More bike trail riding on July 18th. We decided on a trail from a recommendation of a neighbor of Linda's sister, Karen. It turned out to be a fun and interesting ride.
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| This trail runs from Bowerston 11.4 miles to Jewett |
Besides some great scenery along the way, the town of Scio worked out to be a great stop for some food and local attractions. We saw lots of wildlife including many birds who would lead us down the trail. Part way down the trail we saw a couple of deer. Of course when we rode closer they hopped off and disappeared into the brush. The trail has beautiful flowers on the side.
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| Tim by his bike with a bed of flowers in the background | | |
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A little over halfway down the trail from Bowerston, we came to the village of Scio. We were hot and hungry, so we stopped at the B & F Dairy Bar While getting a cool drink and something to eat, we heard a horse and wagon passing.
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| An Amish father & a bunch of sons riding through town |
We hadn't realized that Amish we also in this area, which is a good distance east of Holmes County, where most of the Amish reside. We saw other Amish at the grocery store next to the dairy bar.
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| Linda relaxing in the covered bridge |
A short distance from the dairy bar on the trail is a pretty covered bridge, which spans Conotton Creek. Conotton Creek eventually flows into the Ohio River. The craftsmanship in the construction of the bridge is wonderful. Linda relaxed while I rode a few miles to the Scio Pottery Co.
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| Scio Pottery Co. building |
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Scio Pottery was started in 1933 and ceased pottery production in 1985. In its heyday, they employed 1,380 people and made 24,000 pottery pieces a day. Some of their customers were: Campbell Soup, Maxwell House Coffee, Woolworth's, Ben Franklin store, and Kresges. Some of the pottery made at Scio.
http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/harrison/images/pots.jpg Tim was amazed by the factory building. It appeared they started with one building. As the business grew, they blew out a wall or ceiling and added on. They obviously did this many times over the decades. Since the close of pottery production in 1985 the building has been neglected and deteriorated even though it is still used bagging cement and custom cement bending.
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| Scio Pottery Co. factory "ruins" |
As you enter the town of Scio you see the sign below next to the bike trail which explains its history.
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| Scio, Ohio sign explaining its history |
Scio was founded in 1836 as New Market. Later the name was changed to Scio. It had a renowned pharmacy college, an oil boom with over 1,000 producing wells before 1900 and the pottery company. We decided to head back to the trail head at Bowerston, because it was getting hotter.
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| Beautiful flower seen on Conotton Bike Trail |
On the 20th we attended the auction at Mt. Hope, Ohio. This has always been one of our favorite auctions. Auctions are held weekly throughout Amish Country in Holmes County. Livestock, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, produce, and flea market are part of auction. You can buy 10 dozen eggs at one time. You've never seen such stacks of eggs. Thousands are sold every auction for a little as 35 cents per dozen. Tim like the baked goods. Yummy!
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| Hay sale at the auction |
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| Amish bringing poultry or rabbits to sell at auction |
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| Amish buggy at the auction |
A few days later the Doughty Valley Steam Days started southwest of Scenic Hills RV Park where we were staying and just north of the village of Charm.
Steam tractors, prairie tractors and antique gas engines filled the hillside. Feature demonstrations include steam plowing, steam powered sawmill, steam powered shingle mill, and steam threshing. Evening events planned are steam tractor games, tug-of-war, draft horse pulling and spark shows. This event was heavily attended and run by Amish from the area. Concession stands were operated by Amish. It was a fun event watching the antique equipment being used and demonstrated. They even had an antique & modern versions of sawmills run by a long belt attached to a steam tractor. The most fun was the "tug of war" between Amish kids and different steam tractors. Tim enjoyed watching a steam tractor plowing a field.
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| Amish bikes parked for steam days |
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| Amish kids watching steam days events |
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| Steam tractors line up and firing their boilers |
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| Some of the Amish bikes were parked hurriedly |
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| More Amish watching events on the hillside |
Linda enjoyed checking out the monstrous steam tractors. The tractors are massively built and require constant lubrication. You don't operate these with a short attention span.
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| Many tractors have original ornate designs & artwork |
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| Steam tractor doing a plowing demonstration |
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| Amish mother & little son next to threshing machine |
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| Ornate design on steam tractor |
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| Lots of bells & whistles on top of this tractor |
Some of these tractors are so tall it takes a ladder to get in the driver's seat...ornate ladder.
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| Ornate ladder to mount this tractor |
Below is a picture of much larger than "dubs" (20") wire wheels. Bet the rappers would love these!
More pictures of steam tractors and engines follow below:
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| Tractor expelling lots of steam and smoke |
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| Steam engine |
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| This engine has riveted panels on the boiler |
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| Gigantic pulley on steam engine |
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| Boiler front |
The picture below is one of the "tug of war" competition between tractor and lots of boys!
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| Tug of war |
Other more modern (1910, 20, & 30s) tractors are shown in the pictures below:
You can't visit Holmes County and Amish Country without doing a little shopping. A couple of years ago we bought a nice table and two chairs for Linda's sister and brother-in-law for their anniversary. We purchased many crafted items during our visits.
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| Linda in front of the Wendell August store |
Wendell August used to hand craft metal gift items in this store. Now all their items are made in their PA. facility. This store has a wide selection of items. You can see what they sell by visiting their website: http://www.wendellaugust.com
We found out that the All-American Soap Box Derby was being held in nearby Akron.
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| The Derby grounds are located next to the U. of Akron |
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| Race cars coming down 2 of the 3 lanes |
By chance while I was taking pictures at the top of the hill before the Start line I saw the girl below and her father. I noticed their car said Tuscarawas County. Linda's brother-in-law is one of the county commissioners. I stared talking to the girl and her father to ask them if they knew Kerry Metzger. They responded, "Oh yeah". We struck up more conversation and I watched Meghan Frantz race in various heats moving to the finals for her class. As it turns out she ended up being the national champion in her class. Tuscarawas County hadn't had champion in the national Derby for decades.
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| Meghan Frantz & her dad with race car |
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| Race cars in a garage being fine tuned for the race |
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| Meghan & dad coming down the hill before the Start line |
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| Almost to the Start line |
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| Meghan getting ready to squeeze into her car |
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| Meghan is in the car and a hot, sweaty dad looks on |
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| Meghan squeezed into car with helmet top only showing |
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| Meghan starting down the course |
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| Meghan in middle lane |
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| Meghan in Lane 1 for championship race |
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| Meghan's dad celebrates win with friends |
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| Dad is excited about Meghan's win |
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| More hugs for dad |
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| Race car with patriotic paint |
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| Racer squeezing into car |
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| Cockpit closed and hold your breath |
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| Another class of race car |
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| Goodyear blimp |
The Derby race grounds are also next door to an airfield that is home to the blimp.
More from Amish Country in Holmes County in the next post.
