Ruthmere House, Elkhart, IN

Ruthmere House

We continued our return home paying all sorts of tolls, but also stopping in Elkhart Indiana at Ruthmere House. This house was built by Albert and Elizabeth Baldwin Beardsley in 1908. They were one of the founding families of Elkhart and chose a place along the river for their home. The house is very unique in several ways. The interior wood is Cuban Mahogany, the ceilings are all very ornate, much of the original furniture is still there, some of the wall coverings and carpets are still original. The most interesting feature was a rare instrument (only two in the U.S. remain), a choralcello. In the reception room where it is housed it looks like an organ, but in that room, it sounds like a piano, if you go to the parlor, it sounds like an organ, and it sounded like flutes playing in the entry hall. It still works (somewhat) and we got a demonstration using a piano roll to make the music. The house also serves as an art museum including five Rodin sculptures and several Tiffany lamps. We spent the night at one of our favorite campgrounds, Indiana Dunes State Park.

If you would like to see more pictures and video, there is a narrated 12 minute video on youtube. 

From the Ruthmere collection

The rest of the trip is moving a piano and furniture for Laura from Appleton to Minneapolis, visiting with her, Greg, and Mallory, and then heading home.

This was a difficult trip for Mary, she had trouble breathing through a large part of the trip. We visited a lot of things that we typically do, zoo’s, historical interpretation towns, botanical gardens, old houses, and natural history museums. What we found was that we had discovered quite a few interesting new things in each of these, which made the trip quite interesting.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH

Elvis Presley

Today, we headed to the lake shore to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We spent 3 hours here in the history section of Rock and Roll without every going into the upper levels where the Hall of Famers are. There were a lot of artifacts from many of the famous singers and groups, but the best of all were the videos and audios of Rock and Roll. They did a good job of showing how the Blues and Gospel singers of the 30s and 40s led directly to the beginnings of Rock and Roll in the 50’s. They highlighted the role of cities (Memphis, Detroit, LA, San Francisco, Liverpool) played in the formation: with videos of the groups that became famous in those cities. We particularly enjoyed the 15-minute video on Elvis, the 30 minute video on American Bandstand, and the highlight of all: a long video on the Beetles showing and playing their music from each of their albums. The only problem with the museum is that there is a lot of interference between the videos that are playing in one section with that from the next section. But it was a trip through memory lane for anyone who is familiar with all the rock and roll from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

The Beatles

Pro Football Hall of Fame, Canton, OH

We ended up traveling all day yesterday. We stopped at Hershey’s Chocolate World, but Mary was exhausted just walking from the parking lot, so we decided to head to Cleveland. We’re camped in Woodside Lake Park, a private campground with a small lake that in the summer would probably be filled with kids. Our campsite is not particularly charming, but it is obvious that about 2/3^rd of this campground is filled with summer residents who like the swimming, fishing nearby, and recreational activities.

Early football padding

Mary is having another bad day, trying to breathe, so I’m off on my own to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I last planned a trip here in 1965 when the Balza family was on a trip to Washington, D.C, when the Hall was only 2 years old. This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the NFL, which started with a bunch of teams from small Midwestern towns. A lot of teams came and went in those early years, but by 1931, Green Bay was the only team not in a city which also supported a baseball or basketball professional team. I found the stories around the early years of the NFL to be quite fascinating. For example, the Duluth team was renamed "Ernie Nevers Eskimos" in 1926 after they signed this star college player.

1926 Ernie Nevers Eskimos

Besides the artifacts, there was a lot of videos: the last-minute turnaround games, the innovations in offensive plays and defensive formations, individual records, and the key football dynasties. (Interestingly Green Bay’s dominance of the 30’s and today’s dominance of the Patriots are not included). The highlights of the museum were: 1) the ESPN science behind the game exhibit: some of the unique player characteristics that let them dominate the game (leaping and stretching ability, or able to track and catch two footballs at the same time, one with each hand). 2) the locker room presentation of some of the hall of fame greats featuring Vince Lombardi and George Hallas as the coaches. And 3) the film presentation of the road to the Superbowl, highlights of last year’s season.

