LOOKING BACK AT 2024 - PART 3

 

I LOVE LUCY AND SOME PRESIDENTS

JULY 10 – 15, 2024

July saw me hit the road for the longest adventure of 2024 which saw me travel1,289 miles through 5-states.

The first day out I traveled back to Pittsburgh where I overnighted at the Drury Inn near Pittsburgh Airport.  Along the way I stopped in Charleston, West Virginia and spend a couple of Hours touring the West Virginia State Capitol, Before heading up to Steubenville, Ohio to visit the final resting place of Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. I spent the night at the Drury Inn near the Airport in Pittsburgh.

After spending the night in Pittsburgh, I made my way up to Jamestown, New York, which was the home of Comedy Actress Lucille Ball. Jamestown has really embraced their Lucy Connection.

Jamestown is home to the National Comedy Center which is a great interactive museum that pays tribute to all of the comedy greats. From Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy to Don Rickles, Johnny Carson and everybody in between. The National Comedy Center doesn’t leave anyone out.

Admission to the National Comedy Center also includes admission to the Lucille Ball – Desi Arnaz Museum. This is a wonderful Museum that has a treasure trove of artifact relating to everything Lucy and Desi. It also has a number of props from the Long running TV Show “I Love Lucy,” including a full size replica of the New York Apartment and the Hollywood Hotel Suite featured in the Show.

I also drove out to the Lucille Ball Memorial Park where two very different statues of Lucy are located. One is a horrible statue that has been dubbed the “scary” Lucy statue. It was so bad that in 2016 a new statue was commissioned and dedicated. Original plans was for the scary Lucy to be scrapped but it had such a cult following that it was save and today stands about 100 yards or so from the pretty Lucy Statue.

Of course, I had to visit Lakeview Cemetery where Lucy’s cremains are interred in the family plot. Just a short walk from Lucy’s final resting place is the grave of B. F. Goodrich. Yes the same B. F. Goodrich that is famous for tires today.

After ending my time in Jamestown, I made my way down to the Cleveland Ohio area.  The next few days I spend traveling around Ohio visiting several of Ohio’s Presidential sites. I started off with a stop at the James Garfield Presidential Site in Mentor, Ohio.  This was the home of our 20^th President, who was one of two Ohio Presidents to be assassinated.

I also spend a good amount of time visiting Cleveland’s Lakeview Cemetery. It is here that President Garfield is resting in the impressive James Garfield Memorial.  This is unique because the caskets containing the remains of the President and Mrs. Garfield at resting in the lower rotunda of the memorial. This is unique in the fact that the caskets are on open display and have never been Buried.

While at Lakeview Cemetery I also visited the graves of some other notable people including, John D. Rockefeller, Basketball Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond and Major League Baseball Player Ray Chapman who was the only Major League Player to die directly from an injury received during a major league game. I also visited the Memorial to noted F. B. I. agent Elliot Ness whose ashes were scattered in a nearby lake.

Also, while in the Cleveland Area I visited several other cemeteries and paid my respects to such notable people as Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller, Baseball Umpire Billy Evans and Dr. Sam Sheppard who was convicted of the 1954 murder of his wife. His conviction was later overturned. His case is largely thought to be the basis for the TV Show and Movie “The Fugitive.”

From Cleveland I moved down to the Canton, Area where I visited the William McKinley Memorial which the final resting place of President William McKinley who along with President Garfield was assassinated.  Before leaving Canton I drove out to the Sunset Hills Burial Park to visit the Grave the great New York Yankee Captain, Thurman Munson.

I have been travelling for more than 50-years and have made 100’s of hotel reservations. On this trip I made what could have been a major mistake.  When I was making my hotel reservation I thought I had reserved a room at the Holiday Inn in Massillon, Ohio when in reality I had mistakenly made my reservation for the Holiday Inn in Millersburg, Ohio.

I discovered my mistake when the directions popped up in my google maps. This could have been a major mistake. But instead of having a 10-mile drive to the Hotel, I ended up having to drive about 40 miles to Millersburg.

The hotel mistake wasn’t bad. The Hotel itself was great and in the heart of the Amish Country. It also allowed me to make the drive over to Marion, Ohio where I visited the Home of President Warren G. Harding and his adjacent Presidential Museum.  Before leaving Marion, I stopped at the Harding Memorial which is the final resting place of President Harding and his wife.

I had a few more places that I had wanted to visit here in Ohio but like I said, these shorter trips are more structured and scheduled and while here in Marion I realized that I need to start heading back toward home. So, I made my way toward Columbus where I spent my final night of this trip.

Before Leaving Columbus, I made a quick stop at Union Cemetery. I had wanted to visit the graves of Legendary Ohio State Football Coach Woody Hayes but heavy rain made that impossible so I made a quick stop at the Mausoleum to visit the tomb of Dave Thomas who founded the Wendy’s Hamburger Chain.

On the way back home I stopped in Circleville, Ohio and visited the grave of my favorite character on the TV Show “Two and a Half Men.” Here in Forest Cemetery is the final resting place of Conchata Ferrell who played the housekeeper Berta on the popular show.

My last stop of this trip was in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. I spent a little more than an hours visiting the Ohio River Front where the flood wall is painted with historic murals.  Also in downtown Point Pleasant is the Mothman Statue and Museum.

My final stop was at Battle Monument Park. Here stands the huge monument dedicated to the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant. Also, within the confines of the park is the grave of folk figure, Indian Scout and spy Mad Ann Bailey. Just a short distance from Mad Ann’s grave is the grave of Chief Cornstalk, who led his warriors again colonialist under the command of General Andrew Lewis in 1774 during Lord Dunmore’s war.

From Point Pleasant it was an easy drive home ending what turned out to be my biggest trip of 2024.