People claim to hear and see unusual things at this grave but I found this spot in Lake View Cemetery to be peaceful and calm.
This is the Haserot Angel, a bronzestatue that dates to 1923. Industrialist Francis Henry Haserot commissioned the statue to honor his wife who died in 1919. It was created by artist Herman Matzen who was from Denmark but was working here in Ohio
Oxidation of the metal over these last 102 years has caused an effect that looks like black tears streaming from her eyes. The effect is creepy especially since she’s so realistic she could seemingly take flight. Many tourists and ghost hunters claim there’s something otherworldly going on on here.
I don’t know about that but she sure does look sad.
Superman’s origin story begins in Cleveland so he has been a favorite son in that city for decades. The popular comic book hero was created when writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster were in high school together in 1933.
That’s right! One of the world’s coolest super heroes was the brainchild of a couple of teenagers over ninety years ago. Superman has been the man of the hour around Ohio this summer because so much of the new blockbuster was shot in and near Cleveland.
If you’re a fan, know that the main library in downtown Cleveland has a really nice collection of Superman memorabilia and artifacts in a well done exhibit. The thing I geeked out over the most was Jerry Siegel’s writing desk.
He bought it for his home in 1940 and sat here to write scripts for Superman comics and other comic strip characters. He mainly used a typewriter to do this work and I could almost hear the clickity clack of an old Underwood as I studied the desk and considered the creative mind it would require to create a character with such staying power.
The library exhibit features items like comics, clocks, valentines, pajamas and lunch boxes. Many things are quite old and a few are from my own childhood – also, quite old – but at least I could feel a nostalgic connection to those old things.
This exhibit includes a snapshot of Jolan Kovacs who was the original model for Lois Lane. She would later marry Jerry Siegel. The museum card tells just enough of her story to make me want to learn more but I thought it was interesting she spent years campaigning for author’s rights and seeking wider recognition for the artists who gave us the Man of Steel.
It’s not an enormous exhibit but it’s quality and worth your time if you’re in the neighborhood. Also, it’s just across the street from The Arcade where they shot an iconic scene for this new movie and there are other Superman movie landmarks in the general vicinity. It’s all worth a visit if you’re a fan. The library and the Arcade are worth a visit even if you’re not a Superman fan!
The lending library also has an impressive wall of books about Superman and the comics. Remember, before he was a movie/tv show/ icon/merchandising gold mine, Superman was just a good old fashioned comic book hero!
By the way, Union Terminal in Cincinnati also got a nice chunk of time in the movie. I wrote about that art deco masterpiece last year. See it here!
If you stop by the library, be sure to ask the security guard for a map. It’s useful as you nose around and points out some interesting assets.
If you ever find yourself in Circleville, Ohio, look for a small storefront on Main Street called the Ted Lewis Museum. Then go in and have a look around to learn about the city’s most famous son who happened to be one of the great entertainers of the early 20th century.
We visited a few Saturdays ago while out enjoying a quiet day of book and ice cream consumption. The museum is free so we decided to venture in. I knew of Ted Lewis because there’s also a city park named in his honor and had looked him up once.
He was a Vaudeville performer who had been on Ed Sullivan at least once and he was the son of Jewish parents whose Friedman’s Bazaar supplies local women the latest fashions.
That’s the end of what I knew.
Adah, Ted’s beloved wife of 56 years, opened this museum in 1977 after his death from lung failure in 1971. Let’s stop here for a moment. This museum has existed in the same location since about two months before I was born. In other words, it has been there for my entire life and it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago I finally made my way there. This, friends, is a common predicament for local attractions because people just don’t think to visit the places close to home.
But I digress.
Who was Ted Lewis?
Well, he was a bandleader, a singer, a musician and one of the great Vaudevillian performers. He was funny and he’s said to be one of the first northern musicians to emulate the New Orleans Jazz style that was so popular when he was beginning his career in the 1910’s.
As a boy, he ran away with an old time medicine show so he could play clarinet to draw a crowd for the show. His father tracked him down in Chillicothe, a city several miles south of Circleville, and brought him home. His parents enrolled him in business college in Columbus but his job in a music store led to him joining the Vaudeville circuit.
