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It's a beautiful sunny day in the late
1700's. The sky is a clear medium blue. There are all different sizes of white
marshmallow-looking clouds scattered about, with no hints of gray among the white.
There are no storms in sight on this particular day. The wind is stirring the leaves
on the trees and green brush ever so slightly.
Suddenly there is a distant roar that becomes louder and louder. Birds nestled in
the trees burst forth in flight, and small little creatures scamper into the thicket.
The roar is extremely loud now, and a cloud of dust can be seen in the far off
distance. The roar is finally discernible. It's the pounding of hooves.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Oh give me a home, where
the buffalo roam…" Did you know that Ohio was once home to hundreds
of buffalo? Ohio's first state road was The Old Port Washington Road, designated as
such on February 6, 1832. This road was one of three popular trails the buffalo
followed before Indians and American settlers entered the area. They chose this path
in search of food and fresh water, avoiding the hills and staying on the flatter outskirts
of the forests and valleys. Many parts of the trail are now covered with grass and
modern-day highways, but part of the Great Trail followed Route 39 from Mansfield to
Millersburg and on towards Baltic and Port Washington, Ohio, near the shores of the
Tuscarawas River.
It is part of this road, Route 39, that also leads us into the community of Dover, Ohio.
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