Thursday, 25 Aug
Grand Lake St Marys State Park
We left East Harbor State Park, OH, around 11:35 am and headed inland away from Lake Eire. We arrived at Grand Lake St Marys State Park around 2:15 pm.
In 1845, Grand Lake was built to maintain the 250-mile Miami & Erie Canal’s five-foot water depth that connected the Ohio River to the Great Lakes. Workers used hand tools and were paid 35 cents a day and a jigger of whiskey to keep malaria away. At its completion, the 13,500-acre Grand Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world. The lake was connected to the canal by a three-mile feeder. The canal prospered until the coming of the railroads in the 1870s. The area experienced another boom in the late 1890s when oil was discovered, and the lake was dotted with oil derricks. Today, a pile of rocks near the lake’s center marks the spot of the last producing well. Grand Lake St. Marys and other canal feeder lakes in the state were the first areas to be dedicated as Ohio state parks in 1949.
Today, the area is surrounded by croplands. When we drove into the area, a strong smell of manure was in the air, although we could not find any cattle barns. We assumed that they were probably using manure as fertilizer.
The campground had 34 full hookup sites and 154 electric sites. We got a nice electric site with a little shade overlooking some water in the distance.
St Mary’s
Around 4 pm, we drove to the tourist information office to get some information about the area. Then we headed to St Mary’s to get some gas and stopped in Memorial Park.
Memorial Park had a replica canal boat floating in a replica canal and a covered bridge.
The canal boat is a complete replica initially installed in 1990 but had to be rebuilt in 2002 due to deterioration. There was not much in the boat, but it was interesting to walk around to appreciate the scale of these boats.
The clock tower is a 1989 replica of one built in 1902 at a local high school. The bell and clock were original, though.
The Memorial Covered Bridge was also a replica and was built starting in 1992. The roof shingles were created from wood from fallen trees in North Carolina, created by the storms from Hurricane Hugo.
A grotto on the other side of the road from the park was renovated in 1994 with a circulating waterfall and collection pool. There is no known origin or historical reason for this grotto. It did look rather polluted to us, though.
It was a nice park with lots of fun stuff to look at. We got back to the campground around 5 pm.
Friday, 26 Aug
Temple of Tolerance
We left the campground around 11:20 and headed to the Temple of Tolerance in Wapakoneta, OH.
The Temple of Tolerance looked like a normal suburban home with an overgrown front yard and a few items of yard art. But there was that bomb hanging from the roof that indicated that we might be in the right place.
We parked on the street and walked down the driveway to access the backyard, which was huge and full of rocks. The yard belongs to Jim Bowsher, the self-described “master” of the Temple. He started the Temple in 1994, and it occupies the entire center of the block, roughly equal to about two dozen Wapakoneta backyards.
The yard was overgrown with vegetation, but some worn paths guided us through the maze of rocks and debris. Some of the rocks were manufactured and had historical significance,, like a bank counter slab that robber John Dillinger leaped over or the front step of the former Ku Klux Klan headquarters in Wapakoneta. Others were just rocks like the potato-shaped rock from Woodstock. Many rocks had signs next to them, but I am sure they all had some meaning.
A few items were not made from rocks, such as a barrelhouse that was said to be the only house in the U.S. deliberately built to resemble a barrel, and it had bullet holes shot into it during Prohibition.
Metal fencing created many little alcoves to hang out and relax. It was creepy, though, walking around in someone’s backyard and seeing all this weird art and monuments.
Armstrong Air and Space Museum
We then went to the nearby Armstrong Air & Space Museum. Wapakoneta, OH, is the hometown of aviator and astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon.
Opened in 1972, the museum has several main galleries covering the Space Race’s early beginnings to the end of the Space Shuttle Era. Though it covers general space program topics, it details Armstrong’s early life in Wapakoneta and other famous Ohioans, such as the Wright Brothers and astronaut John Glenn. Some of the more significant displays are the original Gemini 8 spacecraft piloted by Armstrong to perform the world’s first space docking, two of Armstrong’s space suits, multiple items from the Apollo Program missions, a Moon rock brought back during the Apollo 11 mission and an F5D Skylancer.
