Today we ventured out on a trip to Indianapolis. Knowing the rest of the family would not want to get side tracked by my never-ending search for historical markers I did some extra planning ahead of time. Everyone agreed that we would not go more than two miles from the Interstate taking us to our ultimate destination. It wasn’t a problem, but I had to settle for markers that were well defined on the OHS site. I found four with actual street addresses.
Piqua – Lock Nine
Troy – Junior Girls Canteen, 1943-1946
Troy – Overfield Tavern
Tipp City – Miami and Erie Canal Lock 15
All four were close to the Interstate. We stopped at the first in Piqua. We snapped a couple of pictures and were back on the highway. The next stop was Troy. I had two addresses there.
121 E Water St was suppose to be Overfield Tavern. It was a museum with no marker. It is also closed on Monday so we could not ask for help. We went around the block a couple of times looking for the marker, but found none.
We headed over to 100 E. West Street. This took us through the historic downtown. There were (non-OHS) signs everywhere designating historic locations. We enjoyed the ride. A few blocks later we were on West Street. We saw 26 on the first block and then 102 and 104 on the second block. There is no 100 on East West Street. We did the “around the block” thing again. Nothing. Judging from the picture on the OHS website, this marker is in or near a park. There was no park on E. West Street in Troy.
We headed to Tipp City.
The Lock 15 marker was suppose to be at 325 E. Main Street. We found the lock, but there was no marker. By this time we had blown almost an hour on this wild goose chase that was suppose to be an exercise in cherry picking. Everyone in the car wass starting to get a little hot. I did the only thing I could do… stopped at Dairy Queen.
Fortunately, the lady making the ice cream cones had lived in Tipp City since 1987. She knew where the lock was. She told us the marker was in the park beside the football field. We gave that park a thorough search and found no marker.
We were one-for-four going after the low hanging fruit. I think it’s time to write a letter to the OHS.