“Success
isn’t owned. It’s leased, and rent is
due every day.” J.J. Watt
Carol
writes: For
the pro football fan, the ultimate destination is the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in Canton, Ohio. Al found a nice
campground out in rural Holmes County, just a short drive from Canton. What we didn’t realize before we got there was
that Holmes County has the largest population of Amish anywhere in the
country. This part of Ohio certainly
offers the chance to observe their technology-free way of life in which time stands
still!
With a population of approximately 36,000
Amish in a several-county area, while driving we had to be on constant lookout
for the distinctive black horse-drawn buggies of the local Amish residents…and
there were a lot of buggies on the road!
Amish-owned market stands were everywhere!
Since we don’t have room in our RV for many
souvenirs, most of our touristy purchases tend to be items we can eat. No storage problem with that! We took the opportunity to buy some yummy
apple butter and apple strudel, and also stocked up on some of those incredible
Amish home-grown fruits and veggies.
PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
The Pro Football Hall of Fame was quite entertaining! One of the displays about the early days of
football caught my eye. It was about
Byron “Whizzer” White, the only man ever to play professional football in
addition to sitting as an associate justice on the Supreme Court!
Many of the other displays narrated stories of
great players and events that we remembered well. As diehard Denver Bronco fans, we were happy
to see the Broncos well represented. We
were watching the game the night Payton Manning set the career record for
passing touchdowns.
One of our all-time favorite players was #84—tight
end Shannon Sharpe—and there were the shoes he wore when he set some impressive
records!
Colorful displays of immediately recognizable
football jerseys caught the eye!
We spent lots of time with our heads bent over a
large display case with a sample of every Super Bowl ring for the past 50
years.
For me, the most impressive room was the Pro
Football Hall of Fame Gallery with its weirdly fascinating collection of bronze
busts, grouped by year of induction of each player elected to the Hall of Fame.
Once again, by some strange coincidence, we
just missed a Donald Trump sighting.
That very morning, accompanied by the current Hall of Fame president, Trump
had been escorted through the Hall of Fame Gallery. Just a few hours later, we
felt we were the luckier ones when we had the opportunity to have an extended
conversation and a handshake with the docent who shook Payton Manning’s hand
when he visited.
The Lombardi Trophy for the winner of next
year’s Super Bowl was already on display.
Shoes, iconic jerseys, memorabilia, rings and
bronze busts: the Pro Football Hall of
Fame was a fan’s delight!
CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK
Since we were not far from Cuyahoga Valley
National Park, we could not pass up the opportunity for a visit. The fact that this national park was spread
out over many miles did not make for easy exploration, since much of the park was
interspersed between private land and homes.
For our brief visit, we elected to ride our
bikes on a portion of the paved Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail. This trail was most representative of the
reason for the park’s existence: to
preserve the history of the canal route through the Cuyahoga River valley. Before the arrival of the railroad, this
canal was a primary transportation artery between the Midwest and the East
Coast and as such played a big part in the commercial development of the Midwest.
We enjoyed a great bike ride on the historic
towpath—over bridges, through tunnels,
and beside now-dry historic locks along the trail.
MCKINLEY PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM
Besides the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we had
another destination that we wanted to see in the Canton area, and that was the
McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.
William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, was born in Niles, Ohio, but he called Canton home. Alongside his wife, his final resting place was beneath the rotunda of a grandiose mausoleum atop a hill with 108 steps.
Prior to the Presidency, William McKinley was also a Congressman from Ohio and Governor of Ohio. He was a confident man and once said, “I have never been in doubt since I was old enough to think intelligently that I would someday be made president.”
As President he led our nation to victory in the
Spanish American War and was instrumental in acquiring Hawaii as a
territory. Prominent Canton residents
were so bereft at his untimely death that they conceived such a grand burial
site out of love for their beloved favorite son.
The McKinley Gallery section of the museum
consisted of a large room with McKinley family artifacts from his early life in
Canton as an attorney, in addition to memorabilia from the White House years. Clever animated figures of the President and
his wife, Ida Saxton McKinley, narrated explanations.
McKinley is pictured here with Theodore
Roosevelt. Assassinated by an anarchist in
1901 a year into his second term, he was succeeded by Vice President Theodore
Roosevelt.
Nellie and William McKinley had two children,
both of whom died at a young age, leaving them with no immediate heirs. Thus, the Stark County Historical Society has
taken on the responsibility of preserving McKinley artifacts.
Aside from some china, campaign buttons, and a
handful of dresses belonging to former First Ladies, the actual First Ladies Library
had little else and admittedly was still a work in progress. However, this museum was the gateway for a
visit to Ida Saxton McKinley’s family home just a few doors down. As a married couple, the McKinleys lived in
Saxton House for 13 years of their married life.
The Saxton House was a Victorian-era beauty
from the outside.
Using historic photographs as models, the inside has
been restored to its past glory with great attention to detail.
That was a very enjoyable week’s stay near Canton as fall was just starting to reveal its colors along the rural byways of
northeastern Ohio. We found a variety of
outings to fascinate the football fan and the history buff. Add to this mix some great Amish food, surrounded
by the ambience of the Amish way of life, and I can understand why the
campground was packed to the brim with weekend campers.
For these pro football fans and presidential
history junkies, this was a near-perfect stop.
“Our
differences are policies, our agreements principles.” President William McKinley
No comments:
Post a Comment