Vince Lombardi

Pennsylvania Railroad Museum, Strasburg, PA

Pennsylvania Railroad Museum

Mary isn’t feeling very well today, so after doing our laundry I headed off the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. They claim to be among the top three of all railroad museums in the U.S. They have a collection of over 110 engines and cars. I was disappointed that you couldn’t walk through any of the passenger cars, but you could see inside them. They had a lot of engines: steam, diesel, and diesel electric and did a good job of explaining their unique characteristics. For one of the steam engines you could look from below the tracks to see some of the operational parts. 

V-style pistons for lumbering operations

I also had a good explanation from one of the docents on how to control the engines. It was simple, one control did forward and back, and the other controlled the speed. Then there were separate brake controls: one for the engine itself and the other for the air brakes on all the cars. I hadn’t realized that air brakes were used in the late 19^th century, and that the side tanks on steam engines were for pressurizing air. Another surprise – refrigeration cars were also introduced in the late 1800’s and used ice for cooling and kerosene furnaces to heat to keep a constant temperature in the car. The place was filled with model train enthusiasts who were working on various displays. The most elaborate had an interesting city scene, followed by a switching yard, country field and mountain scene. If you’re into trains, this is the place for you.

Brake control on left, engine on right

Lancaster County, PA

Baking Ham in the Dutch Oven

Our first stop today was the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum. This is another historical village set primarily in the late 1800s. What set it apart was the people who described what they were doing and why. At the tavern, the woman was baking ham in her Dutch oven. The oven had feet underneath, a place for a ceramic bowl to hold the ham, and then a cover that was upturned so you could put coals above and below the pan. The shopkeeper in the country store gave a great explanation of the sections of his store: groceries, shoe section, lady’s and men’s apparel, cloth, tobacco, and the pharmacy. He pointed out that most of the medicines offered then either had a lot of alcohol, opium, or heroin with additional herbs. For example, the medicine to quiet a baby had two ounces of alcohol in it. Most of these medications just numbed the pain, but they could claim to be miracle drugs. In the textile barn, we learned the process of turning flax into thread. Afterwards you either gave that thread to a man who ran a loom, or you might make flax belts on a homemade contraption (so simple a 3-year-old could do it). As you can tell, it was the people who made this museum worthwhile. Rather than staying true to a period, they explained how things were done back then.

General Store's Pharmacy

Ephrata Cloister

Our second stop was the Ephrata Cloister. We had a great tour guide who told the story of religious community. Conrad Beissel was born in Germany and began his own search for religious truth. Because he believed in adult baptism, he was expelled from Germany. He came to Pennsylvania in the 1700s because William Penn promised religious freedom here. He was a deeply religious man who believed in a personal relation with God, but he was also a dynamic speaker and many people joined him over time in this community. He believed that Jesus had both a male and female side (Jesus and Sophia) and that Jesus’ second coming would occur in his lifetime. By remaining celibate, men and women could marry Jesus when he returned. His community had up to 40 men and 40 women as well as being supported by over 100 families in 1750. These men and women would work and pray most of the day. They had only one vegetarian meal a day. Slept on boards with a chunk of wood as a pillow for 3 hours, then had a 2-hour service waiting for Jesus’ return at midnight, followed by 3 more hours of sleep. After Conrad’s death the community started declining. After the last celibate woman died, the families took over the buildings. In the 1930’s the state took over the community buildings for back taxes and turned it into a museum. The buildings are in excellent shape given that they were built in the 1700’s. Well worth a visit but be sure to arrive in time for a tour.

We then took a ride through Intercourse and Bird in Hand, but they don’t seem to be as interesting as when we came here decades ago. Fewer unique shops, but still plenty of Amish in their horse drawn carts.