From there, he was playing clubs in New York City, traveling the world, recording his music, making movies, then making television guest spots and more. No matter where he went, the museum docent said he never failed to mention his hometown which he called “The Capital of the World.” In fact, he remembered his hometown in other ways too, donating land for a city parking which opened in 1941 and then continued raising money to pay for its upkeep and expansion for the remainder of his life. He raised money for the hospital too. He and his wife made semi-annual visits to the city’s famed Pumpkin Show and he even celebrated his 80th birthday with a big party in 1970.
The museum has his musical instruments, tux, top hat, movie posters, records, furniture, and memorabilia. If you’re willing to stand and read some things on the wall, you’ll find some rich stories from his early life and career. There’s a small theater in the back with films playing from some of his appearances. We saw a charming performance from Ed Sullivan’s Toast Of The Town when we were there.
As we watched this performance, I got to thinking about how generously Ed Sullivan celebrated the old Vaudevillians, many of whom didn’t make the transition from stage to film or recording as well as Ted Lewis was able to do. I was also thinking about how quaint or perhaps hokie his brand of entertainment must seem to kids today. Yet, this is what real talent looks like. Long before auto tuning, Artificial Intelligence and whatever else they’ve used for the last fifty years to make people who aren’t that good sound like superstars, there were people like Ted Lewis who actually needed talent to survive on stage night after night. He knew how to entertain but, more importantly, he knew how to engage and delight an audience.
How fabulous.
His tag line that endured his entire career asked a very simple question: Is Everybody Happy?
I certainly was happy after spending some time in Ted Lewis’ world. If you get a chance, I recommend dropping by as well. The Ted Lewis Museum has a nice website with a lot more of his life story. Check them out for his story and for museum information.
Also, catch a glimpse of Ted’s talent and charm in this video clip!
I drove around the block and sat in a parking lot till the light turned red so I could pull up next to this parking lot and snag a picture from the car while traffic was stopped.
That’s not weird or creepy at all, right?
Ha!
Friends, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get a picture of the awesome cool car.
Be weird, friends. Go around the block. Park and walk. Pay attention to your surroundings. Look up, down and all around. Be you. It’s a big, interesting, lovely world filled with cool things to see and you don’t want to miss the great stuff!
Alrighty, it’s Saturday! Go forth and be weird, friends!
Imagine fighting for your country only to come home with terrible nightmares and debilitating PTSD. Then imagine your family taking you to an institution where you are cared for by strangers, abandoned by the people you love most. Imagine fighting for your country and then being buried on a hillside in the woods with a simple slab that identifies you just as “283.”
Imagine having postpardum depression and being sent away from your children by your husband who can’t handle your being sad. Imagine being unable to leave without your husband or a male family member signing you out. Imagine your husband abandoning you there so he can divorce you and marry someone else to care for your kids.
Imagine being old and sick, perhaps forgetful and sent to live in an asylum. Imagine being committed because you were a moody woman or one who reads too much and has too many opinions.
These are all perfectly acceptable reasons why real human beings were committed to places like the Athens Lunatic Asylum. I have written before about a similar asylum called the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. You can read here about the day I toured that place.
The old asylum on the hill in Athens is not open for tours. Intead, it’s owned by Ohio University and repurposed into an art museum, campus police, research space and class space. You can also explore the grounds and there are nature trails. There’s also room for events, an adventure course and sports fields.
My response to being there is always so complex. I look at these stately old buildings and can’t help but wonder about the atrocities that went on in this facility. They famously conducted partial labotomies here. Plus, the sheer horror of just being a smart woman whose freedoms were stripped away by a weak husband hits pretty close to home.
And don’t think it didn’t happen.
Designed by Dr. Thomas Kirkbridge who was a leader in the Moral Treatment Philosophy, the Athens Lunatic Asylum opened in 1874 in what was then countryside overlooking Athens. Kirkbridge believed that mental institutions should be located in pretty rural settings with plenty of acreage for exercise and labor thorough farming, gardening and occupations that might aid in a patient’s treatment while helping run the facilities.
