Historic preservation as well as the original designer for the course. Professor henry holds a ba from the university of william and mary. She holds a phd from the university of maryland at college park. Her Research Interests focus on the concept of place making and social justice issues in the display of historic preservation. In addition, professor henry is focusing on roadside architecture, which dovetails nicely with this class. Prof. Henry good morning everyone. It is great to see you. Thank you so much. So, this is what i think of when i think of a road trip. The open road. All semester, you all have been studying all kinds of themes of the freedom of the road, of who is allowed to travel when and where. Travel as a process, rather than a destination. The mythology of the car and car in American Society and roadside architecture in the 20 century. Today, i am going to tell you a story that ties those themes together. This morning, it is going to be about a quest to find a magical piece of the place that i remember from my childhood. The story begins in the 1990s. I had the opportunity to travel to ohio on business and i wanted to see if i could find my favorite roadside attraction, the blue hole. Like the back of this postcard ofs, it is six miles west sandusky on route 101. Is depth of the hole unknown. The visible depth is apparently 50 to 60 feet. It finds its source in an underground river and maintains a temperature of 48 degrees, winter and summer. It is not affected by flood or drought. The volume of water flowing from this marvelous spring is 7 million gallons per day. It is sufficient to supply a city of 75,000 people. Really, a hole filled with water where you cannot see the bottom . That seems pretty magical to me. But i suppose the story actually , inns a little bit earlier the 1970s when i was a kid. When road trips for me were not about the freedom of the open road and the romantic notion of going anywhere at anytime. They were instead about long hours in the back of the car back of the plymouth with my brother. We were traveling to the upper midwest, to ohio and michigan to see grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles and sit in lawn chairs and picnic with all sorts of salads, none of which involved anything green. To me, the blue hole is all part of the story of the upper midwest. Does anybody have any questions . Student my question is how did you hear about the blue hole as a child when you said many ohioans did not even know about it . Prof. Henry that is a great question. My parents introduced us to road tripping early. Im not sure if that was to keep us from fighting in the backseat or to keep us entertained, but at every stop, we were allowed to pick up as many of those brochures as we possibly could, and we were each allowed to choose one amazing attraction that we could stop on. On these trips, my brother and i would go back and forth on what we wanted to come and see. Ultimately, to everyones dismay, i always requested the same place. I always wanted to go back to see the blue hole. As this brochure shows you, they had everything. There was play equipment, they had a museum exhibit. They had a big waterwheel, and of course, they have a hole in the ground. What is not to like about a pool of water that is so clear that you can stare into it forever . I can let my imagination run wild. The formations to me were better than clouds. On the back of this postcard, they say that the most extraordinary Artesian Spring on the continent, quite a claim, and in the clear depths of the apparently motionless water, the visitor sees a myriad of strange formations, varying from the flowing white beard of ha oaryhaired giants to the rich blue of the alps. This is located west of federal route six and state route 101. It is more beautiful at night than during the daytime. When i had my opportunity to travel back to ohio as an adult, i talked with a few of my friends to find out about this place. Interestingly, a few of them had no idea what i was talking about. And then, one person finally said, oh yeah, but i heard they filled it in. And another person said, oh i heard they moved it. They what . I mean, how do even do that . I know that if you cannot see the bottom, you cannot fill it in. The postcard told me. And how do you move a hole, even one that is magical . This started me on research. Right . I had to find the truth. This quest actually lasted many years as i tried to figure out how in the world this very famous attraction had somehow gotten wiped off the map. Had to get to the bottom of the mystery. The history is kind of interesting. The blue hole starts in the 19th century on a small town of the banks of lake erie in a town named after an ancient greek turned intopollo the fountain at delphi. It is all about the water. The water was always important to its identity. This really quick, clear Running Stream that was fed by artesian waters that came from glacial deposits ran right through the center of town. The townspeople in the 19th century thought that this would power our industry. This will push us in into the millsentury running our and doing wonderful things so we are going to put a dam across the spring. The problem is that all of the rock on top of it was too fragile. The pressure caused collapse and there were sinkholes all over town. But early fishermen saw the potential in such a swift stream. The cold water was perfect for trout and it moved at a rate of 5000 gallons per minute with a constant 48 degrees temperature. Because it came up from so far below the surface, so there was no air in the water. So, they created small waterfalls near these holes. Then they stocked the stream with trout. Trout is not a native species, cold water,y loves and it is one fishermen love to catch. As they are creating their own private getaways in these little small parts of the woods all around town, the secrets get out. Townspeople at first sneak through fences, walk through woods to see these magical blue holes. Eventually they tell their friends, and people start to come from far and wide. But not really too much until yes, the car. Of course. They