Cloister Bedroom

Hertiage Discovery Center, Johnstown, PA

Johnstown in the 1800s

We’re heading from Pittsburgh across central Pennsylvania to Lancaster County. Our stop today was in Johnstown at the Heritage Discovery Center. The Heritage Center describes the growth of Johnstown as an iron and steel town. Around town were both coal mines and iron ore mines making this an ideal place to forge steel. Initially iron forges required skilled labor, but over time with the industrialization of the process there was a large need for cheap labor – bring on the immigrants. Johnstown became the destination for many southern and eastern European immigrants, usually driven out of their country because of discrimination (particularly against Jews) or lack of farming opportunity in their country. They came here to a dirty industrial city with no English language skills and were given the low paying dirty jobs in the mill. The women often ran their house as a boarding house (often having 3 people assigned to a bed, working different shifts). Each ethnic group lived in a separate part of town, had their own social life, and churches and were despised by the Americans. The iron mills and coal mines were dangerous places to work and an injury meant no income for that family. Meanwhile the mills did everything they could to avoid unions. At one point, the steel mill here produced more steel than any other factory in the U.S. In the 20^th century, steel was important for both world wars, unions established a foothold, and pay and benefits increased. The children and grandchildren of the immigrants learned English and began to intermarry. And then in the 1970’s the U.S. steel industry declined, and the mill here closed.

Striking for fewer hours and better pay

Even more interesting than the Heritage Museum was the movie on the iron and steel industry. It described how Johnstown’s mill became one of the first mills to economically produce railroad rails. I also learned that steel had historically been accidently created out of iron and that it took 3 different men with 3 different patents that needed to be combined into one industrial process to make steel in bulk. The room would shake and get hot at appropriate times, so that it almost felt like you were in the mill as the steel was being made.

Modern steel making

Tonight, we’re in a beautiful KOA in Elizabethtown, PA. It’s centrally located near Harrisburg, York, and Lancaster.

Fort Pitt State Park

Fountain at the confluence

There are over 200 campsites in Racoon State Park, but now that the holiday weekend is done, what was a full park, probably has around 10 campers still here. Mary is having physical problems today and decided that she should rest. After lunch, I decided to go to Fort Pitt State Park. The museum explains the history of this area, focusing on the 1700s. This was contested land between the British, French, and the Indian tribes. The French knew that if they could control the Ohio river, they could control everything from their French colonies up in Canada to Louisiana. The British were looking at controlling the land westward from their colonies (many of which had charters for all lands west of the original colony). This eventually led to the French and Indian War, where the French first controlled this river junction with Fort Duquesne. The British attacked multiple times, finally gaining control and building their own Fort Pitt. The Indians didn’t want the colonists to take control of this land, so the treaty they signed with the British gave them all the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. But, of course, that didn’t stop colonists from continuing to move west, resulting in a war with the Indians. During the Revolutionary War, the Americans took over the Fort, as the British concentrated their forces further East. During the war, some tribes supported the British, other tribes formally declared themselves neutral. But the colonists couldn’t distinguish the tribes, and atrocities occurred from both sides. The Revolutionary War continued in this area for several years past the British surrender at Yorktown. After the war finally ended, Fort Pitt and West Point were the only two places where the American army kept permanent troops. I also learned that wampum was a belt of beads, not for use as money, but as a record of what was agreed in a treaty between Indian tribes, and that a “buck” now a synonym for a dollar, actually meant a deer buck pelt, and other fur belts were worth so many buck pelts.

Model of Fort Pitt

Pittsburgh

Phipps Botanical Garden

We had a loud thunderstorm last night with both flood and tornado warnings, but nothing serious occurred. The forecast for today is rain, so we’re primarily going to do indoor things. (Turns out we didn’t have any rain.) We started at the Phipps Botanical Garden, which is almost all under glass. The place is filled with ferns, palms, and tropical plants from all over the world. They were featuring flower arrangements that mimicked Van Gogh paintings, which didn’t add a lot to the exhibit. The highlights were the orchids, which we learned grow all over the world, including above the artic circle. There were also several formal garden areas which were quite impressive. We’ve seen a lot of botanical gardens, this one rated as okay, but not great.

Cathedral of Learning

Within a 10-minute walk, we were at the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus. This 32-story building lower floors mimic a gothic cathedral. The fame of the building, however, is the nationality classrooms on the third floor. Each of these rooms is devoted to a country, who are represented today in the immigrant families of Pittsburgh. Some of these are very ornate rooms with the architecture of the country represented in the seating arrangements, the tables, the windows, and the walls. Many have small exhibits of artifacts from the country as well as carvings in the door frame. Each room provides a narration about the country. Among the nation rooms we saw were Japan, Armenia, Switzerland, Austria, and Africa.

