Western PA Apr 04-05 2008

Friday April 04

Smitty arrived at 11:00.
Headed west. Gas up at the US422&PA388 Sheetz. Our old Schwan's driver was there.
Lowes to buy an overdue furnace filter.
On to the Ohio border where we started looking for the 1881 border survey markers.
I'm lumping those photos all together below.
Into Bessemer looking for lunch. Found Ambrosini's Restaurant at 1620 E Poland Road.
It REALLY does have "Quality Home Cooking" as the sign on its front window says.
Cow Licks Ice Cream for desert.
Back to the border, where we discovered the . . .

WESTERN RESERVE BOUNDARY MARKER
40.9877N 80.5191W

Connecticut's Western Reserve was supposed to be the land in Ohio between 41 degrees and 42 degrees 2 minutes latitude. But here's a monument marking its southeast corner at 40.9878 degrees latitude, almost a mile south of 41 degrees. It took me awhile, but I finally realized that this point is exactly 24 miles north of the Ohio River and the beginning point of the U.S. Public Land Survey. That puts this marker at the north border of the fourth township north of the survey beginning point. A more logical location than 41 degrees.

An interesting side note. Townships laid out by the U.S. Public Land Survey are six miles square. Connecticut opted to makes their townships five miles square. So townships north of this marker in Ohio are mostly 25 square miles in area. Townships to the south are 36 square miles.

Wikipedia article on the Western Reserve: link.

1881 PENNSYLVANIA-OHIO BORDER SURVEY MARKERS

Mile 66 41.01469N 80.5191W

This is on an abandoned section of State Line Rd.
In the photo below, you can see that the abandoned road lines up with the active road.

We didn't find the concrete marker, but there's a metal plate in the road, which I believe may have a bench mark below it. I was unable to open the plate with my fingers to verify that.

Mile 68 40.9857N 80.5191W

The small orange object to the left of the marker is a surveyors bench mark.

Mile 71 40.9422N 80.5191W

Mile 72 40.9277N 80.5191W

Garmin led us on a direct route through New Castle to . . .

Oak Park Cemetery

This was an RAOGK trip for Joan Conti, who requested photos of 11 graves. A big request. She told me the sections and lots for the graves, but I didn't have a map of the cemetery. The cemetery manager was not in the office. He has a map on the wall, so I peered through the door and could make out some of the sections, but not all. I ended up finding only the two head stones shown above.

New Castle Library to get an Oak Park map.
It was by then raining and dark, so we didn't return to the cemetery.
Headed home, picking up a Subway for Larry's dinner. Smitty had his usual lunch leftovers.

Saturday April 5

A northern adventure day.
Grove City Outlet Mall Sheetz MTO breakfast.
Edinboro stop at Eclectic Etceteras Coffee House to get a cup of regular black for Gene and a cappuccino for Larry. And a hug on the way out. Also check out their myspace page.
And continuing on north to . . .

Presque Isle State Park

The beach at the Stull Interpretive Center
The brown mounds in the water close to the beach are ice dunes.
We were told several times: DON'T WALK ON THE ICE DUNES!

Perry's other monument.

Gene reading about Perry's exploits with downtown Erie across the bay.

The bay at Horseshoe Point.

The North Pier Light and the Coast Guard Cutter Bristol Bay arriving.

Smitty enjoying the day.

There was still ice on the lake at Sunset Point.

Tom Ridge Environmental Center

Waldameer Amusement Park is right across the street.

They were madly working to complete their new roller coaster for opening day. The track crosses the street and one of the turns is right next to the Environmental Center.

We headed south toward the Drake Oil Well.
Lunch at Ma Donnas Restaurant in Union City, located next to the Union Township Municipal Building.
On through Titusville and arrived at . . .

The Drake Oil Well, a National Historic Landmark.

For my photos, click on the Drake Well picture to the left or: link

The Drake Well Museum is administered by the
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
The museum web site: link

Heading south, we stumbled across the . . .

OLDEST PRODUCING OIL WELL IN THE WORLD
McClintock No. 1 was drilled in August 1861
and has been producing continuously since.

On Waitz Rd, Cornplanter Twp, PA. Off PA8 two miles north of Oil City.
41.4604N 79.6915W

Continued south through Oil City.
In Franklin, we toured the historic downtown area.
The DeBence Antique Music World at 1261 Liberty Street was closed for the day.
We peered wistfully into the windows.
Continued south, stopping at Slippery Rock Giant Eagle for limes and chips.
Arrived in Harlansburg at 5:15.
Smitty declined the invitation for margaritas and pizza and shoved off for Huntingdon at 5:30.