#Berea Sandstone

[thisispaper]

Berea Sandstone Lamps by HB-AS for LEIBAL https://thisispaper.com/mag/berea-sandstone-lamps-hb-as-leibal

[myhauntedsalem]

The Gray Cat Ghost at Fairport Harbor Lighthouse

Even though the Fairport Harbor Light on Lake Erie was given the nickname “The light that shone for 100 years”, it actually doesn’t live up to its name. The current lighthouse didn’t earn the nickname alone. Its predecessor, which was built in the same site, shone for the first 46 years. What makes this lighthouse one of the most haunted places in America is its paranormal claims about a gray cat.

The original lighthouse was built in 1825. When the population of the town reached 300, the Painesville Telegraph issued a notice asking for lighthouse bids. Collector of Customs, A. Walworth, signed the proposal. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave the detail-planning to the potential builder. He specified the height of the deck, depth of the foundation, number of windows, materials to be used, etc. in his proposal.

Builders Hiram Wood and Jonathon Goldsmith received a contract to the lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling for $2900. Everything went smoothly with the construction at first, until it was realized that there was a mis-communication concerning the cellar. The construction of the cellar wasn’t included in the builders’ plans. It wasn’t until after the construction of the lighthouse that an upset Walworth contracted Goldsmith and Wood to complete the cellar for additional money. In 1841, Goldsmith applied for the keeper’s job for the lighthouse he had helped build but someone else received the job.

Fairport Harbor Light on Lake Erie wasn’t just used as a hub of commerce, it was also the final stop for the Underground Railroad. The lighthouse acted as a beacon of freedom to slaves. The town, along with the captains and seamen who sailed there, was completely anti-slavery. The ships in the area would help transport escaped slaves to Canada. Many of them were kept hidden in the lighthouse itself until a ship was available.

The original lighthouse began to wear and tear just a few years after its construction. After a decade, the foundation had settled to the point where it needed a replacement. Within 30 years, wire hoops encircled the lighthouse to keep it from falling over.

In March 1869, Congress finally approved a proposal to replace the original tower and keeper’s dwelling. The new project cost an estimated $30,000. Not wanting to make the same mistakes of their predecessors, the new builders contracted engineers to help them. They scouted the area to find the best foundation point.

In 1871, the new Berea sandstone tower and brick keeper’s dwelling were finally complete. Minor improvements have been made over the decades. The harbor itself grew considerably as new piers and a foghorn were installed.

The original lighthouse was set to be destroyed but the citizens of the community protested due to its historical value. After WW II, it was turned into a museum. Now, visitors can walk through the very same corridors as the runaway slaves more than 150 years ago.

The most interesting paranormal claim coming from the lighthouse doesn’t involve the underground railroad or even humans for that matter. The most talked about ghost around the lighthouse is the gray ghost cat. The story of the cat starts around 1877. Captain Joseph Babcock was the Head Keeper of the lighthouse in 1871. He and his wife Mary had two children, Hattie and Robbie.

Unfortunately Robbie died at the age of 5 of diphtheria. Mary became depressed and was eventually bedridden. To help comfort her and keep her company, the Captain gave her cats. After Mary’s death all the cats disappeared over time except this one gray cat.

In 1989 the curator of the now lighthouse museum first reported seeing an apparition of a cat playing in the kitchen and also felt it jump on the bed. Visitors soon started to report small puffs of gray smoke and the sightings have continued ever since.

In 2001 the lighthouse got a new air conditioning system. While crawling in the basement, workers came across the mummified remains of a gray cat. This gray ghost cat, who’s remains are on display inside the museum, makes Fairport Harbor Lighthouse one of the most haunted places in America.

[ultraheydudemestuff]

Union Club

1211 Euclid Ave.

Cleveland, OH

The Union Club of Cleveland, incorporated on September 25, 1872, is one of the oldest private social organizations in Cleveland. A group of many of the city’s industrialists, businessmen, and professional citizens who had originally belonged to the Cleveland Club formed the new group for the purpose of having a place for reading, for discussing the topics of the day, for entertaining and for promoting physical training and education. From the beginning, the Union Club was the center of social and commercial life, the place where the city’s leaders met and mingled with people of accomplishment and culture. Many of Cleveland’s great business and cultural achievements were first conceived and initiated within its sociable parlors and dining rooms.

During its distinguished history, the venerable Union Club has survived several stock market crashes and national depressions and recessions, two world wars, a global pandemic, explosive industrial growth followed by gradual decline, and civil unrest and rioting. Throughout the good times and bad, members saw themselves entwined in Cleveland's history. The 81 founders included such luminaries as William Bingham, Sylvester Everett, William Gordon, Marcus Hanna, Samuel Mather, Henry B. Payne, Amasa Stone and Jeptha Wade. These charter members contributed $600 each to acquire, as the Club’s new home (and first clubhouse), the Truman Handy mansion on Euclid Avenue just west of East 9th Street.