Armenia Room

Time for a late lunch or early dinner. We decided to try the Church Brew Pub which is built inside a former Catholic Church. The church was abandoned as the industry and population of Pittsburgh declined and churches were consolidated. The interior is interesting, and the food and drink were excellent, but it felt strange with the vats on the altar and stained glass windows all around. Their motto: “And on the eighth day man created beer”.

Church Brew Pub

Dennison OH Railroad Depot

Dennison Railroad Depot

Last time we went through this part of Ohio (along I-70 and US 40) we stopped at the National Road Museum, which we would recommend. This time we went to Dennison’s Railroad Depot. The first part of the museum was very disappointing. It gave the history of how Dennison was a midway stop between Columbus, Ohio and Pittsburgh for the Pennsylvania Railroad. The town was primarily created to house all the railroad workers for the Railroad works here, where they built and repaired engines and cars. A strike by the railroad workers in 1922, caused the railroad to move the jobs out of town.

Model of Rail Works

The second part of the museum told the story during World War II, of the canteen run by the Salvation Army, to provide food and drink for the troop trains that passed through town. They restored the depot as a memorial to all the World War II canteens. Over a million soldiers passed through here in the 4 years of the war, and volunteers from an 8-county area would provide them with sandwiches, cookies, and coffee. The town became know as “Dreamland, Ohio” after a popular song of the day.

Serving WW II soldiers at the Canteen

The third part of the museum continues in the railroad cars showing typical cars of the day: passenger, dining, hospital, and sleeping cars. I never thought about the fact that hospital trains would be needed for the men injured in war. In addition, there is a section on railroad communication – how do you track the trains and prevent them from crashing into each other. It started with the telegraph and evolved with mechanical and then electrical signals. These last two sections made the museum worthwhile. Tonight we’re staying in Raccoon State Park, a beautiful forested park about 25 miles outside Pittsburgh.

Evolution of Railroad Signals

Columbus OH zoo

Komodo Dragon

There is an Ohio State Game today, so we avoided the game traffic by heading to the Columbus Zoo. This is a large zoo, we spent over 4 hours here and only saw half of the Zoo (missing most of the African Savannah, Asia, and North American sections. We started at the Australia and South Sea Island section, which had a good selection of animals including a nocturnal section with kiwi, and wombats. We enjoyed the lorikeets, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos. From the Indonesian islands, we saw Komodo dragons, Asian otters, Gibbons, and orangutans.

Blue-bellied Roller

Then onto the Congo section (versus African Savannah) with gorillas, bonobos and a few unique antelopes that we hadn’t seen before: Okapi’s and a duiker (a tiny one). We enjoyed the bird exhibit finding some new species of ibis and a blue roller.

Duiker

We ended up in the seashore and ocean section which featured manatees and Humboldt penguins. I went on to the reptile/amphibian house, one of the largest I’ve seen. (Mary stays away from snakes.) They had quite a few different lizards and then another section with amphibians, especially frogs and turtles. Some of the snake-necked turtles were my favorite. Plan a whole day if you come here. They do have some rides for the kids as well as some great playgrounds.

Humboldt Penguins

COSI, Columbus OH

We’re staying at the Alton RV Park, it’s a tiny park with no shade, but it is within a mile of the Columbus City Limits. Today, we went to COSI and we were surprised when our membership to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science gave us free admission here. We spent most of our time in the two special exhibits. The first was on mythical creatures, their legends and some theories on why people believed in these creatures. The Kraken which in legend was bigger than a ship, probably came from the Giant Squid. Sea dragons may have come seeing pods of whales or dolphins sighted in the distance, where there jumping between the waves may have looked like a long dragon body emerging from the waves. When large dinosaur bones were found, the heads were turned into dragons and the big thigh bones led to the belief in giants. Could the Cylops be from a baby elephant skull?

Baby elephant skull

The second special exhibit was on Jim Henson and the creation of the Muppets. He got his TV start with two puppets doing a 5-minute local show every day. He also created quite a few short commercials using cartoon Muppet-like characters. The story continues through the creation of Sesame street and the Muppet show. It was quite entertaining because of the many short videos of many of the characters we are all familiar with Kermit, Grover, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie and Miss Piggy.

