I love it when I get to visit places I would not normally visit. In this case, I stopped for the night in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
You might be wondering, as was I, why it is named Upper Sandusky. As you look at the map, it is clear that Upper Sandusky is below plain ol’ Sandusky. (Home of Cedar Point and The American Crayon Company.)
It turns out that it is named Upper Sandusky because it is located near the headwaters of the Sandusky River. It played a part in the Revolutionary War as well as the War of 1812.
I wasn’t sure if there was anything to see there, but after securing a hotel room for the night, I set out to see what I could.
On the way in, I passed a marker for The Lincoln Highway. The sign reads:
THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY
“Conceived by leaders of the automobile industry to encourage the building of “good roads,” the Lincoln Highway was established in 1913 as the first transcontinental automobile route in the United States. It traversed twelve states and 3,3089 miles from New York to San Francisco. The first rout across Ohio connected Van Wert, Delphos, Lima, Ada, Upper Sandusky, Bucyrus, Callon, Mansfield, Ashland, Wooster, Massillon, Canton, Minerva, Lisbon.
Continued on other side”
I guess change is the only constant.
I arrived downtown and spotted this amazing courthouse. I parked the vehicle and got out to explore.
Wait,,,WHAT?! The Shawshank Redemption?! Filmed here?!
I guess so.
It really is a lovely building.
Of course I could only judge the building on the exterior. I make these stops after the end of my work day, which, incidentally, happens to be the end of the work day for just about everyone else.
I walked around it, enjoying the solid architecture and the beautiful blue sky.
There’s Lady Justice atop the dome, guarding the time capsule with the copy of the Shawshank Redemption. I wonder what technology will be used to play movies when they open the time capsule. I do hope someone thought to include whatever machinery will be needed to play the movie at some point in the future.
I rounded the corner and came to the jail. The lack of bars on the windows leads me to question whether it might have been repurposed somewhere along the way.
I got back to the vehicle and snapped this picture of the streetlamp banner, to remind myself of where I was, I got back in the driver’s seat and headed back to whatever hotel I was in that night.
Before calling it quits for the day, though, I thought I’d see if I could track down the site of Fort Ferree.
What do you know? I did find another plaque!
Satisfied, I declared my drive-by tourism a success for the day.
This Airstream I spied parked behind a shop was just the cherry on top!