Preview of Walk #5: Prospect Hill

Our fifth walk took us into new territory:  Anywhere but Mt. Adams!  We started in Over the Rhine, wandered through Prospect Hill National Historic District to the peak of Liberty Hill in Mt. Auburn and back down to OTR.  The walk involved an increase of steps over what we'd grown used to in Mt. Adams -  which is probably good since we're supposedly doing this to prep to climb Carew Tower.

Here are some of the fun facts we learned along the way:

• Around the time George and Mary Alice Pendleton built their house which is the sole mansion at the peak of Liberty Hill in Mt. Auburn (the time of which the book neglected to mention), the area was called the "Northern Liberties."  The book explains that the CIty's tax laws ended at Corporation Alley, right on the edge of the neighborhood.
• The area has another historical nickname:  "Dr. Daniel Drake, founder of the University of Cincinnati medical college, referred to Prospect Hill as "Mount Poverty" because when he moved into a log cabin on what is now Milton Street, it was quite rural and he was quite penniless.  Again, no time frame given.
• There's an important set of ruins on the tour:  "At the pinnacle of the Young Street Steps... take note of the view and the broken monument at the peak of the steps.  During the mid-1880s, the Hamilton County Courthouse was destroyed by fire.  The only thing that survived was a spectacular ornate marble archway, which was moved to this site.  It stood here until 1965, when all but this column base was toppled in a car accident."
  We're pretty sure we saw the view, but not the base.  Thanks, car accident!  Sheesh.
• We may not have found the column base, but we found two other cool things:  A park with a sweet jungle gym; God's Bible School & College.  We'd never known of either before.
• Folks at the two-and-a-half story Mt Auburn House made somebody really busy for a long time.  The owner of the  house - Henry Martin - also owned the Mount Auburn Cable Railway observed the Sabbath by transferring the title of his railway every Saturday night and resumed ownership every Monday.
• According to the book, the William Howard Taft National Shrine (author's name for it, not its real name) - which just happens to be the birthplace of our 27th president - is the smallest and least visited national park in the entire United States!  I'll admit, the only thing that stuck with me about Taft from grade school is that he got stuck in a bathtub.

Preview of Walk #3: Genius Loci

Our third walk (as always, from Walking the Steps of Cincinnati) kept us in Mt. Adams - in and around Eden Park much like the previous walk.  It just goes to show, though, that there is much to learn about that locale.  Despite being in the same region, the walk took us to many different places.

Here are some fun facts we learned along the way:

• The Baldwin Piano and Organ Company - located on Gilbert Ave. since 1920 - burned in a terrible fire in 1964 but was fully restored afterward (the book actually says "perfectly" restored - score for Baldwin!).
• According to the book, the building formerly known as the Museum of Natural History (now located in Union Terminal) is "currently being used for collections storage, research, and laser shows.  I don't know about you, but when I go to Gilbert and Elsinore Place, I see the the "9 News on Your Side"  TV studio.
• Continuing in the "things that are history" category, the fancy arch that was a landmark (at least for me growing up having gone to that museum) is still there even though the laser shows aren't.  Had I realized there was a Wikipedia "article" on it beforehand, I may not have been so surprised to learn its history.  The arch was built in 1883 as a valve house that regulated the flow of water between the reservoir and the Ohio River.  At the same time and place, Eden Park needed a gateway.  The clever Charles Hannaford (progeny of famous Cincinnati architect Samual Hannaford) was inspired by another famous Cincinnatian's (James Murdoch) performance as Hamlet.  He designed the valve house to resemble the theatrical set and the tower and street were named Elsinore after the tower and gate of Castle Kronberg in Hamlet.
• If you stop at the end of Fort View Place, you can do two things:

1. Look at where the original Fort Washington was - basically right where the rotating Western-Southern time & temperature sign is now.  Fort Washington was established in 1789 and basically marked where our city was going to grow up.
2. Be a part of Civil War non-history:  the book says "several cannons were poised here over the declivity, ready for action but never fired.

•  The staff in Playhouse in the Park were very nice to me.  I had to pee and they let me in without question.
• If you look carefully (because, really, you might look right at it and miss it), you can see the ruins of the Mt. Adams Incline from the southern end of the Rookwood Pottery parking lot. 

 While at the end of this walk we weren't done with Mt. Adams, we were done with Eden Park (at least for this project).

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.