The museum is set up so you walk through the displays and end at the Astro-theater, where you see a multimedia presentation on the dome’s interior.
Afterward, we ate our packed lunch on a picnic table outside the museum.
First on the Moon Mural
We then drove out to the large free-standing mural called “First on the Moon.” The artwork was donated by a California artist in 2020 and placed in a field about three miles east of Wapakoneta on US 33. There was no parking near it so we had to park in a driveway and walk back to the mural. The hype about this mural was bigger than the attraction, but it was a fun photo op.
Behm’s Lighthouse
We then headed back to the south side of Grand Lake, where we stopped at a lighthouse near Behm’s Landing and Restaurant.
This lighthouse is an octagonal, forty-eight-foot-tall lighthouse that was installed in 2003. It has a diameter of twelve feet at its base and five feet at its top and is covered in stucco-like material.
Celina Lighthouse
We then continued around the lake to the Celina Lighthouse.
As we drove through the farmlands south of Grand Lake, we saw a lot of large dairy barns where they held the dairy cows. Often, there were 4-5 large barns side by side with each other. But what was distressing was that we did not see much pasture land around the barn, which indicates these cows spent any time outdoors. There was plenty of cropland, just no pastures. We also noticed that the manure smell was not as strong as it was north of the lake. I am not sure why.
Celina is on the northwest side of the lake. The lighthouse was built in 1986 as a project of the local Rotary Club. It is 40 40-foot conical tower that sits on a 10-foot tall stone base. Though it is a functional lighthouse, it is more of an observation tower than a navigational aid.
We walked along the waterfront area that had a nice sidewalk and a 5-acre park with courtesy docks, shelters, a restroom, and an area designated for a Music In the Park Event with a Stage.
Tailspin Brewing Company
We then drove over to the Tailspin Brewing Company, which was in a renovated dairy barn. The brewery was owned by a retired Air Force fighter pilot and nurse who met in Germany. The first floor had the brewery and a bar, while the second floor or loft was set up with tables and lights and looked like a good wedding venue. We ordered two flights of four beers each and sat on their 2nd-story back deck that looked out on the parking lot and a cornfield. Since it was only 5 pm, the place did not have many people.
Quilted Rock
We then drove a short distance over to a quirky attraction called The Quilted Rock, which is a 15-foot tall, 30-ton Boulder with bright-colored squares painted on it like a quilt.
The Quilted Rock is located at the entrance of the Stoneco Quarry. The rock was originally a boundary marker that had become a target for graffiti. Local artist Brenda Robinson transformed it into Quilted Rock in 2014,
There is also a children’s book called “Quilt Us A Rock!” by author Judy Bruns and illustrator Renee Robinson that tells the story of how the quilted rock came to be.
A rusted piece of machinery sits next to the rock, stating, “Built by Power and Mining Machinery Co., Cudahy, WI.”
We then drove back along the north side of the lake back to our campground. We were back at the camper around 6:30 pm.
Saturday, 27 Aug
Allen County Historical Society and Museum
Today, we left the campground around 10:45 am and headed to Lima, OH.
Our first stop was the Allen County Historical Society and Museum. This was much bigger and nicer than any we had seen for a county museum. All the displays were impressive and did a great job highlighting the county’s history and its significant contributions. Several docents were very enthusiastic about helping us. We even thought they might fight over us. There was so much to see, and though we spent several hours there, we could have spent several more, except we eventually got overloaded with information.
Some of the highlights included:
The Ohio Presidents – The first exhibit we saw was their temporary exhibit titled “The Ohio Presidents: Surprising Legacies.” This exhibit contained various artifacts and replicas of the eight presidents that have come from Ohio. A lot of the displays were clothes worn by the presidents and their wives.
Sheriff Sarber/ John Dillinger Jail Cell – One of the museum’s most popular exhibits is a replica of the 1930s county jail cell that recreates the bank robber John Dillinger’s escape from the local jail where Sheriff Sarber was killed.
Shay Locomotive – No. 10 Shay Locomotive Engine was an example of the many locomotives that came out of Lima Locomotive Works, the third largest steam locomotive builder in the United States.
Native American Artifacts – The museum has a significant collection of Native American artifacts categorized by period and going as far back as the Ice Age.
