by Eric Brooks

Created on: May 05, 2009

A funny thing happened to me the other day when my car broke down. No the car breaking down was not funny, well actually it was somewhat funny by that's another story for another time. The funny thing was my wife drove me into work the next day and I was able to sit in the passenger seat and just look out the window. I had driven the same route every weekday, and some weekends, for over a year and thought I knew everything there was to know about it; traversing the outer belt, taking the corridor into the city, and then navigating the downtown streets to my destination.

Driving this route had certainly familiarized me with the interstates and highways and streets, but had never allowed me to really travel them. By sitting in that passenger seat and looking out that window I was actually able to see what lay beyond a few lanes of asphalt and overly aggressive other drivers. I noticed, among other things, a massive cemetery a short ways from one highway and what looked like a very old rail bridge over Broad Street near downtown. Being naturally inquisitive, I began to wonder about these and other sites and conducted some research once I was home. Okay, so maybe I conducted just a little bit of that research while at work, but I promise it didn't impact my productivity all that much.

It turns out the cemetery was founded in 1848 and is an example of the "garden cemeteries" prevalent during that time period and found in Paris, Boston, London, and Rochester, New York. Interred there are founders of local communities, WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, Ohio Governed James Rhodes, philanthropists, and other historical figures. The railroad bridge I had noticed was the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Depot built in 1896 and designed by architect Frank Packard. Armed with this information, I soon returned to these places equipped with a camera and what facts I was able to glean from the Internet.

With my car soon repaired, I was no longer able to travel during my daily commute, but the experience left me wondering about other sites in my city. My wife and I had travelled to other countries and famous cities within the United States and enjoyed the tourist experience of discovering new locations and seeing new things. However, we had never turned that tourist's eye to our own home. In retrospect is now seems foolish to have wasted the opportunity to explore our city in the same manner and I soon took steps to rectify that missed chance. To likewise become a tourist in

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>