Thursday, May 5, 2022
Yet another day which did not go as planned... that is starting to be the theme of this trip! I woke up expecting to go to the Zanesville Museum of Art to see their extensive art pottery collection. Then I had decided, based on the wonderful full color magazine touting all of the activities and attractions of Zanesville and Muskingum County to see an outdooor "exhibit" of 7' tall pottery vases ("Vasehenge"), the famous Y Bridge, perhaps have a lovely lunch, perhaps visit the National Road-Zane Grey Museum about 10 miles east in Norwich. And of course, in case we passed any tempting-looking antique stores, hunt for the perfect piece of Roseville for my collection.
We woke up to gray skies, but it was not supposed to rain, and most of our activities were inside anyway. So we walked Cassie, had breakfast, and then headed into Zanesville to the art museum. We are staying a little south of the city, in Blue Rock, so we got to drive through the main north-south road, under I-70, and through some very nice neighborhoods until we got to the museum. I had made sure that it was open-- it is open Wednesday-Friday. But when we got there, the doors were locked! I called the museum phone number, and was told that oh, they are closed to do some work on their inventory, or repairs, or SOMETHING. But they will be open tomorrow. I sighed. I thought about our itinerary, and decided we COULD come first thing tomorrow on our way out of town. So... what can one do. It was now about 11:30.
The Y Bridge viewed from Putnam Park Overlook
We decided to go see the circle of pottery vases. These were left over from one of those fund-raising exhibits where different organizations sponsor different artists to paint vases (like the cow parade in Chicago). They were placed in a circle in a clearing next to the Y Bridge, and locals called it "Vasehenge." It sounded like just our kind of thing. I found the description in the tourist magazine, but couldn't find a real address, so we headed for the Y Bridge, figuring we'd see both at once.
View of Zanesville, Ohio from overlook (with train on trestle)
The Y Bridge is the only Y-shaped bridge in the world-- it stands at the spot where the Licking River runs into the Muskingum River (which then flows to the Ohio River), and allows traffic to cross either or both rivers using one structure. It was first built in 1814, but this is the fifth version of the original (the first was washed away in a flood, and the third fell into the river.) We found ourselves driving onto the bridge itself, and then "turning right" in the middle of the bridge to get to the park with an overlook of the city, rivers, and bridge.
From the overlook, we had a fine view, as promised. A train approached the river from the southeast as we watched, and it had to use two bridges to cross in order to be north of the Licking River--first a trestle below the confluence of the two rivers, and then another one a little way upriver which crossed the Muskingum again--the larger river makes a curve around the city and the train tracks crossed it twice, ending up northwest of both rivers. But there was no sign of "Vasehenge."
7' Vase in Museum
We got mixed reviews by using Google--one saying it was no longer there, the other saying it was there as recently as a few months ago. So I suggested we go to the Visitor's Center, which was only a few minutes away. As we drove, we crossed the Y Bridge again, thereby utilizing all three of its "arms". Joey noticed an open green area on the northwest corner of the bridge, but there were no vases, and we guessed that they were indeed gone, and that that was where they had been.
We stopped at the Visitor's Center-- a beautiful new building with light and airy windows and excellent bathroom facilities, but with no one at the front desk or anywhere to be seen. I think if I had stood there and yelled "Hello!!" at the top of my voice, someone might have appeared from one of the offices or downstairs, but I decided not to bother.
So now it was almost 1:00 and we had done nothing other than look at the Y Bridge from above (and drive over it twice.) We decided to go to the other museum--the National Road-Zane Grey Museum. This time we called to double check whether it was open, and it was. Ironically, it was at the same exit we took last night when we left I-70 to get to our camping spot. So we drove about 10 miles east, discussing the fact that we hadn't had any lunch yet. I suggested getting off at an I-70 exit and getting Arby's, but Joe said, "Let's just go to our exit, and see what we find there. So we did that--and there was NO food whatsoever at the exit. We went into the museum and explained our dilemma, and the nice lady there sent us back 4 miles west again to the previous exit, where we had a lovely luxurious lunch at McDonald's. NOT what I had planned, as I said.
We returned to the National Road museum after lunch, around 2:00. We had finally made a good choice-- the museum was actually quite a find, really three museums in one. The first part was dedicated to the history of the National Road. I had been noticing "Historic National Road" signs from time to time ever since we had started driving in southwest Pennsylvania, but didn't know what was "historic" about this particular road. Turns out that the "National Road" was the first interstate "improved" highway, running from Cumberland, MD on the Potomac to Vandalia, the then-capital of Illinois. It was built between 1811-1837, and was a major east-west route for settlers and for goods to be sent east and west, allowing major interstate commerce.
Original Roadside Marker on National Highway.
Through the years, the landscape of the road changed--it became lined with inns for travelers, rest areas for drovers of herds of various beasts; later it gave rise to motels and small towns catering to travelers. It was, in short, the eastern version of Route 66, which runs west of the Mississippi. The museum had an excellent series of dioramas showing the development of the road through the years, along with very good descriptions and insights into life on the road. In the center of that room was a Conestoga wagon, the primary transportation before the railroad was built. I had forgotten how enormous those wagons were! The funny thing was, we drove through Conestoga, PA in Lancaster County a few days ago-- that was where the wagons were built, and why they are called Conestoga wagons!
The Conestoga Wagon wheels were almost as tall as Joe. 
Diorama of Conestoga. It was driven by the guy on the horse in front.
After learning all about the National Road, we segued to the exhibit on Zane Grey. It turns out that the original Mr. Zane was the first to try to find a route to take commerce west, and was involved in the original creation of the National Road. Zane Grey, who grew up in Zanesville, was his great-grandson. Grey, of course, is famous for his stories of the wild west. He was a great outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman, and he eventually moved out to California to be closer to the movie studios which produced movies based on his books. The exhibit on his life was very interesting, with original documents, first editions of his books (with their colorful covers), movie posters, etc. He was the best selling author of his time, and there was even a magazine advertisement warning people to buy new tires, which included an original story by Zane Grey of some poor guy who had run off the road when his tire blew out. Another link to our trip!
Zane Grey movie posters and displays
I didn't mention, but just before we went to the museum, we had driven a few miles further in hopes of finding some food. We came across this historical marker, commemorating the first highway fatality on the National Road in Ohio! It happened when a stagecoach was confronted with a herd of pigs--the horses shied, the coach turned over, and the man who was killed died when he was thrown from his seat next to the driver and the coach landed on him. Joey's comment: "What a way to go. "Cause of death: Hogs."
The third part of the museum was unknown to me until we arrived--but they had a nice little exhibit featuring the art pottery studios of Zanesville. It was quite heavy on examples of Weller pottery (which I admire but do not collect), and very little Roseville. But they had a lot of other examples from other companies as well, including tiles, utility wear, and figurines, as well as decorative art pottery. It was just a taste of what I expected to see at the museum in the morning, but hopefully I'll get there tomorrow.
We left the museum at about 3:30, and after stopping at two antique places (Joey stayed in the car, and I didn't find anything), we retraced our drive of yesterday evening through the back roads and some rather roller-coaster hills back to Blue Rock and our RV. I felt quite tired by this time, and took a nap before Joey woke me up at some point to have dinner. And that was our evening--napping, dinner, and blogging.
Tomorrow we will hook up the Jeep again, and head back to Zanesville to the art museum. Then we have about a 100 mile drive to our next stop-- Buck Creek State Park in Springfield, where we will stay until Sunday.