In the early years of the Union Club, the membership roster included U.S. Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, McKinley and Taft. Other notable names included inventors Charles Brush, Caesar Grasselli, businessman William Rockefeller and famed surgeon George Crile. From its beginning, the Union Club was the center of social and commercial life, the place where the city's leaders met and mingled with people of accomplishment and culture. Many of Cleveland's great business and cultural achievements were first conceived and initiated within the sociable parlors and dining rooms.

By 1900, the membership had increased to 500 with a long waiting list of influential people clamoring to join what had become the most selective and prestigious club in Cleveland. Qualified candidates often had to wait as long as 10 years for admittance. The fortunes of the Club coincided with the extraordinary success of the City of Cleveland. With its exploding population and booming industries, the city had become an economic and political powerhouse by 1900. Meanwhile, the Union Club's facilities, which had been spacious and accommodating 30 years before, had become seriously overcrowded and outdated for its growing membership.

On June 25, 1901, the Club was incorporated for profit; it became the Union Club Co. and subsequently purchased the Castle property at East 12th and Euclid Ave. and worked with Cleveland architect Chas. F. Schweinfurth to design and construct a new clubhouse which was dedicated on December 6, 1905. The new clubhouse was built to accommodate the increased membership and remains the Club’s home. With its refined and stately classicism, Schweinfurth's massive building constructed of Berea sandstone was immediately recognized as an architectural jewel in the bustling center of Cleveland, widely admired for its quiet dignity and tasteful design.

On May 23, 1961, the Union Club Co. amended its 1901 articles of incorporation, becoming an Ohio corporation not for profit. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 15, 1974. In 1983 the first woman, Karen Horn, was admitted as a member will full privileges, allowing women entrance through the front door, use of the marble staircase, and access to the entire club. Mary Lynn Laughlin was named the first woman President of the Union Club in May 2007. On May 28, 2015, Randy McShepard was named the first African American President of the Union Club. On April 1, 2019 the Union Club welcomed the members of the Intown Club, a private invitation-only ladies’ luncheon club as members of the Union Club which grew the percentage of primary members who are women to over 33%. This is iconic as the Union Club till the early 80’s was men-only.

[thorsenmark]

Waters Flowing Over Brandywine Falls (Cuyahoga Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A sideward view looking across the creek and then falls. Because of the rains the day prior, I didn't need to close have a longer shutter speed even with a variable ND filter I was using. Composing the image was a matter of lining of the creek and waterfalls while using some of the nearby trees and plantlife to complete this setting in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I worked with control points and color control points in Capture NX2 to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted. I then added a Foliage and Darken/Lighten Center CEP filter to give that little bit extra for the final image.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

CMP Travel Program and Section of Invertebrate Paleontology Promotes the 125th Anniversary of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh with an outdoor walking tour

Before Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh (CMP) reopened to the public on June 28th, Barbara Tucker, Director of CMP’s Travel Program, talked with me about ways to reengage members and bring them back to the Oakland museums.

With knowledge about my research on the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Carnegie Library, Barbara suggested a 90-minute outdoor walking tour around the exterior of the massive building.  Starting from where the oldest portion of the building (Portal Entry) meets the newest (Museum of Art) to the front of the historic library entrance, past the Diplodocus carnegii statue, to Forbes Avenue and the entrances of the music hall, natural history museum, and fine arts museum guarded by the statues of the noble quartet.

Fig. 1

The tour was advertised on the CMP website under the Travel Program link, https://carnegiemuseums.org/things-to-do/travel-with-us/ and https://carnegiemuseums.org/kollar/, and accurately described as an activity fully compliant with CDC protocols. Within a week, the tour received overwhelming signups, which were organized by date and number of participants by Travel Program assistant Isabel Romanowski. Three tour dates were set in August and several more in September. Special private tours for donors and others in the fall continue to be arranged.    

Andrew Carnegie, Founder:

As guide for an exercise that involves close observation of architectural details, I face the challenge of getting participants to imagine this section of Pittsburgh long before any of the structures around in Oakland existed. The library and museums cover five acres of flat bottom land formed by the pre-Ice Age Monongahela River more than 1.2 million years ago. In far more recent times, the land was part of the Mary Schenley Mount Airy tract of 300 acres which was donated to the City of Pittsburgh in 1889 to create Schenley Park in her honor. Andrew Carnegie, (1835 – 1919) industrialist, steel magnate, and philanthropist, in 1895 saw the site as a place to build a complex with a library, fine arts gallery, science museum, and music hall that would represent the noble quartet of literature, art, science, and music.

The Library Tour Themes:

Fig. 2

Tour groups assemble on the dark stone steps outside the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) rear entrance for an introduction focusing on the two connected, but architecturally different buildings: the Beaux-Arts style Carnegie Complex, with the original structure dating to1895, and later addition to 1907, which was built by Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow using Carnegie Steel (Fig. 2), and the modern Carnegie Museum of Art, built by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes in 1974.

