Some sites in west central Ohio

Yesterday was our day to visit some highly recommended sites in the Celina area.
First we went to The Maria Stein Center and learned that this very German Catholic community was established during the early 1800's. There is a shrine out in the front of the center where you can pray. It contains a large statue of the Sacred Heat of Jesus.

There are many small farming towns in the area with a cross topped ornate church in almost every town. We went to church last Sunday at Immaculate Conception in Celina. We almost missed it because it was so tall and ornate that we thought it was a cathedral.
There are hundreds of relics from the saints in a room dedicated to that collection.
There is also a museum on the second floor that gives a good history of the catholic church, especially in this area of the world.

Next we drove over to Fort Recovery. This was the site of two battles between the native Indians and the soldiers of the fledgling US. The battles were fought in the late 1700's. One was lost by the US Army due to poor training even though both sides were equally matched in numbers. The second battle was won by the army due to good training and the odds were strongly in the favor of the Indians (1200 to 330) but Fort Recovery was built and easily defended.


We drove home through some beautiful farm country. The weather is extraordinarily hot and dry and the farmers fields are hurting. The crops are stunted due to lack of moisture. But it was so wet a few weeks ago that the winter wheat is still in the fields.

We head out to Howe, IN this morning. Sadly, Ted and Donna are driving to the Cleveland area for the funeral tomorrow. They will meet us on Sunday. We will continue our trip west with hopefully no more mishaps.


Ta ta for now.