me? I’m down there in the teal top.
And then we drove to Africa.
Yep. I kid you not. Did you know you could access Africa from Central Ohio? I wonder if our friends from Columbus knew that? We sure didn’t! Guess our geography lessons growing up weren’t as good as we thought.
But we found the historical marker that recalls when it was here. I guess technically it’s still here, because there’s Africa Road and Africa Township, but we saw nothing except this sign marking its importance to the Underground Railroad.
AFRICA, OHIO
In the 1840s, along the border of present-day Alum Creek State Park, stood a community of African Americans, abolitionists, and Quakers. Originally part of East Orange, the area took its name from a pro-slavery neighbor who used the term mockingly.
Ohio’s abolitionist history is well-known. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the “little lady who started this great war,” as the much-disputed legend claims Abraham Lincoln called her, lived in Cincinnati for 18 years, beginning in 1832. Ohio held an active position in the underground railroad, offering more routes than any other state. East Orange was part of that rich history.
Samuel Patterson, who lived in the area since the late 1820s, played an important role in the development of the Africa community. He built a large house and a variety of outbuildings in the 1840s to expand his farm. These buildings also provided space to house people escaping through the Underground Railroad. Other community members also participated, helping those men, women, and children fleeing to safety.
Alum Creek provided refuge for many people on the way to safety, and records show that there could be as many as 60 individuals moving through the area in one month. However, the average was more often a fraction of that. Many community members provided smaller cabins they had used while building their larger homes to shelter the Underground Railroad passengers.
Those cabins became the homes for a new settlement. The community grew from the arrival of a group of freed slaves from North Carolina. In 1859, between twenty-eight and thirty-five people joined the community after being freed from Oroon Alston, a plantation owner in Chatham County. Alston’s widow left money for the enslaved people to travel to Ohio. The trip to the north, despite their freed status, remained dangerous for this group and other people undertaking the route. This was especially true after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which not only allowed for the capture of escaped slaves but added significant punishments for people who did not assist in those captures. Regardless of freed status, African Americans traveling anywhere in the north or south were likely to be subject to harassment, assault, and kidnapping. However, in communities with considerable support for abolition, the laws had little effect. Before the repeal of acts in 1864, only a little over 300 people were returned to slavery while it is estimated that from 1,000-5,000 slaves escaped yearly from 1830-1860.
The Africa community continued to be active in the underground railroad in the years to come. Those freed slaves who had settled there opened their homes to help others escape. Additionally, according to Cynthia Vogel, “At least six and as many as ten Alum Creek residents served as Underground Railroad station keepers. Stops in the settlement included the Alum Creek Friends Meeting Church and the residences of Cyrus Benedict, William Benedict, Reuben Benedict, Aaron L. Benedict, Daniel Benedict, Daniel Osborn, and Aaron Osborn. Of these structures, only the Aaron L. Benedict house is still standing”. Vogel explains that three generations of Benedicts were active in the Underground Railroad, and the activity in the area continued until the Emancipation Proclamation.
While the Africa community disbanded after the Civil War, some of the homes remain standing. The powerful history of the area permeates Alum Creek and should be celebrated for the incredible difference these Ohioans made for the many passengers that moved through.
We’re surprised there are no museums here attesting to this. I found the above as a result of a Google search that took me to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website.
7/27 – Spent a good bit of the day prepping food in anticipation of visitors!
7/28 – We visited the Ohio State Fair for the first time in our lives! Kyle’s family joined us this weekend and met us at the fair, where we spent the afternoon mostly eating and watching the kids ride rides. They had so much fun! Back at the campground, we helped them set up their tent across the street and fed them fruit pizza to end the day.
Very cool clouds though!!
7/29 – This morning, we served them Blaine’s pancakes, sausage links and the leftover fruit from last night’s pizza. After breakfast, it was a slow start for everyone, but eventually we got motivated enough to visit the Nature Center, then take on the Storybook Hike here in the Park. After that it was a joy to shoot each other with squirt guns, followed by a ‘dressed up’ mac and cheese casserole (it included broccoli, ham and bacon). The group was supposed to stay into Sunday, but everyone was pretty exhausted at the tail end of their vacation week, so they took off for home shortly after dinner. We had a marvelous time!
7/30 – We took today as our own day of rest and did virtually nothing, in anticipation of the next two busy days.
7/31 – For my birthday outing, I chose the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. It far exceeded my expectations! Blaine heard “Wow!!!” and “Amazing!!” and other excited utterances a lot!
In 1852, the Franklin County Agriculture Society purchased 88 acres located two miles east of downtown Columbus as a site for the first Franklin County Fair. In 1874, that land was made the official grounds of the Ohio State Fair. Ohio Legislature passed a resolution declaring the site as Franklin Park and open for public use in 1884.
Inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the city of Columbus built a grand Victorian-style glass greenhouse in the park. Known today as the John F. Wolfe Palm House, it opened to the public in 1895 as Franklin Park Conservatory. The park was a popular destination for the surrounding community who enjoyed its carriage paths, lake and boathouse.
I don’t know what he was looking at for so long. : )
I spoke with the gardener who told me they keep the trees small by
unpotting it and trimming the roots, as well as the branches.
She said its a very physical job and it takes her one full 8-hour day to do one tree!
They trim them about once a year.
Especially so exact! Regardless, WOW!
After spending several hours there, we reluctantly left (well, me anyway) and went in search of our next stop for today – The Topiary Park at the former Deaf School. We should’ve maybe come here first, because it was a bit of a let down after the Conservatory. The topiaries seemed neglected, but the park as a whole was nice. Someone spent a lot of time and imagination to create this interesting park.
As you can see from our pictures, much of it isn’t quite the same.
Of course, it didn’t help that we were rushing to get to the Capitol building by 1pm.
The final stop for our sightseeing tour was the Ohio Statehouse aka Capitol Building, where we participated in a guided tour and then roamed the halls on our own. Can you believe we’ve lived in Ohio our entire lives and visited many other state capitals, but not once have we been to our own!
Let’s see if I can remember anything from our tour.
Ohio became a state in 1803. There were several attempts made at a permanent statehouse but it kept being moved because people complained about the locations, so they made it more centralized for everyone. Construction of this building began in 1839, but wasn’t completed until 1861 – just before the Civil War broke out. They began construction using prison labor, but when the skilled tradesmen of the day complained enough about losing out on jobs, they kept the prisoners in prison or farmed them out to other jobs.
Along the lines of interesting information . . . . when they opened the building for legislators to begin holding office there around 1957 I believe, many complained of an overwhelming stench and were forced to leave the building. The smell permeated the building for six years before they discovered its source. Someone connected the waste line to the water line! When they went in to fix it, they pulled out 150 barrels of built-up waste! Can you imagine?!?!?
And then there’s all the fossils in the walls. Pretty cool beans! When they made the blocks, they used limestone and mud from a nearby river. As they cut and smoothed the blocks, the fossils appeared.
There’s also a President Lincoln connection. He stopped here on his campaign route in 1959 to make a speech, right on the floor where we were standing! (wonder if it smelled bad?)
this was an open portico and pigeon droppings were everywhere,
so when they added this part, they also put on a roof and added a stuffed pigeon.
Can you find it?
Then, on April 29, 1865, his funeral train also made a stop here; his casket carried into and displayed in the Rotunda from 9:30am until 6:00pm. It is estimated that 50,000 Ohioans paid their respects. At that time, Columbus wasn’t the large metropolis it is now. That means the people came from all over the state.
By the way, this is the craziest floor!
When you walk into the room, it feels like it pulls you to the center of the room.
As you stand on it, it looks all squiggly.
And as you can see, when you take a picture of the entire thing, it really messes with you. : )
Grant, McPherson and Sherman were all from Ohio
Even back then, they talked of equality. Are you surprised?
Once we completed our tour, we headed to an early dinner at a local, well-renowned burger joint called Thurman’s in Germantown. The seating area was small, but the burgers were ginormous! We had seen pictures on-line, but I had no idea they were all so huge! My choice was extra large because I chose one with ham on it. Silly me imagined a fairly thick burger with a fairly thin slice of ham.
Same size patty as mine.
We also ordered a combo basket of fries and onion rings.
I took half of it home, but not sure when I’ll finish it. 😊
Had the burger itself tasted better, I would recommend the place, but unless you just want the experience of being freaked out by the size (something “Man vs Food” would eat!), the burger wasn’t terrific. The patty didn’t seem to have any seasoning on it and it was cooked in what they claimed was medium-well, as are all their burgers.
However, the grilled onions and mushrooms and ham, lettuce and tomato were excellent! As were the onion rings we upgraded to.
On the way home, we stopped at Kroger to pick out a dessert for my Birthday, and settled on what they called a strawberry crunch cake – pound cake topped with a thin layer of white icing, and a nest of large strawberries surrounded with something sort of resembling Cool Whip. The crunch came from some kind of hard dots they put around the outside edge. Dried pound cake dots? I don’t know. But eaten all together it made for a delicious birthday cake.
Thank you so much to all those who sent texts and offered well-wishes! Made my day!
And now, pictures from home! Our youngest grandchild, Matthew!
