Monday, 7/18/11 - We decided today we would go and find out something about the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur after all, Dayton, OH is the beginning of aviation. There were so many places around here about the Wright Bros we couldn't decide but then settled on Carillon Park www.carillonpark.org as they have on display the original 1905 Wright Flyer III. Boy, did we pick the right place!
It was about 40 miles from where we are currently staying but so worth the trip. It was set up as a complete historical park village of Dayton, Ohio showing buildings that were actually moved here from their original locations. All the items and companies on display were important to the early development of Dayton.
The village is set up in sort of a "horseshoe shape" and you go in and out of the buildings and displays. Some of the buildings were: Print Shop - 1930 era working printing office; Dayton Sales - an auto sales building actually displaying old cars of that era; Sun Oil Station - located in Dayton and the pumps and garage were moved here; Newcom Tavern - An actual 1796 tavern located in Dayton but spared being torn down and moved to the village. Our 2nd personal favorite was the Transportation Center -all located in a round building showing a City Railway Car, B & O Caboose and many more old means of transportation. We were the only ones in there at the time and had our very own personal guide showing & explaining everything. There were at least 25 buildings in this "horseshoe village" and we just wandered in and out of them. Because of the incredible heat and humidity we literally had the place to ourselves and it was incredibly fascinating.
Of course our favorite was the Wright Bros Aviation Center which told the story of the Wright Bros which all started with the Wright Cycle Shop, a bicycle shop which they became very successful with. The bicycle shop actually funded their early airplane experiments. We watched a 15 minute movie that was very interesting story of the brothers, who never married, and came from a family that consisted of 4 boys and 1 girl. Because the Wright Bros were fanatical in documentation they have so much information regarding those early years. After viewing the movie we then entered the building where the 1905 Wright Flyer III is housed. We were told the first one is in the Smithsonian Institute, the second one crashed and this is the third one, housed here. We had a wonderful docent who was extremely knowledgeable and told us so much about the plane and the Wright Bros. It truly was a fun day, in spite of the weather, and we were so glad we picked "the right one."
As the Wright Bros Aviation Center is the last building in the park, we had lunch before leaving in their restaurant called Culp's Cafe, reminiscent of Culp's Cafeteria that was located in downtown Dayton in 1930 and 1940's. The waitresses even wore uniforms of that era. It was a wonderful day and actually our first sightseeing adventure since we have been in Dayton. After leaving the park we let the girlfriend GPS take us home where we collapsed in the RV with the air conditioning cranked. Our opinion of this weather............THEY CAN HAVE IT!!!! Much love to our family and friends.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment