A couple lazy Sundays ago D. and I were in Perrysburg with time to kill, so we went looking for Fort Meigs. It had been decades since D.’s last visit as a child but we found the 1812 battlefield easily. Apparently it’s free to stroll the fort during the wintertime–the blockhouses are closed, however.

There was a very nice, 100 ft. tall obelisk built in the great year of 1908. We saw several people sledding down the river-side of the fort–regardless of the “no sledding” signs posted about the visitors/gift shop building. Inside the gift shop I picked up a soft-cover book of old Toledo Blade covers. So… I suggest a visit to one of the area’s oldest destinations, on a moderately cool winter day… and maybe bring a sled?

Fort Meigs | 29100 West River Road, Perrysburg | (419) 874-4121

A gentle reminder that I’m not the only one enjoying toledo; Allison Dow has been documenting this great city in photos and sharing on her Flickr account here: Flickr.com/photos/allisondow/

Peruse and enjoy!

“In 1913 the Toledo Commerce Club held a contest to create a new slogan for the city of Toledo. The winning entry, “You Will Do Better In Toledo”, was submitted by four people. It was determined that C.W. Lammers was the first to send in the slogan and he was declared the winner. The slogan was illuminated on a large electrical sign in downtown Toledo along with two other sections featuring a locomotive and a lake freighter.”

The sign remained up until City Manager, Russell Rink, had it removed because it was beyond repair. At least, that’s according to a Sep. 7th, 1959 article from TIME Magazine.

A replica of the sign remains in Wesley’s Bar on Adams Street in uptown. Get your very own replica from local tee-shirt design co. JUPMODE.

Last month was the 75th anniversary of the Zeroll Ice Cream scoop — the world’s most popular scoop which happens to be in The Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection for excellence in design. And the birthplace of this artifact of industrial design happens to be smack in the middle of the Old West End!

So we celebrated with an Ice Cream Social! Free Tofts ice cream for everyone!

Zeroll ice cream scoops were also given away. One every 5 minutes!

There were old-timey cars…

and old-timey suits!

And M. brought out his fantastic rickshaw, for the delight of everyone. Thanks to Jeff Nelson, Zeroll Co., and Tofts Ice Cream for putting together such a great event!

Sometimes D. and I like to get “lost” and drive around Toledo neighborhoods we don’t regularly find ourselves. This weekend we ended up in the historic Woodlawn Cemetery and decided to explore a bit. As far as cemeteries go, Woodlawn is quite beautiful with it’s rolling hills and bridge-covered creek. I was not surprised to find the rural cemetery movement described as “pastoral oases in the midst of urban sprawl”. I would almost like to picnic there in the summer… maybe.

The most striking monument would have to be the pyramid (pictured above). We stopped to admire it for quite a while, wondering about it.

As it would happen, a couple days ago I was flipping through “You Will do Better in Toledo” (a new-ish book from The Blade) and came across some pages dedicated to John Gunckel, the founder of the Toledo Newsboys Association. To say “Gunck” was much loved would be an understatement and apparently over 1,500 Newsboys attended his funeral — each with a rock, which would be later used to construct this unique memorial.

The inscription reads, “The newsboys’ friend John Elstner Gunckel, 1846-1915. ‘There was a man sent from God whose name was John.’ Toledo honors: a citizen without reproach, a friend without pretense, a philanthropist without display, a Christian without hypocrisy.”

The Woodlawn Cemetery | 1502 W Central Ave. | (419) 472-2186