Jim Henson's first TV show

We only saw one of the main exhibits, the section on dinosaurs. The exhibit had a lot more than just the skeletons of these creatures. They also explained the modeling to determine how fast a Tyrannosaurus could run (10-25 mph) and how the big plant eaters moved their necks (the long neck we saw was designed to munch plants in the water below the animal, not leaves above. Another section explained what they learned from dinosaur tracks on how the feet of these dinosaurs worked. The most fascinating section though explained the development of feathers on dinosaurs. 

Therizinosaur lived 70 Million years ago

Feathers were designed for protection from the weather and for coloring. (The eyes of dinosaurs and birds are more fully developed than the other senses). Then how wings may have been used first for gliding and hopping up obstacles. Then finally how the shoulder muscles changed to allow for true flight. There were many fossils where you could see that these dinosaurs did have feathers. Videos provided great explanations for the theories. There were lots of regular exhibits we didn’t have the energy to see on Life, Oceans, Progress over time, and gadgets. We had already spent three hours here.  

Aepyornis bird extinct in 1500 AD 

Then we headed off for a late lunch at Schmidt’s German Restaurant for some schnitzel.

Carillon Historical Park, Dayton, OH

Our primary stop of the day is Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio. This really tells the story of Dayton’s industrial sector. The story starts with John Patterson and his founding of National Cash Register Company. There is a huge collection of cash registers, most of them quite ornate and filled with lots of small mechanical parts. They also have a very simple one, intended to be so inexpensive, it would kill the competition. Their advertising pitch was addressed to customers: “get a receipt”, which their cash registers would produce. 

National Cash Register Machines

Engineers from this firm founded their own firms: DELCO which invented the first practical car batteries and electric starters (to replace the hand crank), and Dayton Bicycles (later Huffy) among others. There is a good animatronic presentation of the founding of these industries. Of course, this is also where the Wright brothers, working in the back of their bicycle shop, designed the first heavier than air, flying machine. The National Wright Brothers Museum is within the park, telling their story. It culminates in the actual 1905 version of their plane – the first plane that could turn, make multiple landings, and could fly for up to 40 minutes.

1905 Wright Brother Model III

On the grounds are several historical buildings: a schoolhouse, print house, and tavern. We had a great discussion with the folks in the 1935 Print Shop, showing off early offset-presses and linotypes. There is also a building devoted to telling the story of Dayton’s 1913 flood and another on transportation which has an 1835 locomotive engine used on the B&O railroad as well as a classic parlor car. On a previous visit we went to the Air Force Museum which I also highly recommend.

B&O Engine #1

Conner Prairie Interactive Historical Part

Conner Family Tree

We continued toward Indianapolis to visit Conner PrairieInteractive Historic Park. This has an interesting mix of historic areas. William Conner was one of the first 15 settlers in this area of Indiana. He was first married to a Lenape Indian woman and over 19 years had 6 kids by her. She moved with her tribe when the Indians were moved further west. Within 3 months, he married a white woman and had 10 kids by her (all of whom made it to adulthood). His brick home build in the early 1800’s still stands here. Other areas in the park include a fur trader’s camp with the Lenape Indians, an 1836 village, an 1859 balloon ride, and a civil war camp. Unfortunately, it was too windy for the balloon.  

John Morgan's Invasion North

The highlight was the civil war camp. They told the story with a mix of real people and video images and sound effects. The town of Dupont being invaded and burnt by the confederates under the leadership of General John Morgan in July 1863. He came up from Kentucky and raided several towns in Indiana and Ohio. This exhibit was well done and made the whole Park worthwhile. The other parts of the park are typical of historic parks: a schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, general store, etc. We stayed that night at the Indianapolis KOA, a nice tree-filled campground, but right on the interstate.  