were open secrets, but once people had the opportunity to come from far away and see many things and just stop at these blue holes from one point to another, it became a crowd. It was a bit scary, i think, for the fishermen to see all of these visitors. At first they thought about trying to keep them out and trying to shut them out, building higher fences. But the populations of cleveland and toledo were so big, they thought maybe instead, we should invite them in. So the private clubs decided to open up their waters. They developed a little bit of mythology around the bottomless spring to lure people in from the roads, from state and federal routes. People passing by. You can start to see that it has evolved from just a stream with a few rocks to make a waterfall, it suddenly looks like an attraction. And looks like a place that they are welcoming you in. It has this nice fence around the edges and a pathway. They are trying to encourage people to come and visit. This continues for a while. They are always upgrading and always trying to make it more interesting. They include a couple of these peerups so that you can further down into the water. Grew aroundation the blue hole, people had expectations and knew what you should find a roadside attraction. One of the things that they started with early on is building an incredible garden all the way around the blue hole. In the midwest, they have pretty rough winters. When summer comes around and things are blooming, everybody wants to see gardens. It does not have anything to do with the blue hole, but they knew people would enjoy it. And, they put in areas for picnicking. That is really when it becomes a bona fide roadside attraction. Come and stay the afternoon, and have your lunch, and Wander Around the gardens. But admission is only so much. Shop. Nt forget the gift i am not really sure why they chose a log cabin. It had been a very long time since ohio was considered a frontier. But this was their gift shop for a long time. And it was wellstocked. They had every tchotchke you could imagine to commemorate your visit to the blue hole. Salt and pepper shakers were my favorite. I dont necessarily associate salt and pepper with a roadside attraction but you can always find them. It continued to grow. Like i said, it was a stocked pond that these fishermen had. They had to continue to stock their pond in order to keep fishing this little pond. So they created a hatchery. The hatchery itself became its own attraction as you can see. Sh at the to fi themery, you could view and feed them and watch them all jump around in the water. They were pretty excited. You can see the big waterwheel. No more little waterfalls to keep it aerated. They had this huge, big, waterwheel. I am not sure it does much more than the waterfall, but it makes a much better kodak moment. You want to make sure that people capture it in pictures so they share it with friends and then they come back. As one of the postcards said, it is better at night. I do not know if it is better, but they build infrastructure to make sure that you would come back just to check it out and see. You can see in this image, it has that rustic fence all around the edges. But in the center, there is this floatingtle lily pad in the middle. That is no accident. Pad is an artificial lily with down lighting so to make sure you can see the formations at night. It was a place for a romantic stroll, as you can see the couple on the edge trying to enjoy it. But the glory days of the blue hole did not last forever. Which i suppose is no surprise. As often happens, the interest in these magical waters waned. Eventually the gate is shut forever in 1990. They honestly could not keep up with all of the other attractions in the area. This part of ohio right on the shores of lake erie is actually called ohios vacationland. People come for the beaches and all sorts of attractions. Is maybe ae hole little too quaint and too quiet. I like to show this because i do not think the postcards do it justice. A gate that they have to enter the blue hole is actually made out of the local limestone rocks that collapsed in order to make the blue hole. It is all together in one. I thought i would show you some of the things that the blue hole is competing with. In ohios vacationland, if you have ever been, there are all kinds of things that everyone associates with summer vacation. You can get ice cream, you can get taffy, you name it. It is a beach kind of place. It starts out around the same time as the blue hole with kind of this victorian, very kind of lowkey attraction. But, cedar point becomes quickly the Main Attraction in this part of ohio. Even early on, you can see the y are developing huge big roller coasters and carnival attractions. Honestly, this is where my brother what is to go, not the blue hole. And cedar point is still going. It continues to be built out. It is almost amazing that the blue hole lasted as long as it did with Something Like this as close by. But, all was not lost. The local fishing club that was the owner of the blue hole was not the only owner of a blue hole. They just owned the biggest. In 1997, another fishing club across town along the same stream sold their land to the state of ohio to create a state Fish Hatchery. This was quite controversial in ohio at the time. They paid 1 million for this hole in the ground that happened to have really cold water. Many taxpayers were not happy about this. Are there any questions . Student [indiscernible] adding nonnative fish. My question, what impact did that because on the local environment, if any . Prof. Henry great question. In terms of the natural environment, it does not seem to have had a lot of negative impact. What it did have was a lot of positive impact on the economic environment for the people that lived in this area, and not just for the town of castalia but for the whole state. As i mentioned, it becomes the state Fish Hatchery. In ohio, that is a huge part of their business. So, they spent not only the 1 million to buy the initial spot, but they invested another 7 million into it to make it a stateoftheart Fish Hatchery to raise steelhead trout that supply the ponds and streams all over the state. That may not sound like a lot, but as of 2013, ohios Wildlife Tourism business, which includes fishing and hunting, was over 3 billion. So this little hole in the north part of ohio is the source of all the steelhead trout all over the state. It is bringing people not just from ohio, but all over. So they have upgraded. They have created a channelized stream through to that new, less picturesque hatchery building. It does not have the big waterwheel anymore but it still hatches the fish. And they have the concrete runways where the small fish can become bigger fish before they are sent out to their streams and ponds. But it does all start here with this apparently motionless, crystalclear water. That is on view for a whole new generation. To contemplate the bottomless hole and the encrusted rock formations that capture your imagination. And, you can still entertain the kids by feeding the fish, all for the price of a three dollar box of cheerios. I spent some time talking to this family and they said this is one of their alltime favorite things to do when they are on vacation. They make sure to come and feed the fish. State fish this the hatchery, they are well fed before they are let out. But i could not feel i had gotten to the bottom of the story without going a bit deeper. So, in the 1980s, geologists shattered that mystery of the blue hole having no real bottom. They were able to map the entire sandusky basin and connected the blue hole to seneca caverns. In his about 10 miles south of the blue hole. It is 110 feet below the surface. Caviousten called the of the case. Thats a great way of describing a cave. In virginia, we have our own cavious of not the caves because we have other things. If you have all been to luray caverns, you know it is like. Seneca does not have stalactites and stalagmites that make a natural organ. They do not have all of these spectacular things for you to see. Instead, they have that limestone, that same limestone that was so fragile that it broke apart in castalia. It is underground here. It has fractured and collapsed and created a series of chambers that go 110 feet down into the ground. You can go all the way to the bottom where the water starts on a hand dug trail. At the very deepest level of this cave, the water seeps out of a very small fissure. It eventually makes its way to cold streams and ponds. They are filled at a rate of 7 million gallons per day at 48 degrees. So my quest finally came full circle, and our journey ended at the beginning. When we got to sip the water from, as the postcard describes, the old mystery river. That was magical. But the true mystery was not that there was no bottom to the blue hole, nor that it was actually moved across town. Because they really did move it. But the generations of road trippers from far and near stopped just to see clear, blue green water and imagined that they saw entire worlds in a few underwater rocks. This is still my favorite place. Thank you all. You can watch lectures in history every weekend on American History tv. We take you inside College Classrooms to learn about topics ranging from the American Revolution to 9 11. That is saturday at 8 00 p. M. And midnight eastern on cspan3. The Constitutional Convention began in 1787 in philadelphia. In an event hosted by the Colonial Williamsburg issues from the bill of rights to slavery. This most encourage wise audience to contemplate these two questions over the course of our debate. First and foremost, how have the articles of confederation failed in guaranteeing those principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness . And a second, how shall this proposed constitution perfect this system of government . I encourage you through the debate to hearken not to the unnatural voice that tells you the people of america, knit together as they are by so many courts of affection, cannot be ords of the same many ch of affection, cannot be part of the same flourishing empire. Hearken not to the voice that tells you the system as a novelty in the political world and has no place in the wildest of projectors and rashes to of intent. I invite you over the course of this discourse to bring your curiosity and together as a singular people, we may yet find a proper course for america. Thank youould mr. Harrison. Madison, they told me you ire a softspoken speaker and see they give the lie. Mason. Virginia and america, i do not disagree with mr. Madison. The endeavor of this last year and a half has been to find our way forward. A written constitution that the people might debate is the natural and best course for our future. However, this is where i counter the gentleman, in that this document is in its way, one that must be ratified i say nay. There are too many problems and this is uncharted territory to be certain. For that reason, we must weor to revolt against must endeavor that to revolt against ray britton is nothing compared to what lies before us now. Those articles of confederation for woefully insufficient our causes, but we must recognize now though we have a system before us that is better than before, that does not make it close enough to what the people of america deserve. The full Program Sunday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, 6 00 p. M. Pacific, here on American History tv. In the 2000 president ial election, Texas Governor george w. Bush defeated Vice President al gore in one of the most contested races in u. S. History. The outcome was not decided into when until december 12, the Supreme Court stopped a florida recount. This ultimately awarded the states electoral votes and the presidency to governor bush. Next saturday, American History tv and washington journal look back at 20 years to the 2000 election and the landmark decision with journalists. They are coeditors of bush v gore. They will take your questions and comments live next saturday youre on American History tv, and cspans washington journal. Each week, American History bring you america archival fields that provide context for todays Public Affairs issues. In new york city, a