June 5 – Homeward Bound
We woke to a northern Ohio rainstorm. The agenda today called for a visit to the James A. Garfield Museum, indoors mostly, so it would work out fine. Besides, the Red Wings had Stanley! How could it be a bad day?
In March, I got an email from someone asking for information about Thomas Garfield of Jamestown Township in Ottawa county, (Mich). Turns out I have lots of information about him because of the years of research I’ve done in Jamestown on Mindy’s ancestors who were among the founding families in 1847. Thomas Garfield was the brother of President James A. Garfield. The person asking the question was a first person historian preparing for an upcoming presentation in Greenville. Debbie Weinkamer portrays Mrs. Lucretia (RUDOLPH) GARFIELD, wife of the President. She worked as a volunteer at the Garfield Museum for many years and learned her stuff real well! Mindy, her mother and I went to the presentation in April. It was very good.
Debbie and Ed Haney (portrayer of James A. Garfield) told us about the museum in Mentor so we made it a point to visit. If you ever get through the area (about 30 miles east of Cleveland) check it out. Garfield was the last president born in a log cabin. He was an educator, minister, military officer, lawyer, state senator, 9-term US Representative and US Senator and is still considered one of the best suited men for the job of President in history. Garfield was the first presidential candidate to campaign directly to the voters (Front Porch campaign); it was his idea to give government jobs only to those who were well qualified instead of the usual practice of Job for Favors as was past US political habit. Mrs. Garfield built what was to become the first Presidential Library.
And, my dad is a third cousin of James A. Garfield and seventh cousin of Lucretia Rudolph. Mindy’s mom is sixth cousin of James and seventh cousin of Lucretia. Boggles the mind doesn’t it?
That was our last stop before getting home to Michigan.
June 4 – Wings Win Wednesday
The trip west through Pennsylvania was noteworthy. I can’t remember exactly why. Probably because I was getting closer and closer to Pittsburg, home of the nefarious Penguins. What would I do if I were to meet one of them?
We were headed to Akron, Ohio to visit the third and final cemetery of this particular vacation trip. Remember John and Susan (CHAPMAN) EVANS in Niagara county (earlier post)? John’s parents, Lewis and Mary EVANS came to Tallmadge Township, Summit County, Ohio probably before 1840 with John’s sister Mary and her new husband, Philip H. SMITH. One of John and Susan’s daughters also came to the area mid-1860s and another followed sometime in the 1870s.
The family plots are in Ellet Cemetery (Springfield Township) in suburban Akron. I had found the information that they were buried there on the internet along with a transcription of every headstone – row by row. I parked the car near the gravestone of someone named Hazel Bryant (not related), thinking that would be a good place to start. With transcriptions printed out and in hand, I looked for row #20. Counting off, I was soon on the opposite side of the cemetery to find out I had counted off from the west border instead of the east. Backtracking, I found myself back at the car and there was Hazel Bryant again at the end of row #20.
Having met that challenge, I soon found the EVANS and SMITH plot and all the gravestones I came for.
I did better than some other headstone hunters we saw there. They were in the wrong cemetery.
We next headed north to Mentor, Ohio. The James A. Garfield Museum is located there and we might be able to make it before it closed. Not so lucky, though. We ended up finding a Red Roof and saw the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup on a cheap motel room TV. Did I say we saw them WIN? 
June 3 – Tuesday Travelers
We left Bar Harbor at 10am. We got to our destination in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania at 9pm. Bloomsburg is an interesting historic town. We spent some time in Bloomsburg a couple years ago. Since we got there so late and had to leave early in the morning, we saw none of it this year. That’s all I have to say about that.
June 2 – Monday, Monday
This turned out to be one of the quietest days and longest nights on the island. The morning was cloudy, with periodic rain. We said good-bye to Roger and Lisa as they were heading home today. I spent most of the morning on the sofa in the bay window across from the fireplace again – catching up on the email and writing on the blog.