Rocks & Minerals –
George Washington’s Mount Vernon – In the room with some of their oldest artifacts is an encased model of life at President Washington’s Mount Vernon. The roofing shingles exemplify complexity and dedication; more than 8,000 pieces were individually stained, polished, and placed on the model.
Vehicles & Carriages – The museum houses an impressive collection of motorized and non-motorized vehicles, including a fully restored Gramm-Bernstein “Liberty Truck.” From 1917 to 1919, over 5,000 of the U.S. Army Liberty Trucks were built in Lima by the Gramm-Bernstein and Garford companies.
Unique – One exhibit is a collection of over one hundred objects removed from the mouth, throat, or esophagus by doctors Walter and Estey Yingling. The objects vary from coins, bones, teeth, and buttons to larger pieces such as jewelry, bobby pins, a screw, keys, and a rubber hose.
Another quirky display was the dead animal dioramas of James E. GrosJean (1861-1938). He created mechanical exhibits featuring his taxidermy and oddities that he collected, including Noah’s Ark, Albino Collection, Ferris Wheel Bird Collection, and Extinct Animal & Bird Collection.
Kewpee Burgers
After leaving the County Museum, we headed downtown Lima to Kewpee Burgers for lunch.
Kewpee Hamburgers is the second oldest chain of hamburger fast-food restaurants, founded in 1923 in Flint, Michigan, under the name “Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs” after the Kewpie doll. Kewpee was one of the first to institute curbside service, which later morphed into a drive-in service and was finally transformed into a drive-thru service. In the 1940s, where there were over 400 locations. Today, there are only three Kewpee Hamburger locations, and they all happen to be in Lima, Ohio.
We could get a table inside since we arrived after the lunch rush. It was a classic diner with a Kewpee doll above the entrance and in the corner inside. We both ordered a hamburger and fries. I also got a frosted malt. The square patty and the frosted malts were rumored to have inspired Wendy’s hamburgers. Everything was good.
Maria Stein Convent and Relic Chapel
The Maria Stein Shrine of Holy Relics is the second largest collection in the United States, with over 1,200 relics – of which 95 percent are “first-class relics” (from the body of the saint, usually part of a bone). Earlier this summer, we had seen the largest United States collection at The Saint Anthony’s Chapel in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which had over five thousand.
Maria Stein is one of 10 convents established by Missionary of the Precious Blood Father Francis de Sales Brunner — and the only one still surviving. Bishop John Baptist Purcell asked Father Brunner to bring Precious Blood Sisters from Switzerland to serve as teachers of the German-speaking immigrants in west central Ohio. Father Brunner also brought his collection of relics from Europe. Anti-church sentiment during this time was vandalizing many of the relics and other religious objects in Europe. More relics were brought to Maria Stein by Father J.M. Gartner in 1875. When news of the relics spread, pilgrims began to arrive by the hundreds to venerate them. In 1892, the Relic Chapel was created to display the relics. The Precious Blood motherhouse moved to Dayton in 1923, but this location continued to serve the majority German Catholic community in the area.
The convent has opened its doors as a retreat center since the 1950s. A retreat house (now the Spiritual Center of Maria Stein) was built in 1961. Today, the Shrine provides programs, prayer services, tours, and pilgrimages.
When we arrived, a sign directed us to the Relic Chapel, which was open but unattended. It was a beautiful chapel with paper catalogs to assist pilgrims in finding specific relics. The relics appeared to be better cared for than those we saw at Saint Anthony’s Chapel. We looked around the Relic Chapel and then the Adoration Chapel next door. We then wandered around the courtyard in the back and looked at all the various monuments.
We returned to the camper around 3:30, collecting our dirty clothes and taking them to The Wash Laundromat in Celina. Afterward, we stopped at Ruler Foods for groceries. Though they were a Kroger subsidiary, they were like Aldi, where you had to unlock your grocery cart with a quarter, and you were not given any bags for your groceries.
We were back at the camper around 6 pm.
Sunday, 28 Aug
We were packed up and heading to the dump station by 9:15 am. The dump station had courtesy dump hoses, which were nice and unexpected. Our next stop was the Grand Design National Rally in Goshen, IN.