Bravo To The Delaware, Ohio Sheriff's Department!

                                            I am so thankful that The Delaware Sheriff's Department busted seven men on a sex-sting at Alum Creek Beach (Park).  It wasn't a surprise that this was going to happen.  For years families have been declining to go to the beach at Alum Creek because of loose behavior.  That is why I had been going to Delaware  Beach off of 23.   Alum Creek is closer to me but it isn't family friendly anymore.  It used to be a beautiful and fun place to go for local residence in the early days of its existence .  Its a real shame to because its such a nice place.  Someone always has to ruin it, I guess.  Alum Creek Beach needs to return to her early days when families can come and enjoy a summer day at the beach, or go fishing without someone making a rude disgusting gesture or dress.
                                            Alum creek needs to clean up.  My dad told me that when he was on patrol in the summer, in the sixties, they had to run people out of  public places, mainly state parks and beaches around Delaware, Ohio.   One was even closed because of this stuff, the other, he said has more or less gotten worse.   I only hope Alum Creek don't end up like that.     
                                           Thank You To The Delaware, Ohio Sheriff's Department, please keep it up!

I Will Always Remember

Memories Of Old Alum Creek

          We went walking on the Alum Creek Dam just before this terrible flu attacked. My daughter took a picture of Old Africa Road to show her grandma.   I have very few memories of what it looked like before the dam was put in.  What I remember was how many farms dotted the little Alum Creek valley and alum creek was just a small creek that snaked along inside of it.  Old iron bridges dotted the landscape over the water marking the many roads that trekked to one side to the other side.   Just a lovely little community living a life of simplicity.  My ancestors were buried in a tiny grave yard just off of Old Africa road.  Two orchards The Buckingham and Smith operated across Africa road from one another.  The smith being the oldest.  Many times my parents bought apples and apple cider from them.   Old South Berlin Church set as well on Africa road, just down the way.   Old Africa Road was a hilly thing.
          My parents, aunts and uncles all had married in this grand red brick church.  My grandpa Havens had made 16 mm films of the church weddings, once as an addition was put on to the back of the church .
          Just before the dam took away all those wonderful ways of life from us in 1973, a service was held at South Berlin Church before it was marked to be torn down.  As I recall it was a warm sunny day and inside the church it was crowded and hot.  Crowded to show how many people loved and raised a family while worshiping there.   Now the remains of the church sits underwater, with only the windows to ever prove its existence, being placed in the 1973 Berlin Church on Old State road.
          Some of the old apple trees probably remain, but no one can get to them and the cemetery was moved and placed behind The Berlin Township House, newly built in the same year.  In 2009 more caskets and vaults surfaced from Alum Creek of what wasn't recovered in the first move of the cemetery.  I can remember, this happening several times over the years following the dam.
          Old Cheshire Road bridge, I remember was a rot iron thing that you drove up hill to cross to get to Cheshire Market, at the time closest for my parents to grocery shop.  Many times the creek flooded washing over the road.  My dad took all of us around the valley area before it was flooded to make the dam.  Old State Road became Lackey Old State.  Boats ramps were made from remnants of old roads.
          Even today parts of those old roads can be seen driving around the area, sad in so many ways to me.  I'd admit I had fun enjoying the dam after it was put in.  Fishing with my brother and sisters on grandpa's Starcraft boat.  Many wonderful memories are of those days with grandpa and then swimming at the beach that was finally put in , in the early eighties.
         I can share some of those memories with my kids now..its nice to relate to them all the old stories and how it was back when I was a little girl.   I am not sure if it is a sad memory or not, but it does kinda seem down-trodden .  So much of it was history and now is history.

36/37 bridge over Alum Creek

Rte 521 over Alum Creek

Alum Creek Dam being constructed 

One of several roads that remain 

Where most of the caskets and vaults were found washed up. Old Africa Road would have been in this area as well.

Cheshire Market, just over the bridge

One of many vaults that washed up at Alum Creek

The Delaware County Historical Society

       Oh yes, you know you are from Delaware, Ohio when you go to the Delaware County Historical Society!
I wanted to use that for the Delaware web page but someone beat me to it, instead I wrote, You know you are from Delaware, Ohio when..you remember when Alum Creek was a creek.  Boy did that set something off, many people from Delaware shared what the remembered about Alum Creek before the dam took the Alum Creek Valley, even my daughter was amazed by it and a classmate told me, that was a good one.  I guess I did pretty good on that.
        During the kids spring break, I followed my dad's advice and took the kids to the Delaware County Historical Society and went through The Nash Museum.  The kids and I really enjoyed it.  I remembered The Nash House before it was donated to the society.  To me, it looked like so many houses did in the city of Delaware.  The area in which it stands had changed so much since I was a little girl.  Auto Zone and VFW both changed alot.  Auto zone from my earliest recollection was A&P grocery store, it was numerous grocery stores to follow it.  But the Nash house carried items that belonged to Delaware residents or made in Delaware.
        The weirdest part of the tour was all the funerals held in the what they called "Music Room" after they died there...that is creepy.  Although it wasn't surprising to me because my grandparents house had a similar morbid history.  In fact they do have " Haunted Delaware Tours" in the city.
       Winter Street is the most historical part of Delaware formally called  ''North Street'"
Sandusky Street, when Moses Byxbe, founder of the town of Delaware, and Azariah Root, Surveyor, laid out the village in 1808, their intent was that William Street would be the main business thoroughfare.  The settlers, however, preferred a north-south orientation and began setting up shops along Sandusky Street.  What always fascinated me were the pictures of the 1913 Olentangy River Flood , which were mainly taken of Sandusky Street.  Of course though The Delaware Dam wasn't built until the 1950's.  If you go swimming at The Delaware Park(Beach), you can still see parts of an old farm in the distance.  For me, Alum Creek holds the clearest memories before the valley with its rich farmland, old family farms were destroyed to make a water source for Columbus.  Delaware paid a heavy toll for that, some ways, one might argue that it has made up its cost for the recreation it provides as well.  Campground, beach, I remember didn't open until the eighties, that I recall because we kids went there.  So new and fresh. Not so anymore. Dog Park, boat ramps and shelter houses are all nice but when I look at it, I always see the past, it sometimes saddens me.
     The area around Alum Creek for instance "Old State Road" was changed to Lackey Old State after the Lackey family and after the dam was built.  You can still see parts of this road, running along side of it.  As you go through the four way stop past the camp ground, you come to the bridge that corners around, part of the old, Old State goes into the water.  It is a boat ramp.  I know too sentimental I guess but it was part of my childhood.
     Delaware, Ohio is indeed full of history, so if ever get a chance take a look at the Delaware, County Historical Society.
   

Going North On Sandusky Street, Delaware, Ohio