I believe the terminology they used was “Healing Landscapes.”
Once upon a time, the grounds felt parklike with a waterfall, four poinds, and a variety of trees, plants and flowers that might be enjoyed along walking paths. It was so beautiful that many residents from town and country surrounding the asylum would come visit for walks and picnics.
Then there are the cemeteries. Three of them are the final resting places for over 1,900 patients who died here. Lucky patients had famillies who claimed their bodies but so many had no one to take them. The hillside cemeteries are probably the saddest I’ve ever seen because most individuals were buried with simple slabs and no name to identify them. They are identified by numbers only. This went on until the 1940s when they began using names. At some point, the state ceased caring for these cemeteries and they were left to vandals and to damage done by time and nature.
Forgotten.
People who in life were sent to a place to be forgotten remained forgotten in death as well.
About 25 years ago, the Athens Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness began reclamation of the cemeteries and found other organizations and people to rally around the cemeteries and the grounds. They have brought attention to a place once forgotten and peace and respect to people who perhaps received neither in life.
Adam and I explored here some on Saturday. We’ll go back another day when my leg is better and we have more time. As a person just out for walkabout, the history is fascinating. The place is extraordinary and it’s so peaceful up there above the city. But the cemetery is sobering and the thought of what went on here, all that the patients lost in being sent here, all that was forcibly taken from them, all the ways they suffered, well it’s almost too much to think about.
As mental health treatment evolved over time, so did the use of this space. By the time I was a child in the eighties, people joked about sending someone to the mental hospital at Athens. Later, as mental health treatment changed and transitioned from large facilities, we saw many individuals around the city who it seemed had been turned out and left to figure out life and health on their own. That may be an unfair assessment but that’s certainly how it appeared.
There are a number of these Kirkrbride institutions left around the country and many have historic register status. I highly recommend visiting the one in West Virginia because they tell the stories of patients and of staff that worked there. Click here for details.
Before traveling, I research local libraries at or near my destination. If there’s a Carnegie Library or if there’s something interesting to see, I’m nearly always willing to travel out of my way to visit.
A couple of months ago I found myself in Piqua, Ohio with a few hours for exploration. I had read about their spectacular library so we went for a look-see.
It is described as a Richardson Romanesque building that was constructed as the Piqua Plaza Hotel. At five stories, the 1891 building is a massive and imposing presence in the city’s downtown. I had to look up Richardson Romanesque because I wasn’t familiar with the name. It uses stone walls, round arches and contrasting colors to create a heavy appearance. This style was popular for public buildings between 1880 and 1900. While I recognized the style, I had no idea what it was called.
The hotel was built in 1891 with 100 rooms. Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Houdini, Woodrow Wilson and William Howard Taft are said to have visited here. Tragically, the hotel began to fail in the 1950s and was boarded up in the eighties. It was renovated in the early 2000’s.
We talked to a nice librarian who shared some interesting facts and stories about the place. He also shared some of the more recent history when the building was preserved to give three floors of space to library patrons, storage and a ballroom operated by the city. Each floor is accessible by an elevator that uses the hotel’s original elevator shaft.
Friends, this building is magnificent. I couldn’t believe the magnitude of the building from the outside and could only say “wow” when we went inside. A black and white tile floor, gorgeous woodwork, high ceilings, artwork everywhere, a backing, a restored skylight and so much more make this space feel special.
And when I say special, I mean truly special. If I lived closer, I would be there all the time. What a magnificent place to write, to discover new books and to explore unexpected ideas. It’s sad to think how close this building came to the brink when it was boarded up in the eighties.
It has the feel of an art museum with busts, reliefs, paintings and other pieces all throughout the building. You’ll find something interesting to study and enjoy in every nook and cranny of the public space. What a delightful place to explore on a rainy day! And all I could think is what a fun, exciting, intriguing place to be a little kid in search of adventure through books!
The Piqua Library is located at 116 West High Street in downtown Piqua. If you’re in town, swing by and have a look around!
I will write more about some of the artwork and historic pieces on display here so check back another day!
