Clermont County, Ohio

With my class at Life-Long Learning over Thursday, meetings and yet another medical appointment  this week, a bar mitzvah at our synagogue Saturday, and then Thanksgiving, I thought that if I were going exploring this month, it should be this weekend. There were a few problems. Our Suzuki wouldn't start Thursday morning, and we had someone come and jump start it. It works now, but it always sounds like it doesn't want to start, so we are worried. And there was a threat of snow and cold weather. Fool that I am, I booked my regular chain motel in Union Township, Clermont County. Morgantown to the county seat, Batavia, is 280 miles. Clermont County is just east of Cincinnati and runs from the suburbs south to the Ohio River and out into farmland and small towns.

It was pouring down rain most of the way, and when I got to Batavia around 4 P.M. (from 10 A.M.) it already looked dark out, although I had checked that sunset wasn't until 5:28. Although all of Ohio is in the Eastern time zone, much of the state is far enough west to be in Central. I looked around Batavia, then headed to the motel for a much-needed nap. I couldn't find the place. It's in Union Township, adjacent to Hamilton County (where Cincinnati is located) amidst a jumble of shops, a crazy interchange and three streets named "Eastgate." I finally figured it out, and a Russian-accented young woman checked me in.

I probably didn't sleep more than a few minutes. I ate at Bob Evans, a chain diner based in Ohio. I sat at the counter with a few chatty single men, and a waitress who called the men "honey." I liked her. The advantage of that place was that I only had to cross one street, then walk through a shopping center parking lot. I didn't see crosswalks or pedestrian signals anywhere.

I was back early to the room, where I plotted out where I would go Saturday. There are 28 places on the National Register, but many of them are Native American burial mounds, which, if not identified by a sign, are easy to miss. I had a brochure from the library with a map and the locations of ten branches. I figured visiting all of them would give me a view of the towns in the county, with the added bonus of a public bathroom in each one. From what I had seen near the motel, I figured the rural areas, far from Cincinnati, and especially along the Ohio River, would be more interesting than the malls and shopping centers in the more urban areas. As I went to sleep, the forecast was for cold, windy weather and snow.

It was 21 F. in the morning, but bright sunshine and no frost on the car window. My first stop was a nearby Kroger (based in Cincinnati, but with stores in Morgantown) for gas and a pair of gloves, the one thing I forgot to pack. I had mapped out the order for the libraries, and a few historic sites, plus a giant park with a reservoir used as a recreational lake. I was on the road early, but the idea that I could visit all these places in a day seemed far-fetched, especially with the car sounding like it didn't want to start.

I had looked for a synagogue in Clermont County, but apparently there never was one. Cincinnati is heavily Jewish, with the original headquarters of the Reform movement, plus many other synagogues. It also has a large African-American population. Clermont is the third county I've visited bordering Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located. I was in Butler County to the north in May 2016, and Campbell County, Kentucky, a short walk across the Ohio river from downtown in December of that year. Both counties are nearly all white, and aside from a small Conservative congregation in the city of Hamilton in Butler County, almost free of Jews. In Baltimore and Washington, Jews and African-Americans live in large numbers outside the two cities. I was also surprised that there are 1950s-style suburbs like where I grew up in Baltimore, but not much newer building. The small towns that are relatively close-in seem untouched in fifty years.

I ended up late afternoon in Miami Township, at the library, and in the nearby city of Milford, the county's largest, and although the signs say "Historic Milford" I noted lots of big-box stores and a cinema. I made it the Cincinnati Nature Preserve near Milford just after 4:30. It closed at five, and though I offered to pay the $6.00 fee to look around for twenty minutes until closing, the man in the kiosk said "No." By five, I was at the hotel, looking for a nap. The weather had remained sunny and pretty, the temperature had gone up to 36 F.

I thought I should hit the mall near the hotel, so I was there about 7 P.M. I got a plate of teriyaki with rice and vegetables, and got to explain, in Spanish, to the worker that I wanted less rice and more vegetables. Eastgate is a pretty mall, not doing well, like most of the malls I visit. Still, their Sears looks like it will stay open, They have Penney's and Kohl, and Dillard, although that closed early. Lots of people were out shopping in the evening. I was in the room by 8, and asleep early.

Sunday was warmer, and still sunny. I had a relatively easy drive home.

Clermont County is 95.9% white according to the 2010 census, and 67.5% of the voters went for Trump in 2016. It's not generally a wealthy county. I saw lots of dollar stores and pizza parlors. Usually I see fast food Asian restaurants, but not here. I had lunch at a pizza place in Williamsburg, a pretty little town. My eight-inch pizza with mushrooms was only $5, but I had to go the grocery up the street for a 50 cent can of "pop." I chatted up the proprietress who said she avoided the Eastgate area where I was staying because it was so confusing, and in a refrain I hear often from small-town and rural people, she said "I can't imagine living in a big city. It must be terrifying, " I had told her about Morgantown and I think she considered a city of 30,000, with an additional 30,000 students, to be a big city. Yet Williamburg is only 37 miles from Cincinnati, which must seem like another world. Still, there were Mexican workers at the mall, African-Americans working in the hotel, Russians at the front desk, and when I told the manager of the hotel that I was going to West Virginia, she said "Oh! The Golden Temple!" So she knew about the Hindu temple in Moundsville. I think she is from India, as many of the hotel managers are. I suggest that change is on the way. Maybe Cincinnati isn't growing as fast as other cities, and is less of a magnet than those places, but there is an internationalism that is bound to spread. More description follows with the pictures.

Older part of the Clermont County Courthouse, Batavia

Newer (but older looking) part of Clermont County Courthouse

A collection of ceramic bells displayed at the library in Batavia

Main St., Batavia

A collection of Western figures from the library in Amelia

Ross-Gowdy House, early 19th century, New Richmond

Along the Ohio River in New Richmond

Front Street along the river, New Richmond

Birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant, Point Pleasant

Williams House, Williamsburg

Bethel  Methodist Church, after 1810, now used for community events, East Fork State Park

The lake, a reservoir, in East Fork State Park

Elk Lick Mound, a burial mound from the Adena people, from the first millennium of the common era. I felt a vibration from the mound, as if these ancient people still had a presence.

Stonelick Covered Bridge, Stonelick Township, 1878

Promont, near Milford, now a museum, 1865

The food court at Eastgate Mall, probably 1990s