Two rock types distinguish the building exteriors. The older portions of the building are clad in a light grey, easily carved, 370 million-year-old Berea Sandstone from Amherst, Ohio, while the exterior and much of the interior of Museum of Art is covered in the 295 million-year-old bluish iridescence Larvikite igneous rock from Larvik, Norway. When Barnes was commissioned to build CMOA, he chose the dark rock to blend with the older building’s coal dust veneer, a grime coating that was removed when the exterior stone was cleaned in 1990.

Landscape Art and Geology:

Fig. 3

Pittsburgh’s landscape painter, John Kane’s (1860 – 1934), Cathedral of Learning, circa 1930 (Fig. 3), depicts the 150-foot-deep Junction Hollow with its operating railroad. The work also includes many important architectural references, the Schenley Park Bridge (1897), Carnegie Institute’s Bellefield Boiler Plant (designed by Alden and Harlow in 1907 to supply electricity and heat to adjacent buildings), the Carnegie Institute Extension (1907), and a then unfinished Cathedral of Learning. This painting is part of CMOA Fine Arts collections.

Fig. 4

Another John Kane landscape, Panther Hollow, circa 1930 – 1934, (Fig. 4A) in combination with Cathedral of Learning has been used in teaching about the 300 million-year-old geology of Schenley Park (Fig. 4B2) and the pre-Pleistocene Monongahela River that formed the flat bottom landscape of Oakland, and through erosion, Junction Hollow (Fig. 4B1).  Kollar and Brezinski 2010, Geology, Landscape, and John Kane’s Landscape Paintings.

Junction Hollow Landscape:

Kane’s Cathedral of Learning (1930) is an idealized green space of Junction Hollow, the Wilmot Street Bridge in the foreground (1907) now replaced with the Charles Anderson Bridge (1940), and Carnegie Tech’s (now Carnegie Mellon University’s) Hamerschlag Hall or Machinery Hall (1912), built by Henry Hornbostel, a Pittsburgh architect. Hornbostel designed a circular Roman temple wrapped about a tall yellow brick smokestack (Fig. 4A). The design is based on the Roman temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy, dating to the early 1st century BC. Hornbostel’s overall campus design focused on connection between art and science, with Junction Hollow representing the geological sciences. The architect Philip Johnston, who built Pittsburgh’s postmodern PPG Place (circa 1984), once contrasted the Bellefield Boiler Plant smokestack as “the ugliest in the world to Machinery Hall’s smokestack as the most beautiful.” In novelist Michael Chabon’s debut novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, (1988) the Bellefield Boiler Plant, termed “the cloud factory” by the narrator, is the setting for a pivotal scene.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (Main):

Fig. 5

The separate institutions we now know as Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Carnegie Museum of Art can track their origins to exhibits and galleries within space now fully occupied by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. An image of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in 1902 from the Bellefield Bridge, a structure now buried under the Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain (1918), reveals eclecticism in architectural features (Fig. 5). The west facing frontage doorways and portico of the library features, CARNEGIE LIBRARY, FREE TO THE PEOPLE, and 24 carved writer names. Missing from the names is Carnegie’s favorite poet, Robert Burns, whose statue was dedicated in 1914 on the grounds of Phipps Conservancy. Three separate entrances are served by granite steps of Permian age from Vermont, one for the science museum, one for the Department of Fine Arts, and the third, with distinctive Romanesque round doorways, brass doors with intricate features, and keystone scrolling, for the Library. This entrance was designed by Harlow, who was the draftsman on the McKim, Mead, and White team responsible for the Beaux-Arts Boston Public Library (1895). When the Carnegie Institute Extension was constructed in 1907, the science museum and fine arts museum collections were moved into the new space. The former spaces in the library became the Children’s Room, Pennsylvania Room, and Music Library.

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

A challenge at this point in the tour involves discussing features that are not visible up close. The Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow’s Italian Renaissance and Beaux-Arts H-shaped parallelogram winning design featured a copula (Fig. 6) on top of the red tile roof that was never built.  Eclecticism features include a double apse, a smaller shaped semi-circular extension of the library’s wall on the southside of the building, and larger apse on the north or Forbes Avenue side of the building, with the semicircular Music Hall auditorium, designed by Longfellow. The music hall exterior was structurally changed by the 1907 construction (Fig. 7).  

The exterior Berea Sandstone reveals rustication masonry techniques with the cut blocks on the exterior first floor level distinguished by ashlar pillow horizontal border stone, and smooth masonry from the second floor to the cornice below the roof line.  The second floor late Gothic style windows are divided by a vertical element called a mullion that helps with rigid support of the window arch and divides the window panels. Two symmetrical Campanile towers that Carnegie called “those donkey ears” were modeled after the San Marco Bell Tower in Venice, Italy. The towers served as an architectural offset to the semicircular exterior walls of the music auditorium and were removed in 1902 for the construction of the Carnegie Institute Extension. The installation of the towers can be interpreted as a tribute to Henry Hobson Richardson’s Allegheny County Courthouse twin towers (1888).

