26 July 2016 Along the Ohio

We started our day with a visit to Georgetown, Ohio. We stopped in town to locate a benchmark and hunt a few geocaches. Once we arrived we spent time walking the area and learning more of the boyhood home of President Grant.

The president's boyhood home was quite large for the period.

President Grant's first school

A later schooling location for the future president

We both spotted the ugly pest, the eastern bagworm. They are voracious eaters and attack a multitude of trees with the capability of killing them. This one was climbing the side of the statue of President Grant. This was the first time I remember seeing one.

Our next stop was in Ripley, Ohio which is the home of the Rankin House. The house closed on the day of our visit, but the grounds were still open. The house sits high overlooking the Ohio River. It's a modest house which at one time was home to the Rankins and their thirteen children. It was also for many escaping slaves their first underground railroad stop in a free state. Besides the fifteen members of the Rankin family, the home also gave shelter to as many as twelve escaped slaves as they made their way to freedom.

The view near the Rankin House shows how the home would be visible to slaves as they made their way across the Ohio River and into freedom.

Hundreds of escaped slaves made the journey up this hill before reaching the Rankin House.

Our busy day included a visit to the Adams Lake Prarie. July isn't the best time of year for wildflowers in bloom, but the prairie was in bloom

We made a late stop in Portsmouth and spent time relaxing while looking at the impressive floodwall mural. It seems a long time ago when Pokemon Go was a rage, but on this evening there were dozens of people walking and driving along this road completely immersed in a game they would soon forget.