Saturday - Ironton, Ohio.... a little bit of my history too.

My mom was born in a town called Ironton Ohio. One thing I wanted to do when we moved here was to take a little road trip there (It's not far from Cincinnati) and see if I could get a peek into my mom and my grandma's past. Especially after losing my grandma last year, I kind of felt like I really wanted to see this place and feel a little connection.

I was thrilled when it had been put of long enough that when my mom said she was coming out here for a visit I asked her if she would be interested in going. I knew it would be a much better experience with somebody who had been there and could tell me stories. I really couldn't get enough of them, and hope to get more from her. It's strange to have heard about this place for as long as I have and actually be there. There were times I could almost feel the past. It was a great experience. I'm so glad that we went... it had to have been one of my favorite days of the entire visit.

Here is downtown Ironton from a lookout on a hill. It is a beautiful little town, and happily is experiencing some renovation.
(below) These are the killer stairs going up to the lookout. Mike and the kids ran right up. My mom and I stopped every few little landing areas to check out the sights. (We couldn't breathe!! Haha! But we made it look like we had a good reason to stop.)

A little history on the area: (for the fam, click on the image to enlarge it)

My mom has a great memory. We drove by several houses that once belonged to people in my family. My favorite - the one below - was my grandma's house. In this house my mom grew up as a little girl. (She said the Ohio river summers were awful here with no a/c at the time.) but the coolest is knowing that at one time my grandma as a new mom, carried my mom up those stairs into her first house after coming home from the hospital.

She told me stories about what was behind the windows that we could see, the blue spruce tree that my grandma had planted to the left of the front porch that had grown so big she had to cut it down one winter and used it as the Christmas tree. She told me about the hours spent rollerskating on the sidewalk and the fruit tree that is still in the back. Along with the garage that is still back there that she couldn't believe was still standing. I look at these pictures and I feel my grandma. I miss her.

I saw the high school that my grandma went to, which was being restored and having an addition built onto the back of it. It's one of those beautiful buildings you see in movies. It was fenced off or I would have LOVED to have gotten closer to it. Maybe even peeked in.

We also stopped at the cemetery and found some relatives. Old town cemeteries are such a story in themselves. Families stayed together even then and weren't scattered about the country like they are now. It was interesting to hear my mom point at a stone and hear her say, "This is my uncle..." etc.

It was a great day, and an experience I'll never forget and I couldn't be happier that I got to see a glimpse of my family history. I know how I feel when I would go back to childhood homes that I grew up in. I made sure to take pictures of them and visit them one more time before I moved out here. I guess it's part of being a family historian. These kinds of stories and things are amazing to me and I love the links to the past.

Saturday, Ironton continued..... Random downtown

There is a quick story about this building below in the next post.

My mom will have to correct me if I'm off the story a bit here. This building (below) was where her grandpa Grimes had a real estate office on the second floor (the boarded up rectangular windows.) She used to spend time there, and took music lessons (accordion) on the third floor above his office. (The rounded windows on the top.) She said at the time there was an inside staircase and you didn't have to climb those steps outside.

(below) The jail. Where my mom spent a lot of time because she was nothin' but trouble. Haha, I'm totally kidding here (she never spent time inside the jail or got into trouble!) but I loved this little building. It is so Mayberry-ish. Complete with the sign for the sheriff's parking only. Every time we walked by this building I kept thinking of Barney Fife telling the kids in Mayberry "It's no fun once that big iron door slams shut. No more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!" It may only be funny to me, but I kept myself entertained with that all day! Tell me this isn't the cutest little jailhouse.

Random church:

(below) My mom looking down the street she used to walk all over as a kid. (She walked everywhere. When we were driving from her house to downtown I kept commenting on the miles she did to get places. I guess I did the same when I was growing up in my area of Phoenix, but when you get older and really see the distance, it's amazing.)

The Dollar General store was Woolworths. I need more stories about adventures in Woolworths. hint hint... mom.

We walked down to the train station where my grandma and my mom used to leave from. I don't know why I don't have pictures of the train station. It was a beautiful building. It has since been turned into a restaurant, but there are photos inside of the building back when it was an actual train station. The lady who was working that day (I'm guessing the manager) told us to come in and look around. She was thrilled to hear that my mom had come back to see the place since she loved it's history just as much.

It's always strange to think of the people coming and going, waiting inside, buying tickets, waiting on the platform..... when you are standing in a restaurant.

The woman who told us to come in and look around was also so nice to have made strawberry smoothies for the kids by the time we were done looking. She insisted that we didn't pay for them. She was very nice.

We walked around the back to see the tracks, and my train loving youngest (with his smoothie!) had to walk on the tracks. My other kids were here this day.... lol, but Matthew was the one who kept asking me to take his picture.

Saturday - Ironton, continued.....

This is the front of the courthouse. I LOVE old courthouses (one of my favorites is the one in Prescott.) I love how they used to really be the center of downtown areas where people met, sat on the lawns and on the stairs and how beautiful the buildings always are. The details on old important buildings fascinate me! Especially when you think that they didn't have the technology we do today when building them. All of the ornate, handmade pieces. I like to think of the hands of the people who built them.

When we were headed towards Ironton, my mom was telling me about this story and how she used to wait downtown after the parade. It was a huge annual thing to do. Sure enough, there is a plaque about it. (click on the image if you want to read it.....)

My mom doing what she used to do as a little girl.... walking the wall that surrounds the courthouse. The building in the background (Goldcamps) was a furniture store where my grandma bought furniture. My mom told me the bed that I slept on as a kid and was then handed down to my sister's boys was from this store.

Matthew sitting on one of the cannons on the front lawn.

Thursday/Friday

(Click on the photos to make them bigger.)

I've been MIA. My mom was out for a visit the past week. I picked her up from the airport the same day that the kids had their last day of school. We were on the go since then. If we weren't out doing sightseeing, we were back at her hotel using the indoor pool which the kids LOVED.

Thursday we went to a place called Rabbit Hash. It's a small "town" not far from my house. It has one of the oldest general stores in the state, something over 100 years old. It's along the river, and for some reason it is one of the kids' favorite spots. We always have to take out of town people there. You have to pick a bottled soda from the fridge and sit outside and watch the river. They also have some antiques for sale in some of the old buildings near the general store. I got the coolest wood architectural things that go on old doors. They are big scroll type things. I'll have to take a picture of them. They are awesome. Thanks mom, I love them!

Friday Mike was also coming home and we had to kill about half a day before going to pick him up at the airport. We went to Newport on the levee in Kentucky and walked across the purple people bridge across the river to Ohio. It was perfect weather for it. We had such a great time.

Trevor after walking, taking a break.

Downtown Cincinnati: I love the skyline and all of the bridges. It was such a perfect sunny day.

Newport is a big multi level outdoor mall kind of thing with theaters, stores and the aquarium. It's such a neat place. The food smells alone were one of my favorite parts. We stopped at Johnny Rockets for a small lunch. The kids all got hats and balloons... Matthew's of course being a blue one. Later this balloon and Trevor's both got out of the car and floated away. Bummer.

After Newport we picked up Mike from the airport and went to Cheddars for an early dinner. More soon.....