Day 1:

Day proved to be a true success, a balance between preplanned events and a few new discoveries. Today's goal was to rent a car in Wheeling (was hoping for the 1971 Thunderbird in the parking lot - sadly we were given a Chevy Cruze) and drive to Ada, Ohio to visit with Fr. Dave Young. Fr. Dave is an old St. Vincent classmate and the consummate host. As we tooled along though Ohio's lackluster topography we listened to parts of two audio books, Ross Douthat's Bad Religion, How We Became a Nation of Heretics, and Charles Kuralt's America. In keeping with my grandmother's admonition, "Go with God, and don't get into an argument," today was a true success indeed.

 Breakfast - Schlepp's in Morristown, Ohio

Schlepp's - the name matches the place. Not sure what that means, but it someone told you that they were going to a restaurant named Schlepp's, this place would match your mental picture.

Breakfast of champions

Mansfield Penitentiary

When I was leaving work this past week one of my coworkers remarked, "so let me get this straight, you are taking a vacation from the prison and on your vacation pay to go to another prison?" I replied, "exactly." Well, not quite exactly. The Mansfield Reformatory, which was built between 1886 and 1910, closed in 1990. Today it is open for tours (they give a two-dollar discount to all people who work in corrections) and has been the setting for a number of prison movies, most notably The Shawshank Redemption.  

"Chapel, Fr. Aron." If you have watched The Shawshank Redemption this is Warden Norton's office. In actuality it is a bedroom in the Deputy Warden's quarters.

"Get my stuff down to the laundry. And shine my shoes. I want them lookin' like mirrors." Warden Norton's safe.

The chaplain's office. This room served as the parole office in the film.

"Get busy livin' or get busy dying." Brooks and Red never really left the institution as this rather famous scene was filmed in a room near the chapel.

The prison chapel

Fr. Doug walks past the Stations of the Cross that formerly hung on the walls.

On the thunder mug

"No I won't give you a phone call."

East cell block. At six tiers high it is the highest in the world.

Cell block stairs

"500 yards. That’s the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile." The movie prop used during Andy's escape. A slight embellishment.

Cell in the "hole."

Fr. Aron in solitary confinement

If I could get this on a t-shirt

Stairs in the Warden's quarters. They are made of steel for fire purposes but painted to look like wood.

The shiv museum, yay fun for the entire family!

Lunch at Carle's Bratwursts in Bucyrus, Ohio. Carle's has been around since 1929 and as a result catapulted Bucyrus to the lofty position of being known as the "Bratwurst Capital of America.," This distinction allows Bucyrus to be counted among such  cities as London, Tokyo, New York, and Paris.

Carle's finest

Desert at Carle's

Museums are ok; I would rather see the past alive and well. If you feel that same (and have an interest in old machinery) a trip to the Picking Company in Bucyrus, Ohio is in order. The Picking Company is the last old copper shop in America and the only company in the Western Hemisphere that still hammers copper by hand. With flat belt driven machines and archaic equipment this place looks like a museum, but it very much a working shop. Today it employs some of the very last true coppersmiths in the country.

Knob and tube wiring, installed in 1912, never replaced.

The office safe. The Picking Company began in 1874 when a local hardware store owner found that there was no one in and around Bucyrus to fill the demand for copper kettles (used in making apple butter). The safe was originally located several blocks away and was moved  to the store by hitching a team of horses to the safe and putting it on rails. The shop was then built around the safe. The mammoth strongbox still sits on the rails that brought it to its present location over 138 years ago. The outer doors were filled with gun powder in the event that a thief would try to dynamite his way into the safe.

The woman in the picture is Helen Picking Neff,  owner and president of the company. Helen is 97 years old and still runs the shop. Helen took over for her father, Robert Picking who ran the company for 82 years, from 1899 until 1981 when he retired at the age of 101. He died two years later. Mrs. Neff has no plans to retire (you would be a quitter to hang it up early).

Fr. Doug playing the hurdy gurdy at the Picking Company

Fr. Dave's rectory - Ada, Ohio. Living the dream.

Our Lady of Lourdes parish - Ada, Ohio

 

Supper at Kewpee Burger - Lima, Ohio.  The Kewpee Burger in Lima used to have a turn table in the back for cars that went through the drive-through. Due to tight quarters a car would drive to the back of the lot, pull onto the turntable and after being rotated, drive off in the opposite direction.

I ordered a burger and buttermilk. How many burger joints offer buttermilk?

Didn't know she got into the business.

Menu from Lee's Chicken in Lima, Ohio. Lee's was started in Lima by Col. Sander's nephew in 1966. We stopped so I could enjoy the double deep fried gizzards.

Saw this place advertised. A reformation wax museum? No doubt on Ian Pasley's bucket list.