Architects choice of light grey sandstone and red tile roof:

The library’s red tile roof incorporated multiple glass roofs over the library, fine arts galleries, and science museum (all shaded from exterior sunlight today) which typified the Beau-Arts style. Keep in mind, the library did not have electric light. Light was provided by gas lighting and natural sunlight.  Longfellow, Alden, and Harlow wrote that “the choice of a red tile roof and grey Ohio (Berea) Sandstone was intentional to contrast with Pittsburgh’s grey skies and the changing seasonal colors of the foliage in Schenley Park.”  

The Beaux-Arts Architecture of the Carnegie Institute Extension 1907:

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

After Longfellow returned to his Boston practice in 1896, Alden and Harlow received the commission to build the Carnegie Institute Extension (1907) (Fig. 8). Their efforts created one of the great Beaux-Arts building in the United States. As Cynthia Field, Smithsonian Architecture Historian, stated in 1985, “the building itself is the greatest object of the entire museum collection.” Formal recognition of the building’s architectural importance exists in two historic landmark plagues placed outside of the Carnegie Library entrance and the Museums’ Carriage Drive entrance (Fig. 9).

New exterior features of the 1907 extension work included the replacement of the red tile roof with copper, the addition of an armillary sphere,  the construction, with a colonnade of solid Corinthian fluted columns of Berea Sandstone, four portico porches over the main entrances to the library, music hall, natural history and art museum, and eastside of building (now removed), and the creation, along Forbes Avenue, of a main Carriage Drive entrance with direct access to the galleries. The carved names of authors, artists, musicians, and scientists in the buildings’ entablature, a Victorian era practice, extends around the building from the library’s southeast corner to the music hall entrance, and natural history and the fine arts entrances.

Also notable along Forbes Avenue are John Massey Rhind’s noble quartet statues that guard the Music Hall and Natural History and Art entrances. The four male figures all seated in classic Greek chairs are Michelangelo (art), Shakespeare (literature), Bach (music), and Galileo (science).  Standing three stories above the quartet on the edge of the roof, four groups of female allegorical figures represent literature, music, art, and science as well. The bronze figures were casted in Naples, Italy in 1907 (Fig 8).

Inside the 1907 Architecture and Building Stones:

The architects created 13 new interior spaces where three grand spaces stand out for specific architecture styles such as, the Beaux-Arts Grand Staircase (voted in 2018 as the 8th best museum staircase in the world), the Neoclassical Hall of Sculpture, and neo-Baroque Music Hall Foyer. The extension used 32 varieties of marbles and fossil limestones, many from antiquity, quarried and imported from Algeria, Croatia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and the United States.  

Since 2004, the collaboration between the CMP Travel Program and the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology has been highly successful reaching out to our members and patrons. This summer’s tours generated some particularly appreciative comments:

The Carnegie's resident scientists are a defining characteristic of this noble institution. Might be an anachronism in an era when museums are focused on providing 'destination' entertainment and hosting special events for swells, but while treasures like Dr. Kollar are still on staff, it’s a splendid idea to facilitate interaction between them and museum visitors. Congratulations on a most enjoyable program. -Ron Sommer

Albert was very informative and interesting. I found it most valuable learning the history of the area. -Janet Seifert

I can't stress enough how unusual and interesting it was to have a geologist give us the tour. It had never occurred to me before that there's so much one can learn about building materials from a geologist. -Neepa Majumdar

Albert D. Kollar is Collection Manager and Carnegie’s Historian of the Carnegie’s Building Stones. Barbara Tucker is Director of Carnegie Travel Program.

[cedar-glade]

Adams County Geological stratigraphy has absolutely no chill and needs to slow down. 

Blocklet of Black Hand Sandstone

Aluvium (pre illinois),  BEREA SANDSTONE,  Bedford Shale, Ohio Shale/clay beds, Olentangy Shale, Tymochtee Dolomite, overlying micro associated dolomite, Greenfield Dolomite, Peebles Dolomite.

Peebles quadrangle impact breccia infused Peebles/greenfield dolomites. 

 Lilly, Bisher, Estill formations with their associated shale and clay terminating into drowning creek 

Drakes and Bullfork formations of upper ordo

[flashlighttostreetlight]

Sacred Heart Church, Dayton, OH. Designed by Charles Insco Williams, Sacred Heart is a limestone building with a limestone foundation, an asphalt roof, and various elements of sandstone and copper. The limestone was quarried locally, while the sandstone was obtained from Berea, Ohio. Constructed in the Romanesque Revival style, but with a prominent octagonal Baroque dome and glazed cupola, towers flank the main entrance, and there are rose windows under the pediments of the front and side. When constructed, the building featured a basement under the 75-foot ceiling. Grand woodworking, artwork, and chandeliers once filled the interior, but most have been removed; some were destroyed by the raging waters of the Great Flood of 1913, while others were intentionally removed or painted over at later dates.

