Why does it
seem so difficult to write about the last two weeks?
It has been a great time,
first the second week at Linda’s was fun with a
combination of just easy relaxation and slow time activity like a
shopping visit to Costco and one of my favorites; going to MENARDS to walk
around and shop for special things that I always seem to find there, (there are
currently no MENARDS south of Tennessee).
We had a few
“hiccups” of course, I had my first root canal . I think there are other more
fun things to do but it was nice to tell the nurse that she was a BLUE DEVIL (
graduated from Zanesville HS, Home of the Blue Devils), at least the PC police
have not forced them to change their Logo or nickname yet. Thinking about all the
illogical or nasty high school mascots or Logos that kept my mind busy while
the doctor was doing his drilling and rooting!
We had a
domestic water pump go bad in the motorhome, but since Deb and I had earlier
replaced one, the replacement was relatively quick and probably very unlikely,
but stuff happens! The ladies all went and got foot massages and colorful toes;
Jake and I passed on the opportunity , but accepted the offer for breakfast at
Scramblers. (another good option we miss in the South!)
We were able
to go visit my “Big Brother” Gene, and his family as he got released home from
the hospital and was cleared for visitors!
He is making a nice recovery and just sitting down and talking for 3
hours was good medicine for Deb and I. Jake was so happy to see Maryetta and
show off his prowess for picking off food from anyone and anywhere! We hope
they can make the trip down to Lillian to see our great little community and
meet PATTON!!
However, after
2+ weeks we had to leave our family campsite on Tuesday, Linda was getting
tired of the “Big Wheely House” outside her backyard and two extra dogs, so we
got on I-70 and East to I-77 North and about 100 miles later pulled into our
Resort campground @ Rocky Fort. Let’s look at why this campground deserves the
term “Resort” : two large swimming pools, mini golf course, arena horse shows,
trail rides, paint ball obstacle course, shooting range, fishing pond, canoe
lake, beautiful camp sites in a wooded setting.
Located in
the area of Ohio with large Amish populations to the north and east this part
of Ohio is full of curvy dirt and gravel roads crisscrossing hills and valleys
where you crest a hill and are as likely to find a modern A frame home or a 200
year old horse drawn buggy.
The only clue is found in watching for horse dung
on the road,( Buggy ahead) or modern power lines, ( non-Amish living ahead),
sometimes they are mixed together!
The Amish are descendants of the Anabaptist movement leader Meno Simons. Meno
taught a social distancing long before Covid 19, called, UNIFORM NON-CONFORMITY,
in that all his followers dressed different from the others, but the same
as each other. They also believe in Adult Baptism, no Military, educating
their own, no jewelry or fancy buttons and used a form of social shunning as a
means of control.
After the death of Meno and another 100 years,
Meno’s followers, (Mennonites) began to socialize and a Mennonite preacher,
Jacob Aman , began to preach a strict return to Meno’s teaching. These
followers became known as Amish and settled in Pennsylvania when William Penn
sent emissaries to Europe, promising religious freedom to anyone who wanted to
move to his colony! They arrived on a Dutch ship and when they got off, they
were obviously dressed really different, spoke a strange language, but all dressed alike and the locals called
them Pennsylvania Dutch!
Debbie will correct me for returning
to teaching mode for writing all this but maybe a few of you will find the
history and culture of the Amish interesting! ( Hi Patton, this is social
studies!)
So, our first Friday here, we had to
drive back to Pickerington to have the stitches from the root canal removed! Last
weekend Hurricane Hugh entertained us as only a 2 ½ year old young boy could!
We had 90-degree heat and a campfire with toasted marshmallows, Hill climbing
and pool time, and learned all the extra equipment that goes with mom and dad visiting
with a very smart and active young male.
Monday, we drove into
Newcomerstown to pick up a few groceries
but when leaving the IGA the trusty JEEP failed to start, As I pushed and Deb
steered a local young man joined in and deb “popped the clutch” the JEEP
started and we drove away back to the camp. We thought we could put the battery
charger on it, but the next day we declared it DEAD! Call AAA and that battery
truck that they advertise? OK, sounds good but AAA lady says “Where are you?” which is followed by “Where”? and then “ Oh,
we don’t have that battery truck service where you are” We’ll have to tow it
#@%&^. We called the resort, they sent a truck to jump start the Jeep and
within 10 min we were on the road to the NAPA store in Newcomerstown!
