Walking With Me

tsWalking in Coshocton

Coshocton in east central Ohio is a small town that has struggled the way a lot of small towns have. Fires have taken their toll in downtown areas. The big box stores on the outskirts of town have left a lot of storefronts empty. But this little town is doing something about it. During my walk, I saw two vacant lots that are being converted into parks. That's a positive. It's an old town. A couple blocks of Main Street were two- and three-story Victorian-style homes that show their age, although some have had a fresh coat of paint. Mother Nature wasn't quite my best friend that day. I drove 90 miles in light rain. The rain and wind had blown a lot of leaves from the trees, and layers of wet leaves covered the sidewalks, making it difficult at times. But I took it slowly and did a lot of looking around and talking to barking dogs. On my walk, I came to the Cheez-Kake bakery. Walkers coming in at the checkpoint as I was starting talked about the delicious pumpkin cheesecake. By the time I found the bakery, I had to settle for apple cinnamon cheesecake which I brought home for Saturday night dessert. And two pumpkin doughnuts we could enjoy for Sunday breakfast. But the big draw in Coshocton is Roscoe Village, a restored canal town. And this was apple butter stirrin' weekend. A huge crowd flocked to the village where restored buildings line both sides of one street alongside the canal that once carried passengers and merchandise to new locations. Museums and hands-on businesses, restaurants, general stores and a hotel now occupy those building. And area artists displayed their products under white tents for visitors to purchase. Ah! the sights and smells of a small town. Experience small town in your area by looking for a walk. Visit www.ava.org to find a walk close to you.

The Palace Saloon in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island is the oldest bar in Florida.

A peanut butter chocolate muffin at the Pecan Roll Bakery in Fernandina Beach, Florida. A miniature peanut butter cup was baked inside. The muffin was topped with a gob of pe anut butter frosting, drizzled in chocolate.

Another in my trek around Amelia Island in Florida.

I gave up trying to get a sunrise at the beach photo. Guess I’ll have to wait until I get to Myrtle Beach. I don’t see sun here in Florida until around noon.

Sunday’s walk was crossing the mile-long pedestrian bridge at the south end of the island. I had trouble crossing the main road bridge because of the strong wind. It was a crosswind and shook my Nissan rental car.

I had my hoodie, plastic poncho and gloves on, carried a new umbrella, and the directions were in a plastic bag. No way am I going to brave that strong wind and cold rain. I came down here to enjoy myself.

I got back into the car and drove to downtown Fernandina Beach to do that walk. Some of it covered what I had seen on the trolley tour my first full day in town. The weather was still a little cool, so I put on my winter coat. At least it wasn’t raining.

I walked past the oldest bar in Florida, the oldest house. I saw things at a different level than I had seen from the trolley.

I found the Pecan Roll Bakery I had seen on the map and decided I had to visit it. It was in a small building on a side street. I chose a peanut butter and chocolate muffin – an oversized peanut butter muffin topped with a gob of peanut butter frosting, drizzled with chocolate. A miniature peanut butter cup was baked inside the muffin. A cup of coffee washed it down.

A few blocks later I passed Central Park whose claim to fame was that it had been the training grounds for the Washington Senators before they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins.

My rucksack was getting heavy and I wanted to shed my winter coat because temperatures had risen, the sun was out and the winds died down. And I wanted to do some window shopping downtown. These few blocks were what I had always imagined a seaside town to be. The shops were filed with tourist memorabilia, much like I had discovered in Anchorage several months earlier.

I looked but I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without. I wanted something to take home but I didn’t know what.

A lot of the homes I passed had a great history behind them. I wish my history lessons had covered more about the people rather than dates. At least I’m having fun.

The lighthouse on Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida. It was built in 1820, dismantled and bricks carried to this current location so the lighthouse could be rebuilt. That work was done in 1836-37 and this lighthouse continues in operation today.

