USA - Ohio - Ohio Wildflowers

Ohio Wildflowers
Black-eyed susan, Common cat-tail, Spotted knapweed, Common milkweed, Canada goldenrod. Wild carrot, Evening primrose, Bouncing bet.

Sent by Carol, a postcrosser from Ohio, USA.

USA - Ohio - Mapcard (2)

 

OHIO
"Buckeye State" Extending 225 miles from east to west and 215 miles from north to south, Ohio's inland location gives the state a continental climate of warm summers and cool winters. Ohio abounds with state parks, forests and other outdoor recreational areas, as well as resorts, beaches, boating and fishing facilities. From farmlands to bustling metropolitan cities, Ohio provides its travellers with beautiful memories of scenic wonders.
Capital : Columbus.
Flower : Scarlet Carnation
Bird : Cardinal
Tree : Ohio Buckeye

Sent by Marica, a postcrosser from Munroe Falls, Ohio, USA.

 

USA - Ohio - The Circleville Pumpkin Show

THE CIRCLEVILLE PUMPKIN SHOW
Held annually the third Wednesday of October. Come and enjoy pumpkin in all its forms - ice cream, oies, cakes, breads, etc. Enjoy free entertainment, parades, displays and great food.

Sent by Joy, a postcrosser from Ohio, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The Circleville Pumpkin Show is an annual festival held in Circleville, Ohio. The festival, which is held to celebrate local agriculture, is headed up by the Circleville Pumpkin Show Corporation. Considered to be the biggest festival dedicated to pumpkins in the United States, it is billed as The Greatest Free Show On Earth. Attendance has topped 400,000 for the four day event, which is free to enter.

The Pumpkin Show begins on the 3rd Wednesday of October, and lasts until that Saturday. In recent years, a Tuesday preview night has been introduced, adding an unofficial half day to the event.

In October 1903, Mayor George Haswell decided to hold a small pumpkin & corn exhibit in front of his store to celebrate the local harvest. This small exhibit featured corn, carved pumpkins and other harvest-themed displays. Because of the prominence of pumpkins in this first exhibit, the name "The Pumpkin Show" was then coined. In the following years local merchants were attracted to improve the size, scope and attendance of the festival. By 1905, the first ride was installed. Soon after, with the success of the shows, an annual festival was organized to be held on the city streets to attract merchants, patrons and improve the quality of the festival.

The Pumpkin Show has been held annually since 1903. Despite it still being held during the influenza outbreaks of 1918-1919, The Pumpkin Show was silenced for one year during World War I and two years during World War II. Aside from this three-year gap, there have been no other recorded occurrences of the Circleville Pumpkin Show being canceled or postponed.

Every Pumpkin Show officially kicks off with the weigh-in of large pumpkins from around the area. The largest pumpkin to date was grown by Bob & Jo Liggett, with their entry weighing in at 1,635 pounds. Recent weigh-ins have had multiple entries that go over 1,000 pounds.

Every year, Lindsey's Bakery creates the "world's largest" pumpkin pie. Visitors can be in line for over an hour to see the pie. At the 100th anniversary Pumpkin Show in 2006, the bakery had to make a much bigger pie compared to previous years to officially reclaim the title of world's largest. The pie pan was so large that it was moved outside of the bakery window and into a tent out on the street.

Another long-standing tradition of the Circleville Pumpkin Show is a pageant to crown the Little Miss and Miss Pumpkin Show Queen. The Little Miss Pumpkin Show Queen must be in the 1st grade at a school in Pickaway County, while the Miss Pumpkin Show Queen must be a junior or senior from one of the six local high schools. Once crowned, they lead off each parade for the rest of the event.

Seven parades in total are held during the event (two on Wednesday-Friday, one night parade on Saturday). These parades feature performances by many local high school and middle school bands, as well as other local organizations. The Ohio University Marching 110, which is often referred to as "The Most Exciting Band In The Land," has made numerous trips to highlight Thursday night's parade of bands. The 2006 Pumpkin Show welcomed The Ohio State University Marching Band. They came back in 2010 to march in the parade of bands again and hold a concert afterwards.

USA - Ohio - Mapcard (1)

OHIO
"Buckeye State"
Extending 225 miles from east to west and 215 miles from north to south, Ohio's inland location gives the state a continental climate of warm summers and cool winters. Ohio abounds with state parks, forest and other outdoor recreational areas, as well as resorts, beaches, and boating and fishing facilities. From farmlands to bustling metropolitan cities, Ohio provides its travelers with beautiful memories of scenic wonders.
Capital : Columbus. Flower : Scarlet Carnation. Bird : Cardinal. Tree : Ohio Buckeye.

Sent by Laurence, a postcrosser from Ohio, USA.

USA - Ohio - Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad
Since prehistoric times, the Cuyahoga Valley has offered a north-south transportation corridor. Successive technologies aided the traveler - canoes, a canal, and starting in 1880, railroads. Today, valley travelers can explore the park abroad Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, which operates on the historic 1880 route.

Sent by Darryl from Ohio, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Cuyahoga Valley National Park preserves and reclaims the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in Northeast Ohio. The 51-square-mile (130 km2) park is the only national park in Ohio.

Cuyahoga means "crooked river" in Mohawk.

The valley began providing recreation for urban dwellers in the 1870s when people came from nearby cities for carriage rides or leisure boat trips along the canal. In 1880, the Valley Railroad became another way to escape urban industrial life. Actual park development began in the 1910s and 1920s with the establishment of Cleveland and Akron metropolitan park districts. In 1929 the estate of Cleveland businessman Hayward Kendall donated 430 acres (1.7 km2) around the Richie Ledges and a trust fund to the state of Ohio. Kendall's will stipulated that the "property should be perpetually used for park purposes". It became Virginia Kendall park, in honor of his mother. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built much of the park's infrastructure including what are now Happy Days Lodge and the shelters at Octagon, Ledges, and Kendall Lake.

