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Things to do on the way to Hershey


Jay Wolf

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It's timed to start thinking about things to stop and see on our road trip to Hershey in Oct. After 25 years and our aging bones we need some stops along the way.

We head out on Monday.

Four of us meet up at the Indy airport and climb in to Dave's old Roadmaster and head East on I70. Any suggestions are welcome. Within 50 or so miles of our route.

Someone told me about:

Ed Brown's shop

Does anyone know how to contact them so I can see about a tour?

Any pubic or private collections of interest that would let us stop for an hour or two.

We would prefer not in Indy as we aren’t tired of riding yet.

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There is a Model T museum in Richmond IN that has been in the midst of moving but should be open by then, try a Google for the latest.

In Dayton OH is the Packard Museum downtown in an old dealership, see photos. The Air Force Museum in Dayton is an outstanding attraction (and FREE) but better allow several hours, consider a reservation to see the retired Air Force One hanger. National Museum of the USAF - Home

In nearby Springfield OH is the Westcott House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie House from the teens, and Westcott was the manufacturer of an assembled car at the time Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott House

If you wanted to detour north to Cleveland you could see the Crawford Museum, one of the best old collections Exploring History in Northeast Ohio: Western Reserve Historical Society . Enjoy the trip, wish I were going along :) Todd C

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]There is a Model T museum in Richmond IN

Is this the one beside the candle shop?

In Dayton OH is the Packard Museum downtown

Closed on Monday but we met a member there one year and he let us in, great place.

National Museum of the USAF

Done that one year

In nearby Springfield OH is the Westcott House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie House from the teens, and Westcott was the manufacturer of an assembled car at the time Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott House

Possible?

If you wanted to detour north to Cleveland

Pretty far north no good way to bet back south we went up to Youngstown Packard one year.

Thanks for the suggestions keep them coming.

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]There is a Model T museum in Richmond IN

Is this the one beside the candle shop?

In nearby Springfield OH is the Westcott House, a Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie House from the teens, and Westcott was the manufacturer of an assembled car at the time Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott House

Possible?

I think the Model T museum was right next to an I70 frontage road but is moving into town off the highway, I have not been there yet. They probably have antique stores and other small town attractions there too.

The Westcott house does not actually have a car there, it is more about Frank Lloyd Wright history, but it is an interesting stop you could knock out in an hour or a little more.

I expected you would be pretty familiar with major attractions in the area but mentioned these just in case. I still want to get to the Packard museum near Youngstown myself, I have just not made it there yet. Todd C

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Try Entertrainment Junction, a very large G Scale train layout of 2 miles of track.

It is on I-75 at exit 22 about 6 miles north of I-275.

EnterTRAINment Junction | Home of the World's Largest Indoor Train Display

You can back to I-70 by taking I-71 to Columbus.

Also, go east on I-270 to RT, then east to 32 to RT 35, to Charleston WV, take I-64 over to I-81 and North east to Harrisburg PA. This as an interesting trip with only the section from Charlestion to I-81 being hilly and it is all interstate. I have driven all the roads except I-81 north of I-64 to I-76 at Carlisle. This is the Shenandoah Valley and there will be abundance of things to see.

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Guest Steve_Heald
If you're heading out Monday, you really plan on seeing some places with 18 weeks to get there. ;)

Glad to see that marriage hasn't affected your sense of humor.:) Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Novaman!

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The Westcott house does not actually have a car there, it is more about Frank Lloyd Wright history, but it is an interesting stop you could knock out in an hour or a little more.

A visit here could be combined with a visit to F.L. Wright's Fallingwater ( Fallingwater | Home ), which is only about 20-25 minutes (~15 miles or so) off of the Donegal exit on the PA Turnpike. There are also some scenic rapids nearby along the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle State Park ( PADCNR-Ohiopyle State Park ).

Within 50 miles of the direct route puts all of the Pittsburgh area in range. There are MANY things to see and do there. Pittsburgh used to be a much larger city, and many of the amenities there (sports, arts, museums, parks, libraries, etc.) are typical of a much larger city.

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We had done a lot in Pittsburgh but always open for more suggestions.

Couple of times we have gone down to The Wholey Fish Market for lunch.

We toured (loose term) the Natrona Bottling Works one year.

Been to Luray on MC trip a few years ago.

We stopped at Mershon's Quality Classic & Collector Cars in Springfield, Ohio last year.

No the Roadmaster doe not have a Million miles on it last I checked it only had 325,000 miles.

