Father(s), Where art thou?

This morning we went to the County genealogical society to see if we could get more information on Hubby's GGF who settled in New Philadelphia, Ohio. We did!
Washington Edie was one of the sons of John Edie, Sr. Regrettably, there isn't as much information about him as there is about John Edie, Jr., who apparently had offspring who filled in and recorded some of the gaps in the local histories. But we DID find out where he and his wife, Mary, were buried and we did manage to compare maps, plat map photographs and deed records to locate the property he bought from John, Sr.

He was buried at the Jerusalem Reform Cemetery.
The first thing I noticed when we got there was how sweet the grass smelled. This is NOT Texas St. Augustine or Bermuda. I'd read about "sweet smelling grass" before, but never experienced it. It was somewhere between jasmine and apple pie, I think.

Secondly, if you want your head stone to last, pay up and get the granite. The other stones leach ores, disintegrate and even seem to melt.

Third, was that this cemetery has been in continuous use from the very early 1800's if not before. And yet there were two recent monuments (granite, for sure!) that had names on them which we later connected to two of the big dairy barns on the same road.

We found Mary Edie's grave stone first... surrounded by names we didn't recognize. A few yards away, there was Washington Edie. Do you suppose that originally there was no one between them?
Then we went hunting for the land. We had assumed it was a farm... but it was REALLY hilly. The only reference we had was the plat number, and a map with some roads and creeks on it. With the help of the Ohio Atlas, and Google maps, we made a pretty educated guess about where it was. (People may build new streets and houses, but the land contours and creeks pretty much stay the same.)
May Valley aka T332 branches off from CR 121. At the fork is Stucky Hill, which would seem to run along the West side of Washington Edie's property. I don't have a sense of what 50 acres looks like. But we followed the trail in sort of a C-shape along a creek and found these old buildings among some newer houses and barns.

There was even a covered bridge: Indian Run Bridge, that was only wide enough for foot or possibly cart traffic. I'll put that at Flickr.

New Philadelphia adventures.
As one drives to the center of town, this big sign sits atop an imposing (but not especially official) building. What struck me that it was NOT about branding, or advertising or the typical Chamber of Commerce speech... but welcome to OUR city. It resonated with a sense of community that we have sensed in almost all of the "natives" we have spoken to.

I went to the motel breakfast area for coffee and a piece of fruit this morning and noticed that rest of the breakfast crew seemed to have Irish or Scotch accents, that they were extremely lithe, limber, fit and young. Turns out they were the entire touring Riverdance cast and crew! The same bunch that was at Bass Hall (Fort Worth) last week, will be at Detroit this weekend and Boston next weekend. Small World.

The Tuscararwas Welcome Center, was closed (all the lights were out) but the door was open. We picked up a few brochures before going next door to Michael's diner.

Mitt Romney may have made lame jokes about never having had grits before, but it was no joke that I had never had fried mush. Have you had fried mush?
Michael's mush was light, HOT, and excellent with a little butter and syrup.
A "regular" came and commiserated about how busy they were, but how much she liked it. We traded partial life stories. Before she left, she introduced herself as Betty Morgan and wished us a happy Easter. We felt warmly welcomed.

I had read about Warthers Museum. The Warther family has made knives for three generations. The progenitor (who may have been kind of obsessive) was said to get up NO LATER than 3 am and begin wood carving. He worked on model trains until breakfast, then switched to knife making. By three pm or so, he gathered his children (he had 5) and would take them swimming, swinging, hiking or just playing.
He had a little workshop separate from his house. It was about 10 x 12' and had more files than I've ever seen. Stay tuned for me to load photos of what he did with them!

His wife, besides being a beloved mother, collected buttons, and planted thousands of bulbs for spring, and annuals in the summer.
Warthers Museum: knives, trains, woodcarving, buttons, tulips

Later we visited the Dutch Village Farm and Bakery, headed to Sugarland, Walnut Creek and Berlin. There is definitely a tourist industry here... but it was SO different from most of the others I've seen, that I didn't mind!
We had dinner at an Italian Bistro right next to our hotel. ENORMOUS portions!