Peebles to Sinking Spring; Distance = 16 Miles; People Met = 10
This day featured the Serpent Mound, the largest Native American built mound in the country at 1300 feet. The head of the serpent aligns with the winter solstice and the curves in the mound correspond to different points of the lunar calendar. We stayed with some Friends of the Serpent Mound, Jim and Bev McKenzie, two nights previous and Jim came out to see us and wish us good travels one more time.
Serpent Mound
We also met Byron Guy there. Byron is the supervisor for the Old Man’s Cave section of the Buckeye Trail. He came down to meet us before we got to his section just to help prepare us ahead of time. He informed us of something I did not know, we can camp at any small church or cemetery along the Buckeye Trail. He also provided pertinent contact information and warned us of the trail conditions in the state parks, something we’ve already witnessed.
Byron Guy
As we continued on to Sinking Spring an older man hailed us from the doorstep of a large, elegant farmhouse: “Hooray! Another man with short britches and a long beard!” He introduced himself as Steve Wolfe and mentioned his mom Mary was celebrating her 92nd birthday. We volunteered to come in and sing her Happy Birthday, in the process meeting Mary’s nephews and nieces, John and Elaine, Ron and Shirley as well.
John, Elaine, Shirley, Ron and Steve
Mary is a delightful elderly woman and I could have kicked myself afterwards for not getting my digital recorder out and recording her a bit for posterity. We were given seats near Mary while the rest of the family looked on. They were tickled to have two people hiking thousands of miles in their living room. Ron took videos of us and we were served delicious pumpkin pie.
Cindy, birtday girl Mary, Kirk
In the evening we stayed at the home of Dwight and Betty Crum (and Betty’s mother Frieda). Betty was our initial contact for Sinking Spring, paving the way for us to stay at the vibrant United Methodist Community Church on the evening previous. In testimony to how news travels in small towns, the Crums knew about our visit to Mary Wolfe, down to the detail of pumpkin pie, before we even arrived. Dwight also knew Byron Guy, in fact having worked with him on trails before.
Betty, Ron and Frieda
We continued to stay with Dwight and Betty for a rest day. That was not the original plan, but the second day out of three for tornado watches in the area led us to a new Plan B. In the morning Cindy and I went for a walk with Dwight to explore the area near Fort Hill before the storms became severe. This was good for us as we plan to stay on roads for the next couple days to regain some time and to avoid what are likely to be atrocious early spring trail conditions after two days of severe storms.
Both Dwight and Betty are easy-going folks prone to a good laugh and some good-natured ribbing. When we are not enjoying their company we are resting in the garage apartment and/or catching up on some of the Internet/computer work that needs to be done.
Other Photo
Irony
Hi: I met your support person yesterday and enjoyed having dinner last night with her. She fixed me a healthy stack of pancakes for breakfast and I gave her a short tour of our historic town on the Ohio/Erie canal. I considered offering to take her to serpent mound but decided it was farther than she’d want to drive… so glad you two got a chance to see it. I’ll be following your progress… I see you will end up at Cape Henlopen which is about 30 miles from where I once lived. Good luck to you!
Greetings Diane,
Ky told us about you taking her out to dinner. Thanks for your hospitality!
Kirk
hi everybody in the mary wolf family’ writing from arcadia mich: michael grajcar! you may notremember me but I lived in sinking spring from 1960-63 Steve, Mary, Steve jr, Nancy Joey were good friends of mine. It began with me helping steve wire his house and hang his doors. I was quite a carpentar in the old days. Steve responded by inviting us to many a steak dinner and to ride horses with him, especially when Hazen Warner (Bishop) was there. We were also invited to Dayton. Steve was largely responsible for starting,along with Hazen Warner, Methodist Theological School in,, ,Ohio. I graduated there,’63, steve anonomously paying much of my tuition. There is much more to this story, and I would like to continue. Hope to see you again God Bless
you.. piease call or write.Hello to Mary and the kids.
note to mary, who remember was quite a soloist back in the day with a beautiful voice. You will be suprised to hear that I’ve taken up singing solos in my old age . It seems I have a two octave, reasonous voice, which I have discovered while singing in other venues. I even have a coach at the Interlochen school for the arts! More–
steve,
Hi Steve. I’m approving your comments, but this site is not what you think it is. We passed through Sinking Springs while on a 5,000 mile walk across the country. I reported on that stop. While Sinking Spring folks undoubtedly read the post and would have seen any comments made back then, I’m afraid that nobody besides me, a person from Connecticut, is likely to be reading your two comments now. My best wishes to you, though, in reconnecting to your roots.
Kirk Sinclair
Norfolk, CT
dear mary I,ve been invited to visit with some old friends in Hillsboro this summer and hope to make it. I would love to stop and visit you when in the area. It looks like steve Jr is there along with others. drop me a note if you are available. You look great in the picture,Mary. I would not have recognized steve jr though . They along with all mychildren(I have4 boys) have grown up and changed. I retired in 1991 and live here on a small farm similar to yours. This is the longest I,ve lived anywhere. I had Rick & Dave when we moved there. Mark was born there in 1962 and my last was born in 1969. All are well, and happy, for which I am grateful. Joann died and ‘ve remarried. See you_____
Add to above .. we thought so much of steve and mary that we named our 3rd son after steve!