Great service, fair prices and while I
was inside and Deb in the Jeep, a horse and buggy pulled into the parking lot.
The Amish driver said to Deb, “a long way from Alabama!” Deb said yes but we
need a battery! He said, “if you had a ride like mine, you wouldn’t need
a battery”! That’s Amish humor! Later after we got some Ice Cream, we got
behind his buggy slowly leaving town, now that’s a Amish holdup!
Catching you up on what its like
COVID, Ohio is very different in mask wearing depending on area. We saw a lot
of compliance in Central Ohio, moderate compliance in urban areas in Eastern
Ohio, and I haven’t noticed any compliance by Amish families shopping in rural
areas including grocery or Wal Mart,(yes they do get rides to shop at Wal Marts
usually from Mennonite friends)!
Today we drove North to Dover Ohio to
meet our Financial Advisor and friend at Bob Evans! After great conversation
and review of investments with Joe, we decided to visit two historical sites in
E. Ohio!
Those two sites are Schoembrunn and
Gnadenhutten:
Schoenbrunn Village was one of the
very first settlements in the Ohio territory, today you can view a recreated
village of shops, stores, homes and churches a visitor center and learn how
people lived in the wilderness in the 1770's. We took a few photographs and
walked around a bit but Schoenbrunn is a recreation of the actual village, not
the actual village.
Gnadenhutten however is the REAL thing
not a re-creation, and the history here is remarkable. The same Christian
convert Indians that had settled at Schoenbrunn, established a village called
“Huts of Grace”, or Gnadenhutten in 1772. Peaceful and very productive, the
Native Americans under the leadership of JOSHUA thrived in this area now Eastern Ohio. Soon there
were 60 cabins and hundreds of Moravian Christians living in Gnadenhutten.
Settlers and Indians lived side by side and peacefully farmed the land and enjoyed the bounty. JOSHUA died in 1775
before the following happened.
The American Revolution began to spill
over into the Ohio territory, however, and the British feared that the Moravian
Christian Mohicans were more supportive of the Americans, than the British. In
1781 the British removed the residents to Captive Town near Upper Sandusky. No
real provisions were made for the Moravians and starvation and winter weather
started to cause death. Elders begged
the British to allow a contingent of the Indian settlers to return to “Huts of
Grace” or Gnadenhutten to gather any foods that were left behind.
When they returned in 1782 they began
to collect crops and food, unaware that just over the border in Pennsylvania a
raid by other Indians on White settlers had taken place. A war party of white
men set out to get retribution and found the peaceful Moravian converts easy
prey. The Gnadenhutten Moravians were herded into two buildings and on
March8,1782 the Pennsylvania Milita bludgeoned to death, scalped, and then set
fire to both buildings killing all but two teenagers who managed to escape the
fires. Sixteen years later,(1798) John Heckwelder, one of the white
missionaries returned to the scene, collected all the human remains and buried
them in a mass grave that still exists today.
The
Moravian church and its members reestablished the village in 1798 it has been
continuously occupied since then. The Moravian Indians at Schoenbrunn avoided a
similar fate, when one of their members saw what was happening in Gnadenhutten
and warned its members to escape to the forests before the raiding party from
Pennsylvania reached the settlement. Some of the Moravian Christians fled to
Canada, some moved west but all left the Ohio settlements. In 1870 a 35 foot
tall monument was dedicated by the Moravian church community to honor the site
of this massacre. Four descendants of the Indians killed spoke at the
dedication.
JUST A COVID REVISION
OF TRIP PLANS:
New York, where we scheduled to camp
after here, has cancelled the opening of ALL of its campgrounds. We were
camping there under the RPI membership @ $10 per night vs Free as here with our
TRA membership. TRA rules require that you be out of the TRA system for 7 days
between TRA sites. We did find a RPI site open near here but they do not take
arrivals on Tuesdays. We had to revise our reservation here to leave a day
early so that we could arrive at the RPI site on Monday. That also required
that we change our arrival in Gettysburg to Aug. 3, which could only be done after we officially
changed our departure date to Monday July 27. Folks were really nice so our
next camping will be in Jefferson Ohio near Lake Erie starting next Monday the
27th.And Gettysburg will start on Aug 3rd
Joan
2020-07-25
Enjoyed this about how far is Rocky Fork from Columbus? Loved the pictures also.