Drive through Downtown Marietta, Ohio and you can’t help but notice they have a new mural. Go check it out! It’s a real looker and I like the theme.
Good things do grow in Southern Ohio. If you have some free time this weekend, I hope you’ll go look for something fun to do in the area and be sure to open up your pocket book for a merchant, museum, restaurant or some other business you want to see thrive.
They need our support.
Need inspiration? This blog is chock full of places to visit!
Here’s a view from the Valley Gem Sternwheeler. I liked the colors and shapes of this scene.
Did you catch the story about the Valley Gem cruise? Read it here. You can also use the search box to find other past stories from Marietta.
Memorial Day exists to honor and remember those who died in service to our country. I find it odd to be wished a Happy Memorial Day and frustrating that for many the day is about cookouts, sales and summer.
While life is for the living, it wouldn’t hurt us to contemplate the sacrifices made by so many who came before us. Last night, when I was considering what to write today, I found these images on my phone. They’re from Mound Cemetery in Marietta and I couldn’t resist googling the young man to learn his story.
Lance Corporal Joshua Taylor was just 21 when he was killed during a training exercise at Nevada’s Hawthorne Army Depot. That was March 18, 2013.
He left behind family including his parents, siblings, grandparents and a fiancé. They were supposed to be married on May 11 of that year. They were high school sweethearts and had been planning their wedding together.
He knew from a young age he wanted to serve his country and entered the Marine Corps just after high school to serve tours in Afghanistan and Kuwait.
It sounds like he embraced life fully, spending time with family and friends, on hobbies and on giving his best to his country.
They called him “a true young gentleman” who knew what mattered. He never hesitated to approach a veteran, shake their hand and thank them for their service.
The day he died, I was on the other side of the country, going about my business and starting a new job at the bank where I work. I vaguely recall his death making the news. Six other Marines died in this accident. Undoubtedly all of them had with similar stories of loved ones left behind.
Lance Corporal Taylor’s story is just one of millions in our nation’s history. But I can promise they were all just as important, all deserving of being remembered.
Yesterday, CBS Sunday Morning featured the story of another man from another war. He’s the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, an honor received for his actions at Iwo Jima. He insists this medal belongs to others, to those who didn’t make it home and he has devoted a lifetime to veterans issues and to Gold Star families. He’s in his nineties now, still pushing to do more and to work hard for those who didn’t make it home.
Please, if you do nothing else today, take a few minutes and watch his interview. His story is incredible and it should be remembered.
Back here in Ohio, there’s a young woman who should have celebrated her wedding anniversary this month. Her sweetheart wasn’t so lucky to see old age and deserves to be remembered as well.
This Memorial Day, celebrate time with loved ones. Take advantage of the long weekend and the bargains but remember one thing. These freedoms we enjoy were paid for by the men and women who serve our nation- those who come home safely as well as those who gave their lives for the country they love.
There’s no better way to enjoy a Saturday in Marietta than to kick back and float by the world on the Valley Gem Sternwheeler. I took their ninety minute sightseeing tour last weekend and had a terrific experience.
The tour begins on the Muskingum River in Marietta and heads up the Ohio River before turning and heading back down.
The narration doesn’t last the entire time. Instead, the Captain talks for the first 15 or 20 minutes, providing some tidbits about local history and landmarks along the way.
This house has been owned by the same family for twelve generations.
We learned about how NASA once built equipment in Steubenville and moved it downriver by barge. We even got a great view of this old railroad bridge I told you about once.
We saw lots of kayaks, barges and speedboats and even spotted a Bald Eagle.
We also got a good look at Buckley Island which was once home to a prolific potato farm. Prior to that it was an amusement park built by the Buckeye and Eureka Pipeline Company. It’s now gone back to nature and it’s hard to imagine that it could accommodate the masses of people who were once drawn here.
It’s now part of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. We saw kayakers hanging out there.
It’s a peaceful and picturesque ride. It’s a little like going back in time to a slower pace of life when paddle boats ruled the river.
Captain Jason told us about how he and his family built this boat in 1989. He is one of the youngest people to earn his pilots license when he was just 18 years old. It’s very much a family business and I felt like they took good care to keep everyone happy and safe.
For ten bucks you can add a box lunch to your ticket. It was quite good but you can also buy light refreshments at their concessions stand.
They do a number of tours including some longer history tours and celebratory dinner cruises for holidays. You can even book it for weddings and parties.
Want to book a tour or learn more? Click here to visit their website.
Marietta, Ohio is a great day trip from my home. Dating to 1788, it’s the oldest city in Ohio and the official first American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
There’s a ton of history here and a well developed tourism economy that has produced all sorts of ways to spend your time in museums, tours and a quaint downtown. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from here and shops to spend your money. Venture beyond Marietta to surrounding towns or to the countryside and you’ll find even more.
While I’ve seen and done a lot there is to do here, there’s much that I’ve never gotten around to. When you have history related to the American Indian, the founding of a new territory, river travel, the Underground Railroad and large immigrant communities, well, it’s hard to cover it all.
So, last weekend I headed over to Marietta for a day of some new to me fun.
I visited a large old cemetery built around an Indian mound, walked around the Ohio River Museum, shopped the antique mall and took a cruise on the Ohio River on a sternwheeler.
It was a full day and I had a great time. I came home tired and a little sunburned with lots to think about along the way. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about that boat ride!
Doors often capture my attention and cause me to pause a moment. These green doors are on a beautiful old church in downtown Marietta, Ohio.
Here’s another view.
The doors drew me in but the name above the door is what really captured my attention. You can’t read it in this image but it says Evanangelische St. Paul’s Kirche 1849.
How very German.
And yet, the name on the street sign is just plain old sounding St. Paul’s Evangelical Church.
The historic marker out front wasn’t a ton of help. It informs the passerby that this is the city’s second oldest church. Built in 1849, this kirche or church became St. Paul’s Evangelical in 1872 and that English sermons began in 1909.
One night when I couldn’t sleep I went searching for more information. Turns out that the congregation dates to 1838 when it was called the German Religious Society and was said to serve all the Protestant groups that had left the homeland for this brave new world in America.
This 1838 date makes a lot of sense. The city was built in large part by the German immigrants who arrived with assorted vital skills. The streets were once lined with German owned dry goods stores and butchers, bookstores and cobblers that were built by carpenters and bricklayers all of German heritage.
There would have been great demand for a house of worship.
Unfortunately, the church experienced such decline from the 1970s through the 1990s that they were forced to do some soul searching of sorts. The website says they “embarked on a deliberate pilgrimage of redevelopment in 1998.”
I can’t help but wonder how they’re doing today. I photograph a lot of abandoned churches and some with small congregations that are struggling to compete with the big mega churches that focus on recreation and activities.
Covid certainly hasn’t helped, driving people home to stay safe. Some are offering online services, drive-in services or socially distanced outdoor services where congregants are asked to BYOC. I saw that on a sign once and it took me a minute to figure out it’s “bring your own chair.”
A far cry from BYOB parties.
The Christian thing to do is to love thy neighbor by steering clear of them but I wonder what longterm effect will be had on aging congregations.
Hopefully that won’t be an issue for this one as I always root for the historic and the unique. This kirche certainly fits that bill.
In case you’re interested, Marietta is home to a number of beautiful and historic churches including this basilica I wrote about over the summer.