Zanesville, Ohio--the Y Bridge & Alan Cottrill Sculpture Studio

After leaving the historic village of Zoar, we stayed overnight in the Amish areas in the small town of Sugarcreek, OH in a downtown campground with full hookups.  We were hoping that one of these villages would have a Memorial Day parade but it didn't happen.

On Memorial Day Monday, we drove to the tiny village of Charm, the location of the Guggisberg Cheese Factory where we tasted many of their different cheeses and bought pieces of butter cheese and Swiss, which were very tasty.

Millersburg is a bigger town laid out in 1815 with 3025 population now but many businesses were closed for the holiday. Our destination was Zanesville, Ohio, settled in 1799, and once the Pottery Capital of the U.S. and still producing pottery today.  Wes and Shirley, parents of our daughter Monique's husband Kirk back in Seattle, were our hosts for 2 nights, including several meals and a nice dinner out, which we all enjoyed.  It was a real treat seeing the red streak of cardinals flying on and off their backyard bird feeders...and Lin attempting to photograph them!

The Y-Bridge is very unique, shaped like the letter Y, carrying U.S. Route 40 over the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.  U.S. 40 is the current name for the original National Road, the first federal highway, authorized by Congress in 1806.  The bridge has been in use since the early 1800s, having been rebuilt several times.  The very interesting National Road Museum is on the outskirts of Zanesville; we enjoyed a visit 2 years ago.  The Zane Grey Museum (Zanesville is the famous author of Western novel's birthplace) is in the same location as the National Road Museum.

The other thing we missed last time and really wanted to see was the Sculpture Studio of Alan Cottrill, visible several blocks away in downtown Zanesville with a block long display of his large bronze figures of military subjects, cowboys, famous Americans and Presidents, animals and much more with more sculptures on the roof of his building!  This is a working studio which is self-guiding, showing all the steps from concept to clay to wax to bronze.  His entire body of work of many hundreds of sculptures is on display and photography is allowed.  A studio brochure says "this is the world's largest bronze sculpture exhibition of any living sculptor's work."  Alan co-owns a bronze foundry nearby that casts all his works.  Most of his work is unbelievably realistic, especially anything showing human anatomy.

A bit macabre but Alan sculpted tombs for him and his wife

Next day, we drove on into the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and through the old town of Somerset, to a campground a few miles away.  We had to stop and photograph the iconic Somerset County Courthouse with its copper dome and limestone construction with the adjacent large Civil War Memorial..  

This is the 3rd Courthouse built on this site and was erected between 1904-06.  A Somerset walking tour booklet notes that "between 1900 and 1910, the county's population grew by an astounding 48%!  Many of present-day Somerset's buildings date to this era of tremendous growth and prosperity."  This prosperity came during their coal-boom years!  

The impressive Somerset County Civil War Memorial, constructed of white bronze, shows a Civil War Union soldier at parade rest.  The text reads: "To the Perpetual Memory of the Defenders of the Union 1861-1865.  Erected September 17, 1888 by the surviving soldiers and citizens of Somerset County, PA."   Around the base and 3 sides of the monument are the names of 184 soldiers killed in battle, 17 missing in action and 186 soldiers who died of disease during their Civil War service. 

Coming in our next post--the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, PA.