Walk #4: Science Stroll

Our fourth walk out of Walking the Steps of Cincinnati was our fourth and last in Mt. Adams. Despite our fourth time being there, we still learned and saw things we hadn't in walks one, two, and three.

As usual, you can see the route we took and Chris' snapshots from the trip at SportsTracker.  We record this all on Chris' Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone on the Cincinnati Bell network.

We initially planned to start the walk about two-thirds of the way through the given path:  We walked from Hoxworth Blood Center where we'd just donated to the intersection of Court & Broadway downtown.

Heads-up for here on out:  The fingers show you which walk we're on. :)

Check out the rest of the walk after the break!

Preview of Walk #4: Science Stroll

Our fourth walk was, yet again, in Mount Adams.  At least this time we made our way there from downtown officially.  I'll be honest - I was feeling like I was ready to get the heck outta Dodge (a.k.a. Mt. Adams).  But as usual, the walk pleasantly surprised us and taught us still more things about the city in general and this neighborhood in particular.

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

• According to this book (and no where else, at least from my comprehensive eight minutes of internet searches), Cincinnati is known as "Landslide City, USA."  I did find a UC News story that calls us "Landslide Capital of the Country."  While the moniker may be disputable, the actual landslide in 1973 isn't - according to the book it caused $22 million worth of damage.  The book says the landslide was set off by excavations for the I-471 ramps between it and I-71.
  Apparently, between 1974-1993 Cincinnati landslides cost $2.9 million per year.  We may be a city of hills, but apparently the hills are trying to kill us.
• Of the four walks through Mt. Adams, this one gives the most extensive coverage of the Mount Adams Incline ruins.  For this incline, there are also the ruins of steps that ran alongside the incline.  I may or may not have climbed around on these.
• If you would like to purchase a piece of the Mt. Adams Incline, you can buy a lot that is part of the ruins from David McDonald at Comey & Shepherd.  It's only $225,000 - really, a steal considering how many places on the same road run in the millions.  I'm thinking of buying it and putting up a tent. 
• There are rooks - "an Old World bird resembling the North American crow" - on the original gateposts going into Rookwood Pottery.  Rooks.  Rookwood.  It makes sense.  The Rookwood even uses a little image of a rook for their web icon.
• Supposedly just past the Highland House, to the east, is a small gray-brick cottage set back off the street that Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall is believed to have once lived in.  We couldn't find it.
• Legendary actress and singer Doris Day has a Cincinnati past - and you can see remnants of it in Mt. Adams.  At 1033 Monastery was the Hessler Studio of Dancing, which was supposedly Doris Day's favorite school.  She, like the Clean Air Climbers, was apparently a fan of public transport: the book says she rode four street cars from her home in Evanston to get to the school.

Don't worry about further landslides!  Chris has got you covered!

Walk #3: Genius Loci

Our third walk (the third in Walking the Steps of Cincinnati - which guides all our walks) took us around Eden Park and around Mt. Adams.  Our previous two walks made us feel ahead of time that we'd have nothing new to see, but we were wrong.  There were still new, cool things to see, walk, and learn.

Check out the path as we walked it and the photos Chris took along the way here - all recorded through the Sports Tracker app on his Nokia phone using Cincinnati Bell service.

We started just a little ahead of where the path officially starts in the book.  We walk and/or bus to all of our walks, so we'd walked from our home in Clifton out to where we started this trek:  At the corner of Eden Park and Gilbert.

See the rest of Walk 3 after the break!

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).

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.

Walk #1: The Good Friday Pilgrimage

Our first walk through the steps of Cincinnati was the first walk in the book Walking the Steps of Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City's Scenic and Historic Secrets: Walk #1 The Good Friday Pilgrimage.

We plan to track all our walks using the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone from Cincinnati Bell. Using the Nokia Sports Traker app, we will create a map of our path based on our GPS positioning throughout and use it's automatic picture upload feature to attach photos Chris takes on his phone to the spot on the map at which we took it. Pretty cool, no? It should make it super easy for you to take the walk if you get inspired to do so!

Click the map below to see the route and photos on sports-tracker.com:

We'll also probably be making videos for many of the walks, but are having "technical difficulties" with the footage from the first two (bad sound, trouble converting, problems in editing - bleah!). For now, here is a rough video, photos, and text version for you:

We began the walk at Eggleston & Third. It officially starts at Sawyer Point.

Check out the rest of the journey after the jump!

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.

The Clean Air Climbers' Plan

Chris and I really enjoyed our climb of the Carew Tower in the 2010 climb. We decided to sign up for the 2011 climb within a few minutes of completing the 2010 one.

Last year we had a (fake) competition about who was going to trounce the other to generate interest and excitement about what we were doing. For the record, I won. We realized we didn't want to do the same this year because

a) We haven't finished giving people their incentives prizes from last year yet; and

b) We didn't really want to sustain a fake argument for months on end.

So, this year we're combining forces for a non-competitive Clean Air Climbers that are focused on a few new goals:

1. To have fun.
2. To promote our great city, including great organizations such as the American Lung Association and the many hidden treasures of the Queen City.
3. To encourage people to get out, walk around (whether up stairs or not), and enjoy Cincinnati!

Our guide for most of our adventures will be the 1998 book "Walking the Steps of Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City's Scenic and Historic Secrets" by Mary Anna DuSablon. We plan to work our way through the 35 walks she outlined before climbing the Carew on February 20th, 2011.