Today I had enough of being held hostage by the heat -- still too hot for most outdoor activity, but not for an afternoon behind the wheel of an air-conditioned car. Sunday drive ... a likely cure for summer cabin fever.
I head south on Ohio 13 and drive through Perry County to the route’s terminus just north of Athens. The landscape changes quickly and once past New Lexington, rolling farmland gives way to wooded hills. The curves in the road become sharper and the cuts in the sides of the hills, steeper and rocky. I drive on and ask myself questions that I’m not likely to answer. “What goods line the shelves of the Moxie Mini Mart?” “For whom or what is Tatman road named?” “Who is the mayor of Duffyville?”
The road winds through the northern edge of Appalachia and as I make my way south, I cross both the Norfolk and Southern Railway and the Sunday Creek countless times. The railway still moves coal from the Buckingham Mining Company near Glouster and the Sunday Creek flows south from Corning to Chauncey before emptying into the Hocking River. The creek is part of a watershed restoration project that spans three counties. Coal is the common denominator here and while the rise of this industry contributed to economic boom, the environmental effects and the subsequent decline in the industry have left scars. The towns along my route show the signs of suffering -- mostly deserted but still managing to support churches and taverns.
The Sunday Creek Watershed Group, headquartered in Glouster, is a non-profit organization working to restore and reclaim the creek, watershed and surrounding communities. For more information: http://www.sundaycreek.org/about/index.html
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