Walk #2: The Garden of Eden

With our second walk we determined that we will indeed go through the walks described in Walking the Steps of Cincinnati in numerical order.  Hence, we did the second walk in the book second - "Walk #2: The Garden of Eden."

The book starts off this walk by calling it a "gorgeous, arduous" walk - the gorgeous we found to be true, the arduous not so much.  There are not a lot of stairs on this walk, and it affords both beautiful views and beautiful travels through Eden Park.  We definitely recommend this walk for anyone looking for a nice stroll in Cincinnati!

As will be usual, we recommend you follow this link to check out the trek as it was captured in Chris' Sports Tracker program using his Nokia phone and Cincinnati Bell.  You can not only see the path exactly as we walked it (as tracked by GPS), but you should check out the pictures Chris took along the way.

We started the walk about halfway through the book's directions - we started at the corner of Parkside and Louden.  For the walk down Parkside, the book recommends "peeking in at the courtyards along the way."

Despite our aspirations to be good directions-followers, we just didn't get the hang of the peeping Tom routine.

Follow the rest of our journey after the break!

Preview of Walk #2: Garden of Eden

Our second walk took us through Nicholas Longworth, Sr.'s self-made Garden of Eden, creatively called Eden Park.  No, really, we learned that Eden Park was basically named Eden as in the Garden of Eden, which Mr. Longworth felt he'd created.


Anyways, walk No. 2 out of  "Walking the Steps of Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City's Scenic and Historic Secrets" led us all around Eden park - we started at the corner of Parkside & Louden in Mt Adams, walked through the park to as far north as the lakes overlook, wandered back past the Cincinnati Art Museum, then around the Playhouse in the Park to where we'd begun.  The full walk will be posted soon.


Here are some fun facts we learned along the way:

• Before the Markland Dam was built in the 1950s, Bellevue and Dayton, KY, both had popular white sand beaches that Cincinnatians and Kentuckians flocked to during the summer for swimming, sunning, and boating.
• On Eden Park Dr. you'll find the Melan Arch Bridge - which was the first steel-reinforced, poured concrete bridge built in the Midwest.  That's a first all Cincinnatians should know and be pround of, right?  It just makes me think of "the Pride of UC," Crosley Tower - not only is it the tallest building at UC but the only thing I remember from my campus visit tour was that it's the largest singly-poured concrete structure in the Midwest.  Know and be proud.
• The gazebo that serves as the symbol for Eden Park on city maps and street signs used to be a spring house that was known for its medicinal waters.  Sorry, it's all dried up now.  No healing for you!
• The bandstand situated between Mirror Lake and the Art Museum has been around since 1872.  The video below is gonna drop some knowledge from the book:

• There's a spicy crime story connected to the park!  I'm going to quote it from the book: "It was here... where infamous bootlegger George Remus murdered his wife in 1927, after she aided the State's case and moved in with a government agent.  Pleading insanity, Remus was hospitalized for five months and then set free.  Years late, it is said, the gun was found in the bushes by a child on an Easter egg hunt."  Happy Easter!
• President Hoover dedicated the Ohio River Monument found at the lakes overlook.  I stood at this monument and was blown away thinking about how I was exactly half way between the start of the Ohio River (in Pittsburgh, PA) and the end (in Cairo, IL).
• I have a new favorite statue, given to the city of Cincinnati by the Italian government in 1931.  I have yet to figure out why Italy doesn't like us.