2 On the Road: National Road - Zane Grey Museum

Saturday, May 31, 2014

National Road - Zane Grey Museum

This museum is actually three museums in one. One on the National Road, one of Zane Grey and a pottery museum.

We took the tour which was excellent.

This is a reconstruction of the original marker in the next photo.

I have lived by US 30 so I knew about the Lincoln Highway. The National Road predates the Lincoln Highway by about 100 years.

Since the wood the brake pushed against would become slick over time, travelers would nail their worn out shoes over it to create friction, hence the brake "shoe". If you click to enlarge this photo, you can see the old shoes nailed to the brake block.

The horses pulling the conestoga wagons were draped in bells that were tuned to the liking of the wagoners. If a wagon became stuck, whoever helped them get unstuck were usually rewarded with a bell. Arriving at a destination without one's bells hurt a driver's professional pride, whereas getting there 'with bells on' was a source of satisfaction.

Can you imagine herding a flock of ducks?

Of course business sprang up along the road to attend to the various needs of the travelers.

An Ordinary bicycle circa 1880. Not much good on muddy roads.

Eventually they got standard bicycles.

1914 Chevrolet

1927 Buick

The next part of the museum was about Zane Grey.

Yes this is a swastika. Centuries before it was adopted as a Nazi symbol, it was used in various cultures around the world. Sometimes the "arms" bent left instead of right at the "elbows".

The last part of the museum is the pottery. Another saying we learned the origin of came in this part of the museum. Potters use clay to make pottery. The best time for the small pottery shops to get clay was when a new road was being built. They would go out after the road had been graded and dig up some clay. They were called "potter's holes'.... pot holes.