Although regional parks safeguarded certain places, by the 1960s local citizens feared that urban sprawl would overwhelm the Cuyahoga Valley's natural beauty. Active citizens joined forces with state and national government staff to find a long term solution. Finally, on December 27, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the bill establishing the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. The area was redesignated a national park by Congress on October 11, 2000, with the passage of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, House Bill 4578, 106th congress.[4] It is administered by the National Park Service. David Berger National Memorial in Beachwood, Ohio is also managed through Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

The Richfield Coliseum, a multipurpose arena in the Cuyahoga River area, was demolished in 1999 and the now-empty site became part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park upon its designation in 2000. It has since become a grassy meadow popular with birdwatchers.

Many visitors spend their time hiking or bicycling the parks' many trails which visit its numerous attractions, including the crushed limestone along portions of the 20 miles (32.2 km) Towpath Trail, following a former stretch of the 308 miles (495.7 km) Ohio and Erie Canal.

Waterfalls, rolling hills, caves, winding river scenery attract many park visitors. Steep narrow ravines, a rolling floodplain, and lush farmland contrast one another throughout the park. Animal life is also plentiful. The Ledges provides a boulder-strewn cliff to relax and watch the sunset over the wooded scenery below. Sled-riding is popular during the winter at Happy Days Park. The national park has something for everyone and is a wonderful asset for northeastern Ohio.

The park offers an array of preserved and restored displays of 19th and early 20th century sustainable farming and pastoral or rural living, while catering to contemporary interests with art exhibits, outdoor concerts, and scenic excursion and special event railroad tours on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

It includes compatible-use sites not owned by the federal government, including several local regional parks in the Cleveland Metroparks and Metro Parks, Serving Summit County systems, Blossom Music Center, and the Hale Farm & Village. In the mid 1980s, the park hosted the National Folk Festival.

USA - Ohio - State Bird (2)

CARDINAL
Ohio State Bird.

Sent by Terence, a postcrosser from Ohio, USA.

"Ohio designated the northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) as official state bird in 1933. One of America's favorite backyard birds, cardinals are distinctive in appearance and song - known for their "cheer cheer cheer," "whit-chew whit-chew" and "purty purty purty" whistles.

Male cardinals are a brilliant scarlet red, females a buffy brown with reddish wings - both have a jet -black mask, pronounced crest, and heavy bill. The cardinal sings nearly year-round, and the male aggressively defends his 4-acre territory (male cardinals have been seen attacking small red objects mistaken as other males).

Northern cardinals breed 2-3 times each season. The female builds the nest and tends the hatchlings for about 10 days while the male brings food. The male then takes over the care of this first brood while the female moves on to a new nest and lays a second clutch of eggs.

The cardinal is the state bird of 7 states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia."(Source)

USA - Ohio - The Rock Creek Covered Bridge

The Rock Creek Covered Bridge is one of Ohio's picturesque covered bridges. Photographed on a cool misty morning, the bridge is on Riverdale Road in the village of Rock Creek in Ashtabula County.

Sent by Darlene, a Facebook friend from Ohio, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Riverdale Road Bridge is a covered bridge spanning the Grand River in Morgan Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The bridge, one of currently 16 drivable bridges in the county, is a single span Town truss design. During its renovation in 1981, the floor was rebuilt and glue-laminated wood girders were added. Previously, center steel bracing had been replaced under the bridge in 1945. In 1987, a new concrete abutment for additional support was added after the road at the east end of the bridge washed out. The bridge’s WGCB number is 35-04-22, and it is located at 41°40′23.808″N 80°52′18.66″W / 41.67328°N 80.87185°W / 41.67328; -80.87185 (41.67328, 80.87185)[3] approximately 1.1 mi (1.7 km) north-northwest of Rock Creek.

USA - Ohio - State Bird (1)

CARDINAL
State Bird of Ohio
Ohio accepted the cardinal as its state bird in 1933. Known for its clear strong song and brilliant plumage, the cardinal is a year-round resident of Ohio. It is the state bird of seven states.

Sent by Marjorie, a postcrosser from Akron in Ohio, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The Cardinals or Cardinalidae are a family of passerine birds found in North and South America. The South American cardinals in the genus Paroaria are placed in another family, the Thraupidae (previously placed in Emberizidae).

These are robust, seed-eating birds, with strong bills. The family ranges in size from the 12-cm, 11.5-gram Orange-breasted Bunting to the 25-cm, 85-gram Black-headed Saltator[verification needed]. They are typically associated with open woodland. The sexes usually have distinctive appearances; the family is named for the red plumage (colored cardinal like the color of a Catholic cardinal's vestments) of males of the type species, the Northern Cardinal.

The "buntings" in this family are sometimes generically known as "tropical buntings" (though not all live in the tropics) or "North American buntings" (though there are other buntings in North America) to distinguish them from the true buntings. Likewise the grosbeaks in this family are sometimes called "cardinal-grosbeaks" to distinguish them from other grosbeaks. The name "cardinal-grosbeak" can also apply to this family as a whole.

Most species are rated by the IUCN as least concern, though some are near threatened.

USA - Ohio - Cleveland

Located on the shoreline of Lake Erie, Cleveland serves as a major port city for Ohio and the surrounding region. Aerial view looking west.

Sent by Paul a.k.a Roland of USA.