Interrogating a prisoner

Lincoln's Home, Springfield, IL

Lincoln's Home in Springfield

We made about 300 miles through Missouri and Illinois, passing another fascinating museum that we’ve done previously, the WinstonChurchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri. Our goal this time was to visit Lincoln’s home in downtown Springfield. He bought a 3-room house soon after he was married and over time expanded the house, building a second story on top with 5 bedrooms. This is the one and only home he owned and for the time, it was impressive with a huge parlor and sitting room. Because he left from this home to become president, most of the furnishings were stored for him to come back to, which of course never happened. His son Edward donated the house and the belongings to the State of Illinois, so many of the original furnishings are in the home. Currently run by the NPS, the street in front of the house has been restored to what it would have looked like in 1860 and the exterior of the house matches the photos of the time. The guides do a great job of telling you the story of Lincoln’s rise in Springfield as an impressive lawyer and then as a strong proponent of emancipation for the slaves. On our previous visit to Springfield, we went to the Lincoln Library and Museum which is quite modern and is entertaining even for children.  We’re staying at the Springfield KOA, which is deep in the woods outside Springfield, our most quiet campground of the trip.

Lincoln Parlor with original furnishings

Kansas City

Minature Harpsicord that can play

We visited the Toy and Miniatures Museum today. We weren’t sure what to expect but this was an excellent museum. We spent most of our time looking at the Miniatures, fascinated by some of the intricate wood working, knitting, embroidery, and painting in such tiny dimensions. There were several video exhibits showing how this work is done. Many of the minatures were done for doll houses, which there are several on display, but others are just to recreate rooms from earlier times. 

Beacon Hill House 

Upstairs is the Toy Museum, which starts with a large section on dolls and doll houses, but also goes through the history of toy making. The story of German toy making from hand wood-working through the industrialization of toy making was interesting. A video showed how they started mass producing wooden horses, starting on a lathe to create a round cylinder with the basic shape. They hand-carved the rest. 

We had lunch at Gates on Main Street, famous for Kansas City Barbeque. The beef ribs and ham were really good, but we didn’t care for the brisket and the platter was more than either of us could eat. We should have split one. 

Excavating the wreckage

Then on to the Steamboat Arabia museum. A family and friends spent a million dollars finding and raising this wreck in the middle of a corn field. It was a Missouri River Boat which hit a tree snag and quickly sank in 1856. The boat was primarily bringing goods into Kansas and Nebraska to stock over 56 small general stores. So it was filled with the common goods of the day and it provides a picture of the pre-civil-war era. It gives a very different picture of Kansas, then what we get from our history books and movies. For example, lots of fine china were found, most goods were manufactured, not hand crafted, and all the women’s earrings were for pierced ears. What wasn’t found were the barrels of Kentucky bourbon that were supposed to have been on board. The iron steam engine and the paddle wheels were also intact, but most of the wood of the boat (except for the white oak used for stern, rudder and paddle wheels) had disintegrated. We even met a member of the family who raised the river boat.

Homegoods found 

On a previous trip, we did the World War I museum in KansasCity which I highly recommend.

Kansas History Museum, Topeka

Tall Grass Prarie

If you prefer to see a narrated video of this trip, it is available on youtube.

We traveled out to Russel, Kansas yesterday. Last night we had lightning and thunder from about midnight to 4 AM, but the rain stopped by morning. We headed off to the Kansas History Museum in Topeka, Kansas. We arrived before their 1 PM Sunday opening so I took a few short nature trails around the place. The most interesting was a small section of tall grass prairie, the stuff Kansas was covered with in the 1800s. In order to maintain this patch, they have to do a controlled burn every three years to keep out the invading species. 

Witchita Grass Lodge

The museum told the story of Kansas and from it we came out with a few interesting new insights. First, of all, we learned the Sante Fe Trail was primarily a trading route between the U.S. and what was then Sante Fe in Mexico. The Conestoga wagons weren’t fill with people’s possessions, but with goods destined for Mexico. From Sante Fe, another trail led south all the way to Mexico City. Among the artifacts was a wagon jack, with crank and gears to lift the wagons, and a wagon wheel mechanism to slow the wagon when it was going down-hill. We all remember the Missouri Compromise that preserved the power of the slave states in the senate. States created south of Missouri would be slave, those north would be free. But that ended with Kansas and Nebraska were preparing to join the union, they could choose either to be slave or free. Well, it took 4 state constitutional conventions before there was a Kansas constitution that was agree to both by the citizens of the state and congress (after many violent incidents). And that only happened after several southern states had seceded from the Union.

Comparison of Four Constitutions