Preview of Walk #1: The Good Friday Pilgrimage

Pictures, videos, and an interactive map of the path we walked will be posted soon about our first walk, Walk No. 1 in "Walking the Steps of Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City's Scenic and Historic Secrets."

The walk took us from Sawyer Point up into Mount Adams and back. Here are some of the "historic secrets" we learned along the way:

• Mount Adams was originally called Mount Ida and was known for its grape vineyards (owned by Nicholas Longworth), which disappeared in the mid-1880s due to disease.
• President John Quincy Adams was an amateur astronomer.
• As such, he dedicated the Observatory in Mt. Ida - it was the country's first observatory! Go Cincinnati with a historic first! After he dedicated it, we renamed the area Mt. Adams after him.
• Mt. Adams became home to German Catholic immigrants who originated the tradition of the Good Friday pilgrimage on the steps that connect St. Gregory Street with the Immaculate Conception Church.
• The tradition of the Good Friday pilgrimage - still well known today - was apparently way more popular (as the book says, "dramatic") back in the day, mostly from 1860 to 1960.
• The Celestial Street Bridge - which runs over Columbia Parkway and Fort Washington Way - is "a card-carrying member of the National Historic Register." I learned that bridges can carry cards.
• There's a street in a historically German-heritage neighborhood called "Guido Street." True story.

Proof we at least made it to the 151-year-old Holy Cross Immaculata - a pic of the Clean Air Climbers in the mirrored door facing the river.