Monday, September 4, 2017

Mount Pleasant, OH (9/4/2017)

Monday, September 4, 2017
After breakfast at the Comfort Suites hotel, we followed OH-7 along the Ohio River toward the east. At Short Creek, we turned onto OH-150 W to Mount Pleasant, OH, following signs for the Quaker Meeting House.
Mt Pleasant was established in 1803 by Robert Carothers from Virginia and Jesse Thomas who was a Quaker from North Carolina. The town became a center for pork packing and shipping, and had a successful milling industry. However, the town is best known for its role in the antislavery movement and the Underground Railroad.
Quaker Yearly Meeting House (1814, designed by Reverend Jacob Ong),
the first yearly meeting house west of the Appalachian Mountains
The yearly meeting house is divided into two sections,
this east side for men, and the west side for women
Between the sections is a partition of poplar panels that required four
men to operate the winch and cogwheel to raise and lower it
Elizabeth House Mansion Museum (1835), formerly the John Gill Home;
John Gill planted a mulberry tree on his property and imported
silkworms from China, resulting in the first American flag made
 from the silk of his worms in the 1800s
Freedom Square Gazebo with a sign stating "Jesus is Lord,"
with the locked Historical Society Center to the right
Jonathan Binns House (1856) with a Captain's Walk;
this was one of the Underground Railroad "stations"
United Methodist Church (1868) (KSS)
United Methodist Cemetery (KSS)
The town also has a Seceders Cemetery and the Friends/Quaker Cemetery. Robert Carothers, who was a member of the Seceders that separated from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, is buried in the Seceders Cemetery.
Sarah Hope House (1850) and Samuel Israel House (1814-1816) (KSS)
Kirk-Dilworth Row Houses (1815)
Amos Jones House (1813) (KSS)
The front section is the Hogg Mansion (c 1813) and is
another of the Underground Railroad "stations"
William Reid House (1840) may have been used as an inn (KSS)
Quite the garden between these two houses! (KSS)
Dr Ernest Finley House (1889)
When Confederate General John Hunt Morgan came through Ohio in 1863 plundering and stealing horses, he was in nearby Dillonvale when he sent for a doctor for a wounded soldier. His men "took" Dr Finley to Dillonvale, but the soldier had already died. The men wanted to kill the doctor, but General Morgan saw that Dr Finley wore a Masonic pin, and said not to harm him. However, Dr Finley had to stay with Morgan until Morgan and his men were captured.
David Updegraff House (1858), one of the
Underground Railroad "stations"
J M Mercer House (c 1850) (KSS)
Samuel Gill House (1846)
Benjamin Lundy House (1813), another of the
Underground Railroad "stations"
Benjamin Lundy published the antislavery newspaper, Genius of Universal Emancipation. He stayed at the above house during yearly meetings, but did not own it. Attached to the house was the Free Labor Store (1848-1857), which sold no products made from slave labor.
Enoch Harris Store (1804), the oldest building in Mt Pleasant (KSS)
Mt Pleasant was also the birthplace of
Moses Fleetwood Walker, the very first African-
American Major League player (1883-1889), who
quit because of the overt racism he faced (KSS)
From Mt Pleasant, we followed OH-150 W, then US-250 N. A stop in Cadiz, OH:
The birthplace of Clark Gable (1901-1960)
A memorial to the King of Hollywood (1986)
Harrison County Courthouse (1893-1895, designed by Joseph Yost)
in Cadiz, OH
Tuscarawas County Courthouse (1882, designed
by Thomas Boyd) in New Philadelphia, OH
Being both a Monday, and a holiday, not many things were open, so we hopped on I-77 to head home.

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