Autumn in Ohio

 

 

 We have been out and about driving the Ohio countryside every week looking for autumn color. Some of the brightest was just around the corner at a local park. Bright and beautiful.




Englewood Reserve.

Hiking through Englewood reserve hearing the crunching of autumn leaves beneath our feet. The wind blowing leaves into colorful banks. It brought back memories of jumping in piles of leaves when I was kid. Osage oranges, the size of softballs hang heavy in the trees and once in a while you hear one drop and hit the ground with a thud. Their bright green contrasts against the earth.

Osage Oranges amidst the leaves.

The woods in the fall are quiet and peaceful. Squirrels are busy racing up and down the tree trunks and across the canopy above. Yellow glows bright under an overcast sky.

Englewood Reserve.

Out in the country we came across this old rusty windmill set against a backdrop of a farm at the end of a dirt road. It was the perfect still life, a moment that could belong to the distant past or the present.

Windmill old farm.

Horses grazed peacefully in a meadow framed by the burgundy and bright green leaves of  vines upon a fence. When they heard out voices they came for a visit.

Corn and soybeans are left in the fields to dry and I loved the movement of the corn in this field. Bent by the wind, the sound of rustling in the dried fronds. Waves of corn undulating in the breeze.

Drying corn.

                                            
                                                Glorious color, stately, a wow moment.

Local park.

Farmland on layers of color; in the foreground drying soybeans, beyond a corn field that has been harvested, a bright red barn set against the changing colors of the woods and a blue sky. Lovely.

Layers; soybeans, harvested corn, tree line.

Back road somewhere.

As they say the journey is what it is all about. We never really have a destination when we head out. You never know what you may find, like this natural tunnel of trees on some back road to the north.
The road beckons and leads us to all sorts of beautiful and interesting places. Explore your world, even if it is just down the road a piece...

Allen's Mill Bridge Eldean, Ohio

Eldean Covered Bridge. Ohio

 

We came across this bridge in Eldean, Ohio, quite by accident and it was a lovely surprise. It is now called the Eldean covered bridge but was known earlier as the Allen's Mill bridge ( a local mill) and was built in 1860. The original plans for the bridge were patented in 1830 by a Col. Stephen Long of the U.S. Army engineers.





Historical Marker.

We drove over the bridge and it is quite interesting to feel the boards rattling beneath the tires.






The bridge was built in 1860.

The Eldean is the longest Col. Stephen Long bridge still in existence at 224 feet and the second longest in the state of Ohio, Miami county. It is a beautiful example of the first scientifically built bridge using a truss system for added strength. Originally it cost over $4,000.00 to construct.




A walk through.
 

I couldn't resist going inside and taking a picture of the Great Miami River from one of the windows.




 

 

 

Eldean Bridge over the Great Miami.

 

The bridge was fully restored in 2005/2006 and no doubt is as important historically as it is beautiful.