[jonathanmilliondollarsmile]

#HistoricalHomes Repost from @historicalhomesofamerica • 330 S Rocky River Dr, Berea, OH 44017 $750,000, 5 bd, 3 ba, 5,692 sqft Most homes on the market don’t have 150 years of history. This one does. Sitting on 1.5 acres, this 5,400 square foot Berea mansion has seen prohibition bootlegging, rifle fire in the basement, locally famous window graffiti from its original owner, a substantial fire on the upper level and ivy that was brought in from George Washington’s Virginia estate. Situated on the Cleveland Metroparks, this luxurious mansion is certainly one of the biggest, most impressive homes in Berea and the surrounding area. Unique features throughout the home include original hand tacked flooring with oak, cherry and maple inlay; intricately designed brass door hardware; 12’ ceilings with elaborate plaster crown moldings; huge brass imported chandeliers; a main staircase that would make The Great Gatsby proud; a breathtaking walk-in shower; a clawfoot tub and tin stamped ceilings in the main kitchen and summer kitchen. Enjoy the surrounding wildlife from one of the three patios, two of which rest on historic Berea sandstone. The builder was a sandstone tycoon. Listing courtesy of: CENTURY 21 DePiero & Associate Mark E Vittardi Check out these photos! Have a listing you want us to share? Submit it on our website! www.historicalhomesofamerica.com/listwithus! #arch #archie #architecture #architecturephotography #architecturelovers #old #history #oldhouse #oldhouselove #wow #amazing #goodmorning #thisoldhouse #antique #vintage #home #house #porch #ornate #grand #mansion #mansions #realty #forsale #zillow #homesdotcom #ohio #oh https://www.instagram.com/p/CR7aw1tBhciqRFnBw-JtNfmJ-zhP2LnSHXx3os0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[leibal]

Berea is a minimal collection created by Ohio-based designers Alex Sizemore and Hank Beyer. Loraine County, Ohio contains some of the most homogeneous and permeable beds of sandstone in the world. During the summer of 2017, the designers spent time investigating and observing the operations of a family-owned quarry along the stone formation running from Erie to Adams County. All processes, from quarrying to cutting, occur on the same piece of land. Free from faults, mineral impurities and variegation, the finest stone is reserved for cutting petroleum test cores. Ninety-three percent of this strain of stone is pure silica and weighs one hundred and forty pounds per cubic foot. These cores measure four to six inches across and two to four feet long. In a laboratory setting, crude or refined oil mixed with brine is forced from one end of the sandstone core to the other; this process is known as core flooding. Flow rate and pressure changes revealed by these tests provide valuable data used to optimize oil extraction processes. No known synthetic material can replace the sandstone used in these experiments. After becoming familiar with the quarry, their production methods and various machining procedures, the interest shifted toward the excess of offcuts. In addition to the rough faces cut from larger stones and the negative spaces created while drilling, entire cores are often neglected after a cross-cut reveals an oxidized iron vein. This collection of tables, stools, lamps and trays is the result of an exploration into alternative outcomes for discarded material.

[myhauntedsalem]

The Gray Cat Ghost at Fairport Harbor Lighthouse

Even though the Fairport Harbor Light on Lake Erie was given the nickname “The light that shone for 100 years”, it actually doesn’t live up to its name. The current lighthouse didn’t earn the nickname alone. Its predecessor, which was built in the same site, shone for the first 46 years. What makes this lighthouse one of the most haunted places in America is its paranormal claims about a gray cat.

The original lighthouse was built in 1825. When the population of the town reached 300, the Painesville Telegraph issued a notice asking for lighthouse bids. Collector of Customs, A. Walworth, signed the proposal. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave the detail-planning to the potential builder. He specified the height of the deck, depth of the foundation, number of windows, materials to be used, etc. in his proposal.

Builders Hiram Wood and Jonathon Goldsmith received a contract to the lighthouse and keeper’s dwelling for $2900. Everything went smoothly with the construction at first, until it was realized that there was a mis-communication concerning the cellar. The construction of the cellar wasn’t included in the builders’ plans. It wasn’t until after the construction of the lighthouse that an upset Walworth contracted Goldsmith and Wood to complete the cellar for additional money. In 1841, Goldsmith applied for the keeper’s job for the lighthouse he had helped build but someone else received the job.

Fairport Harbor Light on Lake Erie wasn’t just used as a hub of commerce, it was also the final stop for the Underground Railroad. The lighthouse acted as a beacon of freedom to slaves. The town, along with the captains and seamen who sailed there, was completely anti-slavery. The ships in the area would help transport escaped slaves to Canada. Many of them were kept hidden in the lighthouse itself until a ship was available.

The original lighthouse began to wear and tear just a few years after its construction. After a decade, the foundation had settled to the point where it needed a replacement. Within 30 years, wire hoops encircled the lighthouse to keep it from falling over.

