Cambridge Cowboy Pays Homage to Gunslingers

by Brittany Picklesimer

Boasting one of the largest collections of cowboy memorabilia in the Eastern United States with 15,000 pieces, Howard Cherry’s favorite pieces of his impressive collection remain the clothes on his back.

Howard owns—and sometimes wears—10 sets of American singer and cowboy actor Roy Rogers’ personal clothing. Howard acquired them through a personal mutual friend, who entrusted them to him after Roy’s death.

Roy Rogers, however, was also responsible for Howard’s initial interest in collecting cowboy memorabilia. Howard and Roy became friends after Roy visited the Hopalong Cassidy Museum in Cambridge, Ohio. Posing for a photograph with Roy, Howard introduced his wife to Roy as “your biggest fan from Ohio.”

“It just developed from there,” says Howard. “My wife and I had the same idol [Roy Rogers] and we didn’t even know it!”

That was 1989. Eight years later, in 1997, Howard retired and opened his shop, 10^th Street Antique Mall, which now also houses the Hopalong Cassidy Museum. Through the years, Howard has met hundreds of cowboy stars via various festivals, including the annual Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers festivals in Cambridge. Dealers, collectors and cowboy stars alike convene at the festivals to buy, sell, meet and greet. The festivals are a profitable avenue for the cowboy stars—and their descendants. Howard estimates that Roy Rogers’s granddaughter earned $2,000 through two afternoons of selling autographed photographs of her grandfather.

The most unique piece of Howard’s collection, however, is worth much more than that. A signed movie poster of Roy Rogers’s first film, Under Western Stars, is worth $16,000. Other pieces of Howard’s collection are worth as much as $25,000. Is it hard, then, for him to let go of such rare and valuable pieces of memorabilia?

No.

Howard has learned to keep pieces in his possession for a period of time before putting them up for sale. Then, once it comes time to sell them, it is no longer hard to sell them because he feels that he has already owned them. After all, he has to make a living.

Then again, as long as he’s got the clothes on his back, a gift from a dear personal friend, he’ll always be a very rich man indeed.

Motorcycle Hall of Fame

by Erica Blocher

I step onto the motorcycle, and slide onto the shiny leather seat. I pull on the heavy brown jacket and position my fingers on the handles, ready to hear the verve of the engine and humming vibrations as the motorcycle roars to life. Vroom….vroom…

Alas, I am not really preparing to ride a motorcycle, but perusing the Motorcycle Hall of Fame certainly put this picture into my mind. The Motorcycle Hall of Fame is truly a motorcycle owner and enthusiast’s Mecca, boasting over 100 motorcycles of various kinds and decades; I would know because I personally counted them as I wandered through. The museum is located near a residential neighborhood in Pickerington, Ohio, (Fairfield county).

There are vintage, specialty, and motocross bikes housed in the museum. Visitors are not allowed to touch the bikes but are allowed to take pictures. As a photography enthusiast, I took the liberty of taking pictures of various motorcycles; including Keith Urban’s blue and white 2007 Vengence.

This first floor has the “MotoStars: Celebrities and Motorcycles” collection that has over 50 motorcycles from famous people and celebrities, as well as notable movie props and memorabilia. For instance, there was the Scrambler 900 motorcycle that Tom Cruise rode in the movie MI-3, and a motorcycle sporting a Journey theme that was custom made for band member Neil Schon.

This floor also has unique memorabilia in glass cases, including famous celebrities’ mementos from movies featuring motorcycles such as The Fast and Furious, Torque and other big-name Hollywood hits. A quaint gift/memorabilia shop that sports t-shirts and other motorcycle themed products is also located on the first floor.

I ambled down to the second floor and found myself amid the Motorcycle Hall of Fame feature collection; “Awesome-ness”, which was a compilation of handcrafted motorcycles made by the famed motorcycle builder and activist Arlen Ness, who was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1992. The collection chronicles his life, when he built his first motorcycle back in the 1960s to modern times. His more popular builds are showcased, including the “Top Banana,” “Smooth-Ness”, “Jet Bike” and his 1957 Chevy inspired bike called the “Ness-Staglia.” Other famous Hall of Famers include Peter Fonda, Steve McQueen and Jay Leno.

The rest of the second floor had a “garage” type of setting and is dedicated to popular motorcycle makers such Harley-Davidson. This section also had an impressive tribute to dirt bikes. The collection highlighted a display with a variety of bikes over multiple decades and recorded the history and evolution of dirt bikes that originated during the early 20^th century. I learned that not only did the bike first emerge at this time, but the idea of racing also began simultaneously. Pictures of young men in newsboy hats and 1920s clothing atop old dirt bikes were fascinating. I liked that little history lessons on prominent motorcycle figures/ activists and racing background were included in the museum.

My favorite reward for visiting the museum was the photo op. The museum lets visitors hop onto a mounted bike and get their photograph taken, wearing a leather jacket and glasses. The bike is the same one that actor Will Smith rode in the movie I-Robot.

Aside from feeling badass for about 5 minutes of my very straight-laced life, I couldn’t believe that shiny leather seat was the same exact one that held Will Smith’s shapely derriere at one point. Talk about motorcycle bliss.!

Free to See: A Selection of Sites in Adams County

BY Melanie Barnes

While driving on the Appalachian Highway, toward the Ohio-Kentucky border, you may find yourself passing through Adams County. Resting 45 miles east of Cincinnati and 90 miles south of Columbus, Adams County offers attractions that could enhance your travel experience, or provide some afternoon entertainment. Here is a sampling of the site’s Adam county has to offer.