Spanish moss hangs from branches of trees that form a canopy over a once-trendy section of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida.

The third walk I did on Amelia Island took me into a neighborhood that in the 1950s to 1970s was THE place to live in Fernandina Beach.

The houses resembled the style of my house that was built in 1962. I really felt at home. What made this area stand out was the canopy – the Spanish moss hanging from trees that formed a canopy over the streets as I entered this one street.

After my second walk on American Beach I was thirsty so I stopped to get a bottle of root beer that I sipped on until I found a trash can to dispose of the empty bottle.

I also saw a house that must have been refinished – it had siding that looked like flat stones.

A short distance away I saw a house for sale. A one-floor plan with a one-car attached garage, but a second vehicle parked on what passed for a yard. Oh dear, that yard would have to be redone to make it look like other yards and not bits of grass peeking through sand.

A few blocks away another house for sale. Not an attractive one for me. Then one of my fellow walkers looked the houses up on his phone and told me what they were going for -- three times what my house is valued at. I’m staying put in central Ohio!

That’s when we turned and climbed a small hill to the lighthouse. Stories of how the lighthouse keeper lived in those buildings have to be that – stories.

This one was built in 1820, then dismantled in 1836, bricks transported to this site and put back in place. The lighthouse resumed operation in 1837. It’s still in operation.

I was able to see the staircase that spiraled to the top. Outside we looked up and saw a window washer at work.

Continuing on my way I crossed the main street. At that point, streets bore names of trees -- in alphabetical order, such as Ash, Beech, Cedar, all the way down, as I was to learn later, to L as in Lime. Oops, I was missing.

Coming back to the skateboard park where I parked my car I met up with a couple of walkers I hadn’t seen before. Made some new friends.

Come back soon for more experiences on Amelia Island. If you’d like to have such experiences, look on www.ava.org for a walk in your area – for fun, fitness, and friendship!

Statues inside a small shed on American Beach.

This is Nana Dune,the largest sand dune in Florida.It's located on American Beach at the south end of the 13-mile-long Amelia Island in northeast Florida.

Walking in Florida

The second walk I did was on historic American Beach. That’s on the south end of this 13-mile-long island in northeast Florida.

In 1935 Abraham Lincoln Lewis and six other executives of the African American Insurance Company created the beach just for African American. It started out as a beach for company salesmen and gave them an incentive to sell more insurance. Soon African Americans from near and far came to use the beach.

Lewis died in 1947 at the height of his community’s existence. This area was quite popular until 1964 when Hurricane Dora came through and wiped out much of the beachfront property on the island. The year 1964 also brought the famed Civil Rights Act that wiped out segregation. Blacks could now use any beach they wanted and live `anywhere they wanted.

One highlight of the community is Nana Dune the largest and highest sand dune in Florida.

Residential living is under construction on the beach. Some housing back away from the beach resembles a time of about 50 years ago. Other housing is boarded up or if it isn’t, it should be. Some of the vacant housing is owned by descendants of the founders.

We learned a lot about the island in our visit to the museum about the community that grew out of the dreams of Lewis’s great-granddaughter MaVynne Betsch.

She was born in 1935, the year the American Beach was founded. She had an operatic career in Europe where she sang for a good ten years. In her later years she lived on American Beach were she became a well-known environmentalist and a knowledgeable tour guide.

She her let hair grow and it was seven feet long. Her dream of a museum came to fruition and today holds the lawn chair she used on the beach. She lived in an old motor home.

We saw a shrine where statues of Christ and Mary were in a little shed in front of a house with a front shaped like a boat.

After going up and down streets named for members of Lewis’s family, we found the hike/bike trail that snaked a mile or so up the road along elegant and gates communities. Up and down that brought us to in 11 K distance.

Want to join in the fun that we have on walks and what we learn? Check us out on www.ava.org .

I like what I see in backyards on walks. Many times it is a fountain like the one I found oh Amelia Island.