In March 1869, Congress finally approved a proposal to replace the original tower and keeper’s dwelling. The new project cost an estimated $30,000. Not wanting to make the same mistakes of their predecessors, the new builders contracted engineers to help them. They scouted the area to find the best foundation point.

In 1871, the new Berea sandstone tower and brick keeper’s dwelling were finally complete. Minor improvements have been made over the decades. The harbor itself grew considerably as new piers and a foghorn were installed.

The original lighthouse was set to be destroyed but the citizens of the community protested due to its historical value. After WW II, it was turned into a museum. Now, visitors can walk through the very same corridors as the runaway slaves more than 150 years ago.

The most interesting paranormal claim coming from the lighthouse doesn’t involve the underground railroad or even humans for that matter. The most talked about ghost around the lighthouse is the gray ghost cat. The story of the cat starts around 1877. Captain Joseph Babcock was the Head Keeper of the lighthouse in 1871. He and his wife Mary had two children, Hattie and Robbie.

Unfortunately Robbie died at the age of 5 of diphtheria. Mary became depressed and was eventually bedridden. To help comfort her and keep her company, the Captain gave her cats. After Mary’s death all the cats disappeared over time except this one gray cat.

In 1989 the curator of the now lighthouse museum first reported seeing an apparition of a cat playing in the kitchen and also felt it jump on the bed. Visitors soon started to report small puffs of gray smoke and the sightings have continued ever since.

In 2001 the lighthouse got a new air conditioning system. While crawling in the basement, workers came across the mummified remains of a gray cat. This gray ghost cat, who’s remains are on display inside the museum, makes Fairport Harbor Lighthouse one of the most haunted places in America.

[ultraheydudemestuff]

Superior Avenue Viaduct

Superior Ave.

Cleveland, OH

The Superior Avenue Viaduct once carried Superior Avenue over the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Built in 1878, what remains of the bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Superior Viaduct was proposed for improving transriver commuting in the years following Cleveland's 1854 annexation of Ohio City. The Cuyahoga River bridges up to that time had been "low-level," necessitating being opened for every river craft that needed to pass. Prior to the Viaduct's opening, low-level bridges were the only way for vehicles to cross the Cuyahoga River. To approach these bridges, commuters had to navigate steep valley walls. Moreover, bridge traffic would come to a halt with the passing of each and every boat. While the Superior Viaduct's central span still had to swing open several times a day to let taller ships through, it was a vast improvement over the older bridges. City voters in Apr. 1872 approved construction of the new bridge, which was to extend from Superior Ave. and W. 10th St. on the east to Detroit Ave. and W. 25th St. on the west. Plans called for a western approach consisting of Berea sandstone arches built on piles driven 20' into the muddy subsoil. A total of 10 arches carried this portion of the viaduct a length of 1,382', 72' above the foundations. Connecting the masonry arches to the eastern portion of the bridge was a 332' pivoting center span. The eastern end of the viaduct was of girder design, 936' long. With approaches, the viaduct totaled 3,211', with a 64' roadway. Construction began in Mar. 1875; the bridge was completed at a cost of $2.17 million and opened to traffic on Dec. 28,1878.

Clevelanders met the opening of the Superior Viaduct in December 1878 with great fanfare, celebrating the city's first high-level bridge. The bridge in many ways symbolized Cleveland's continuing economic growth and development into a major American city. Despite all its grandeur, the viaduct became outdated with the opening of the Detroit-Superior Bridge in 1917. That bridge was built high enough to let even the larger boats pass underneath without disturbing traffic. Because of the center drawspan, traffic still had to halt approximately 300 times each month for an average of 5 minutes to permit river vessels with tall superstructures to pass. These delays became increasingly annoying, and the procedure itself began to take a toll on the bridge structure. Voices were raised once again for a new bridge that would be completely high-level. In 1918 the Detroit-Superior Bridge (now Veterans Memorial Bridge) was opened to traffic, and the Superior Viaduct was closed in 1920. Its eastern portions were demolished in 1922. The viaduct was closed to cross-river traffic once and for all when its center span was removed in 1923, and in 1939 the easternmost 3 arches of the remaining sandstone segment were blasted away to allow for a widening of the river. Over time, the once-celebrated structure was dismantled. Today, a number of the stone arches and other components of the viaduct's western approach are all that remain. Seven arches, a total of 600', remained in place on the west side of the river. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 9, 1978.

[thorsenmark]

I Saw Water Fall from the Sky as Rain One Day in Ohio (Black & White, Cuyahoga Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A conversion to black & white using Silver Efex Pro 2 where I used some color filters to bring out a much richer tonal contrast for the final image.

