Vermilion, A Good Place to Live
Easter 2003: I've been saving my egg for you until now. I did a bit of work on it in my photoshop so it would appear the way it does today. So it's Easter again what more can I really say. I guess I can hash over Easter's past. I have strong feelings of church on Easter Sunday. Dressed in my light gray suit I'd walk into the flower garden next to our house, pick a daffodil for my lapel, and march off to church three blocks away singing "Up from the grave he arose..."
Last evening I was at a meeting. The man who spoke said something like "There's a difference between having religion and embracing spirituality. Those who have religion pray that God will keep them from going to Hell. Those who embrace spirituality thank God for saving them from Hell." A tricky turn of words perhaps; but to some degree quite true. In some respects they both mean the same thing.
The Firehouse Ball: This flyer was found in a wall at the Captain Young House on the southwest corner of Decatur and South Streets. The Vermilion Archival Society (fancy name, huh?) toured the home about two years ago. It's an interesting place; pretty and neat. Were I a stickler for historical authenticity I would complain about renovations erasing the historical significance of the property. But I am mainly a realist. After all is said and done people do have to live in the house. It is not a museum. But it comes close. And if it's any consolation there's a ghost of a lady there who keeps an eye on things.
I took several photographs when on the tour. Being the nosey person I am I stole into a little room at the back of the house that is used as a pantry. Oddly enough it was the most interesting room of all. The ceiling tile was being replaced and one could look up and see the original rough hewn timbers used to construct the place. They are hand-cut. I have heard that Captain Young's steamer trunk was still in the attic when the present owners purchased the property. That would be extemely interesting to look through.
When I was a "youth" this house was delapidated and empty. The temptation to get into it was enormous, but my "gang" and I never did it. Maybe it was the ghost.
A New View: I received this picture of Liberty Avenue from Bill Hlavin a week or so ago. Again I explain that most of what he sends me are copies of postcards he copies from Ebay. I take them to my Photoshop, rework them, and make them ready for net publication.
This card in particular is one that I hadn't seen before. Thus will I call it unusual. There are a number of pictures take from the northwest of the hotel, but this is the first I've seen taken from the east. I didn't see it on Ebay so I don't know if this one was used, and had a postmark, or not. Inasmuch (wow! an archaic word) that this is true I apply my extraordinary powers of deduction and tell ye that his is most likely a photograph taken about 1914 or early 1915. The public comfort station is there, but the Fischer Building is not. This is probably one of the last pictures take of the wonderful hotel before the face of downtown Vermilion began to substantially be altered. I do wish I had a clear view photo (of the southwest portion) of the block after the Maudelton was moved before the Fischer Building was constructed.
Skulking Again: I had writ this before but I wanted to do it again so I've got it somewhere I can retrieve it when I want it. Bob Kyle sent me a copy of an article that appeared in Cleveland's precuser to The Cleveland Press, The Penny Press late in the 19th century. It was an interview with a Captain David Young (1790-1890) who lived (to the best of my extraordinary deductive powers) in the vicinity of what we now know as Volunteer Bay. Captain Young skippered the very first commercially built vessel in Vermilion in 1819 by Marien, Merwin & Gidding. It was called the Fairplaya schooner of 100 tons (a relatively large ship for the times). According to a report made by Army Engineers sometime in 1890 the channel had a depth of 10 feet, and they were looking to dredge it to 12 feet from the lake to the town landing.
Captain Young talks about living in Cleveland with his mother when that village only had a few cabins. The one in which he lived was the one where John O'Mic (the first man executed in northern Ohio) was kept before he was executed. Young mentions that the rings which held O'Mic's chains were still on the wall.
I found Captain Young's resting place at Cuddeback Cemetery when I was searching for Captain Barlow Sturge's grave. Young lived to be 100 years of age. (Great Stuff!)
The Beat Goes On: This is issue four of my new page on the net. The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Sunday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and comeback at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the bookmarks. You might find something you like.
Links to other sites on the Web
Vermilion Ohio Historic Pix
History
of Linwood Park
Vermilion Community Orchestra
Vermilion Chamber
of Commerce
Vermilion's Oldest Church
Vol.1, Issue 4, April 19, 2003
© 2003 mr1cooker@centurytel.net