Mindy & I headed out to the business district about lunch time and ended up at West Street Cafe. It was in this place we both remember having our first “Bar Harbor” meal in 1998. West Street Cafe has been open all of the ten years we’ve vacationed here. Mindy always gets the shrimp. The very first meal we had on Mount Desert Island was in July 1998 – at the Head of the Harbor Restaurant in Southwest Harbor. Unique. Every outdoor table was furnished with a large water squirt bottle – to deter and deflect the seagulls from swooping and snacking from the table. This made for truly exciting dining experience. Head of the Harbor has been closed the last two or three years, but driving by there on the way to Seal Cove Car Museum last Friday, I noticed a sign posted announcing it was reopening! That’s a good thing!
It rained on and off most of the day. The sun would pop out briefly and warm things up considerably. Mindy, Jane & I decided to cruise to the Park Loop Road and search out the cog railway remnants which we figured would be along the Carriage Path on the east shoreline of Eagle Lake. It was sunny and warm (the rain turned off temporarily) when we left Bar Harbor. We parked at the Bubble Pond parking area and walked the mile or so north on the Carriage Road. We did finally spot two very obscure trail cairns which ended up pointing out the cog railway! You really need to look closely and think creatively to recognize these markers. I’m not going to divulge the details here in case Roger is reading this. It’s his personal challenge to find this on his own next time he’s at Acadia.
It rained again almost all the way back to the car.
By dinner time, rain still threatening, I grabbed the umbrella when we left for Pancho Villa’s. We had a quick meal and headed over to the Criterion to see the new Indiana Jones movie. In ten straight years of coming to Bar Harbor, this was the first time we’d actually been “inside” the Criterion. What a great treasure!
After the movie, we headed back to Aysgarth where we knew Jane and Steve would be planted in front of the big screen TV for game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. As we walked into the room the Red Wings added another goal and things looked great! That’s until the Penguins tied the score near the end of the third period and forced what ended up being two & a half overtime periods. Oh boy did the night get long. The rest is history as the Penguins scored the sudden death tie breaker 
. It would now be Wednesday before Detroit could bring the Cup to Michigan where it belonged.
June 1 – Knox Road Redeaux & the Cog Railway
I honestly felt guilty about going to Knox Road Grille and Atlantic Brewing Company for lunch on Friday without Jane, Mindy and Steve. That is why I suggested we go again on Sunday.
No, wait. Mindy said we had to get another ABC pint glass for Jake because he had broken his. That is why I suggested we go again on Sunday for lunch.
No, the real reason is because it was a gorgeous day, and what better thing to do but to caravan up the island to Town Hill with the T-tops off in a Camaro and the convertible top down in the MR2.
Regardless the reason (because of the CIA techniques I learned from Victor, no one will ever really know the truth), there we were having Dougy’s Bar-B-Que on Sunday.
Earlier in the morning, Roger & I discussed the Green Mountain Railway book that Jane & Steve have here at Aysgarth. The book “Steam to the Summit” includes a period map of dubious scale that showed the proximity of the cog railway route. The location does not appear on modern maps. It has been abandoned for decades. We decided it would be fun to try to find the actual rail bed. It took the better part of the afternoon searching around Eagle Lake on the Park Loop Road and up on the Cadillac Mountain summit road overlooks. We came up with a few theories where the route might have been along the western face of “Green Mountain.” We did eventually find it above the Park Loop Road. There still are questions we’ll try to answer tomorrow.
We had a Dinner Club tonight. Several rules were broken. It was the first time we held it on a Sunday. Half of the current members did not make it to Bar Harbor. A new temporary “fourth couple” joined the “reunion style” event. It will be the first time we’ll have two Dinner Clubs in the same month (on June 28th, we’ll have it at our house in GR). We had a great time with Roger, Lisa, Steve, Jane, Barry and Susan. Thanks Steve and Jane for hosting!