[environmentguru]

Steady-State Supercritical CO2 and Brine Relative Permeability in Berea Sandstone at Different Temperature and Pressure Conditionsa

Abstract We measure steady-state two-phase supercritical CO2-brine relative permeabilities in a 61-cm-long Berea sandstone core at three different conditions (40°C and 12.41 MPa, 40°C and 8.27 MPa, and 60°C and 12.41 MPa) under primary drainage. We u https://www.environmentguru.com/pages/elements/element.aspx?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr&id=5054445

[blackflagnapkins]

A door unlocked

The only part of me that cannot be convinced that appreciating nature is a waste of my time is my eyes. I’m not an outdoors type, I never tried to camp outside as a child, and the only time I spend immersed in nature happens when I am out on a drive. But, admittedly, I will gladly watch trees sway in the wind for hours and follow passing clouds as they drift by the small piece of Earth I stand on. Using what I already mentioned about myself, I began to speculate where my “neighborhood” was and recalled a quiet part of the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metro Parks located behind the CVS on West Bagley Road. The last time I was there, I studied the tall shale walls and Berea sandstone scattered along the river with the rest of my Dynamic Earth geology class; it was late Fall 2011. ​Two years later, I sit on a cluster of large rocks in the middle of the river having hop-scotched my way south along the grey mohawk of boulders. As I look up at the sky, I wonder what makes the weather so cold, especially considering the mounting global warming claims of the last decade. It dawns on me that the chill is not merely the windy breeze, but the fact that this area is so open that the wind can unrestrictedly race along my arms and cheeks. I end up readjusting my hair more often than I thought I’d have to, which just reinforces my aversion to being outdoors, but when after I frantically re-part my hair I suddenly take note of the tall trees all around me. The Rocky River Reservation is known for willows, but all I see are sycamores and cottonwoods. Sycamore trees have bark that clusters and chips off in pieces by itself when the tree’s growing direction shifts. The bark also can be several different colors ranging from black to white. Today’s trees have brown bark that just barely clings to a white-hued “tree skin”. Meanwhile, the cottonwood trees stand firmly on the banks of the river as if to affirm their place amongst the wetness and soil erosion. The cottonwoods are great for timber and within 10-30 years, quite a bit of wood can be collected from each tree. Evidently, cottonwoods are one of the largest American hardwood trees, yet their wood is actually much softer than many other tree types. The question most obvious to me at this point is which tree I have more in common with. ​I believe I have settled on being akin to a sycamore. My brown hair falls out in chucks when I wash it and when the weather gets cold like it has been, I die a little inside while the sycamore’s exterior morphs to match the physical death image. The cottonwood trees made me think of rabbit bedding and other weak wood chips, which I can’t relate to. I scanned over their bark and can’t shake the thought of wrinkled skin. Actually, this connection unnerved me more than I thought it would so I tried to put together something poetic. I wrote down, “The ground with its deathly leaves keeps talking to me.” Capturing the moments where I let myself fall into nature didn’t feel authentic in the moment, but my notes still fill me with the wearied amusement that I felt stumbling through that river bank, talking with the trees. ‘The river needs some attention,’ I thought as I made deliberately stifled heel-toe strides towards the water, cautious because my Chuck Taylor’s each have three dime-sized holes in the sole. ​Rocky River’s East branch is the section I am observing while I write. ESPN rates the river as one of the World’s Best for Steelhead Trout fishing, which is dually irrelevant to me because I don’t fish and there aren’t fish in the East branch where I am. Regardless, I love learning that places I have been are rated highly by some national, or the occasional international, poll/study/survey/list. I remember hearing that the city of Berea is one of the U.S.’s Top Ten busiest train cities and that train enthusiasts come and visit town just to watch the steel cars pass them by, as if they could reach out and touch them and be changed. In my notes, I pieced together that touching things, such as the water or the rocks ahead of me that I need to leap to, leaves me feeling like a small child wanting the world in my pocket. With each new face and surface I touch, I add to my personal Earth. As I mentally check off Rocky River as a part of my collection, I realize that this is the only river I have ever been to. My hometown sits on Lake Erie and there is a nice creek that runs through Conneaut, but it terms of an official river, I have never been in one or seen one until now. This got me thinking about how easily I brush off nature as a constant that is tiresome and undesirable, yet how simply I take Ohio’s geography and landscapes for granted. All things considered, my entire life has taken place within an hour of a National Park, yet I have never been to one. While living in Berea, I have access to a beautiful Lake-to-Lake bike trail and slightly hidden spots such as the one I am standing in currently. But, somehow that isn’t good enough for me; somehow I shirk off any notion of gaining enlightenment, intelligence or insight from experiencing nature. This was the first of my nature-induced revelation, when I could identify my bias and hold it back just as one would hold back a thorny plant on a trail in the woods so that they don’t scrape their legs. ​I suppose the absolute truth is that it was difficult for me to label my revelation as a revelation because I didn’t suddenly become a Dillard-esque philosopher or a quotable Terry Tempest Williams. I didn’t feel like I had anything to take away because I thought I had to surrender myself to nature and vow to come visit more often, not just on the holidays and when assignments are due. I digress, yet suffice it to say that nature did not fuel my inner wilderness and/or wildness, which is a buzzkill because I secretly hoped to feel like a savage sloshing around in the shallow bits of the river. Without deviating more, my realization came to me as the basic thought, ‘Nature just means openness.’ From the very beginning of the assignment I was rushing through my note taking, hurrying so that I could fall into the trance-like state that nature writers fall into while describing their favorite places and what nature means to them. I flew past all of the awkward silences I shared with nature, yet I yearned for nature to give me some answers to help write this short essay. What would Rilke say to me? After scolding me for my closed mind, he would remind me that nature’s questions are what move humans, not the answers to the questions. This piece of advice is where I find myself wanting to visit most because it is both the lock and key and nature seems to me to be the kind of room you could never fully empty out.

[ultraheydudemestuff]

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

4120 Euclid Ave.

Cleveland, Ohio

The former St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a historic church located at 4120 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, built in 1876 in Cleveland, Ohio, for an Episcopal parish by a well-known architect and became a prominent component of the city's wealthy Millionaire's Row, due to its grand architecture. St. Paul's Episcopal Church was founded in late 1846, and for two years the parishioners worshipped in a hotel before constructing a building at Fourth and Euclid downtown. A fire destroyed the structure before it was completed, but people throughout the city contributed funds to build a brick replacement in 1851. By the 1870s, the streets surrounding the church had become primarily commercial, so the vestry sold the building and rented halls while building the present church eastward on Euclid Avenue. Its placement amid the wealthy Millionaire's Row district soon caused it to become a symbol of the neighborhood

St. Paul's church building is one of just six Gothic Revival churches built in Cleveland during the 1870s that survived into the 1980s. At one time considered Cleveland's grandest and largest church, it is distinguished by the unusual architecture of the peak of the bell tower, and the open interior features extensive detailing, along with seating for one thousand worshippers. Covered with sandstone from Berea, the building was a work of Gordon W. Lloyd, a Detroit architect who also produced grand churches in Ohio cities of various sizes, ranging from Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the smaller community of Medina.

However, the membership gradually moved farther eastward in the 1920s, and in 1928 a new building was constructed in Cleveland Heights. Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was seven years into the process of establishing a monastery for perpetual Eucharistic adoration by the Poor Clares. Two years after the Episcopalians had moved eastward, they sought to sell the old building, and the Catholic diocese bought it for monastic use. A new Catholic parish, dedicated to St. Paul like the original occupants, was established in 1949 to worship on the property; it remains to the present day. It was named a historic site and listed with the National Register of Historic Places on November 25, 1980, qualifying because of its historically significant architecture. It is one of thirteen Lloyd-designed buildings, including ten churches, that are listed on the National Register.

[ultraheydudemestuff]

Old Stone Church (First Presbyterian Church)

91 Public Sq.

Cleveland, OH

The Old Stone Church is a historic Presbyterian church located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, and is the oldest building on Public Square. It is also the second church built within the city limits. In June 1819, the Union Sunday School began meeting on the site of the current church, and on September 19, 1820, fifteen Clevelanders, some ten percent of the then-village's population, signed a charter officially establishing the congregation. It was formally incorporated in 1827 as The First Presbyterian Society, and in 1834 the first church was built out of gray sandstone. The interior featured a gallery suspended by iron rods, reportedly a first in a Cleveland public building, as well as the city's first pipe organ. Because of its building materials, First Presbyterian was called "the Stone Church," and as other stone churches were erected in the area, it became known as the "Old Stone Church."

By 1853, the congregation had outgrown the original building, so the church was razed, and a larger replacement was built on the same spot. The Romanesque Revival church, dedicated on August 12, 1855, was also made of local sandstone, and was designed by architects Charles Heard and Simeon Porter. Nineteen months later, on March 7, 1857, fire struck the church. Water from the hand-pumped fire engines was unable to reach the 250-foot steeple, which came crashing down onto Ontario Street. Despite this, the building remained mostly intact, and reconstruction began almost immediately. The church was rededicated on January 17, 1858.

The second fire occurred on January 5, 1884, spreading to the church from the adjoining Wick Building's Park Theater. Despite the sturdy construction of the building, the interior was gutted. Afterward, the congregation considered a move to E. 55th Street and Euclid Avenue, but it was eventually decided to keep the original location, after pressure from influential members including John Hay. Architect Charles Schweinfurth was hired to head the reconstruction of the church, which was dedicated on October 19, 1884. Subsequent additions to the church include three Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows, a John La Farge triple window overlooking Public Square, and a Holtkamp Organ Company organ.

The Old Stone Church has stood virtually unchanged to this day, and is the last remaining church designed by the Heard and Porter architectural firm. The Old Stone Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1973. The only major modification was the 1999 addition of a steeple that replicated the original, part of a $2.4 million renovation project, which also included cleaning the Berea sandstone (which had turned black from air pollution) and conservation of the La Farge window.