Clothesline of Quilts

Along the road, there is a patchwork of barns adorned with quilt square murals. The murals, known as the Clothesline of Quilts, were originally created by Donna Sue Groves in 2001 and dedicated to her mother. The murals multiplied and today there are 21 quilt squares across Adams County.





Serpent Mound

Spanning 1,370 feet and standing three feet high is the largest effigy in the world: Serpent Mound. The Serpent Mound is recognized for is its association with the summer and winter solstice. The head of the serpent is aligned to the sunset of the summer solstice, and the coils of the tail align with the winter sunset. Visitors are encouraged to walk the footpath along the serpent and visit the museum created by the Ohio Historical Society.



William Lafferty Memorial Funeral and Carriage Collection



Of course, every area has its quirky treasures, and Adams County is no exception. The William Lafferty Memorial Funeral and Carriage Collection is a museum of mortuary items housed in Ohio's longest-running funeral home. The funeral home has been in business since 1848, and today’s collection features items from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the museum visitors can see horse-drawn and motorized hearses, caskets through the ages and tools of the mortuary trade. Many of the items were used for the Lafferty’s funeral home business.

Then and Now: Shawnee, a Preserved "Black Diamond"

BY: Danielle Nowicki
MULTIMEDIA BY: Robert Bundy

Shawnee, nestled precariously beside a hill in southern Perry County, is barely visible from state Route 93. A product of the Industrial Revolution’s coal mining boom and decline, it rests preserved in its original state. It’s a residential museum where, if only the walls could talk, visitors can hear the stories of struggling migrants and coal mining moguls. It was a town built on the hope and the promising future of “black diamonds.”Now it is a town struggling to survive and tell its story to the passerby. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Hocking Valley was booming with migrants looking for work in coal mines. The Industrial Revolution was in full-swing and coal was in demand. Shawnee was among the dozens of mining towns to spring up in this time period. Unlike most coal boom towns of the period, Shawnee has remained a well-preserved semi-ghost town.

Laid out and plated in Salt Lick Township by T.J. Davis of Newark in 1872. With only 156 lots and less than 1,500 people at its beginning, Shawnee’s population grew to nearly 3,000 in the early 1900s.

Three railroads ran through Shawnee: Newark, Somerset and New Straitsville line, later named the B&O Railroad. (Yes, the same from Monopoly.) Four brick plants were erected due to the abundance of clay in the region, in addition to the coal. However, like many small industrial towns, the area was eventually depleted of its resources, and its economic stability was wiped out. With the work gone, so went the labor force. Shawnee has since been in a state of purgatory; unable to regain momentum yet refusing to turn to dust. The town now has 608 residents, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

The Shawnee branch of the Perry County Public Library is located on the first floor of one of the town’s original opera houses. The building was in bad shape but has been saved due to the efforts of the community.

Main Street, which was placed on the National Historic Register in 1976, is characterized by its numerous awnings and balconies that line the road. Another historic opera house is still there. Built in 1881 as a meeting hall for the Knights of Labor Union, later the Knights of Pythias Hall, it is also one of the tallest buildings in Perry County.

A Shawnee Coal Mine Museum was recently opened by Jack Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth is willing to demonstrate and explain mining techniques and discuss the region’s history.

Another component essential to the preservation of historic Shawnee is the Hannah family. The Hannah Brothers Furniture and Appliance Store opened in 1928. As properties surrounding the store on East Main Street became vacant. The Hannahs bought them to expand their store. Because of their continued interest in Shawnee, the family has saved numerous buildings.

Other signs of life are apparent in the post office, restaurant and bar that continue to operate in town. With the help of people like Geoff Schenkel, who worked with kids in the community to paint a mural, and the“Little Cities of Black Diamonds”, who work to promote the history of the region and revitalize the towns, Shawnee is sure to stay on the map.

USS Shenandoah: The Premature End of an Aircraft

BY Jessica Meadows

Nestled in the corner of Noble County, among the trees and narrow winding roads, sits a historical crash site and museum for aircraft USS Shenandoah.

The Shenandoah’s history thickens the air. It’s as if the ruins are resting beneath the snow in the mangled mass of aluminum that ended the lives of 14 men.

The Shenandoah was the first of several ships of its kind that took the United States Navy to new heights. The 680-foot aircraft was used as a scouting vessel for the submarines and ships that traveled the ocean following World War I.

The Shenandoah crashed on the stormy morning Sept. 3, 1925. The Shenandoah descended from the heavens in three parts. One section landed on property that would eventually be owned by husband and wife, Bryan and Theresa Rayner. When the crash occurred, Bryan’s grandfather owned the land. He and other men helped rescue survivors.

The huge helium tanks that inflated the ship were both responsible for the breakup of the wreckage and for the saved lives of all but 14 crew members. Although the storm ultimately destroyed the ship, the helium allowed parts of the ship to stay in the air. Many of the survivors were located in these parts of the Shenandoah that remained afloat, brought only to the ground by groups of men, including Bryan’s grandfather, who tied it down.

The historical evidence is housed in a mobile-home museum, which is maintained by Bryan and Theresa Rayner.

The museum displays include: photographs of the hundreds of people in their Model T’s who traveled to the crash site to see the wreckage, time lines of the ship’s life and death, a National Geographic form 1923 with a detailed tour of the Shenandoah and many other trinkets from the 1900s.

The Rayners volunteer their time in the community to teach children and others about the Shenandoah and its importance.