Edited by Jay Wolf (see edit history)
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The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village are a plus to see. They are in Southfield, Michigan west of Detroit. The annual Old Car Festival is at the Greenfield Village either in September or maybe October. It's my all time favorite in that area. North of that in Auburn Hills, Michigan is the Walter P. Chrysler Corporation Museum just off of I-75......fabulous displays and cars.

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FYI

The Packard Museum in Warren is very good. I don't believe the Crawford Museum in Cleveland is open yet. The closed for 2 years for renovation and all the cars are in an enclosed heated warehouse in Medina, Oh (?) There was a controversy with funding from the late Mrs. Crawford but it was resolved before her passing a few years ago. With her newest donation they were able to sustain the collection and totally renovate the space. Among the collection are a few unique stainless steel prototype Ford autos I remember seeing.

In Canfield (outside of youngstown) is car museum of TP Tools. A great museum that's open on weekends and by appt. You always see TP tools at the cars shows and some of the cars highlighted in their catalog are on display.

It's a bit north of were you are traveling.....but didn't want you to plan on visiting Crawford and be out of luck.

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(Jay, you may wish to resize that last photo as it affects loading time and layout of the thread)

Tho not exactly hwat you asked for, on your return trip home or even better on a weekend getaway, try West Baden Springs Hotel near French Lick, Indiana. It's right in your area and if you haven't been since they restored the place... wow. I truly recommend it for anyone, not only in the region. It is truly a world-class hotel easily on par with places like the Hotel Bel Air, etc. http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/westbaden

I stayed there a few weeks after they reopened and while you can do a tour without staying, you should really get a room on the inner atrium side so you have balcony views all night long of that wonderful dome so perfectly lighted. While dining at their restaurant, we saw deer ambling in the woods just outside the window, reminded me of that Chevy Chase movie "Funny Farm", wondering if they had locals setting them loose just out of sight because it was so perfect and picturesque. The formal gardens and beautiful, the history of the place with it's former wooden race track is cool too. There's really not much to do in the town otherwise but you can golf or ride horses, visit the nearby French Lick hotel or gamble in the casino, but West Baden is where to stay and just relax. Indoor and outdoor pools, a lovely library, lay back and read in the atrium. As you can tell it really left an impression on me, and I recommend it to people even living out here in the West, it's just a special place and you are fortunate to have it so close by. Google it for more images and history, the website doesn't really tell the story well.

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Glad to see that marriage hasn't affected your sense of humor.:) Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Novaman!

Well. he did say he was leaving Monday..... Hershey's 18 weeks away.... What else was I suppose to think? :D:D

Thanks. It's going to take that sense of humor to stay married. Dang cat is now licking my elbow!! Trying to merge the two household into one is definitely interesting.

Best to laugh whenever you get a chance. (unless she just asked "do I look fat?") ;):D

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We got off the main roads coming home from Hershey around 1991, and noticed

that Fallingwater was a few miles away. As Dave Moon suggested, it's not far

off your route, and definitely worth a look; I took this shot before going on the

tour. Shortly afterwards, the home was closed for some time for much-needed

renovations that included bolstering up its floating, overhanging "wings."

fallingwater1x.jpg

Larger

It might not fit in with your interests, but it was one of the best diversions ever.

TG

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Guest Bill Miller

Jay,

My wife and I try to take back roads as much as possible especially when driving to Hershey since PA and WV are full of gorgeous scenery. Over the years we have been pleasantly surprised by a number of quite interesting sites along the way. If they are still open try spending the night or eating dinner at the Summit Inn at Chalk Hill, PA with a tremendous view of the valley below including, I believe, Union or Uniontown PA. The owner is a car guy. Good accommodations and good food. Nearby is not only Fallingwater but also another Wright house called Kentuck Knob. There are a few wineries in the area also. The PA Dutch country around Lancaster is a real treat for backroads entertainment. A few years ago we stumbled on a county fair near Intercourse (you just have to photograph the sign at the city limits) which was great fun. Strasburg PA has an outstanding railroad museum and a train excursion. Somebody already mentioned Luray Caverns in VA where you've been before, but if you go that way you need to stop in nearby Staunton, VA at the car museum downtown. They also have Woodrow Wilson's Pierce-Arrow at his birthplace nearby. In Luray, eat lunch and/or stay the night at the Mimslyn Inn. Also other people above have mentioned Richmond IN which is maybe 35 miles or so west of Dayton where they had the Model T Centennial a few years ago. The Wayne County Museum there is really worth a visit with several very unusual brass-era vehicles on display. Metamora, IN is a time capsule town right out of the 1890's. If you are driving through Cincinnati be sure to stop at the fire engine museum which is a block or two from the federal courthouse downtown.

Bill

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Metamora, IN is a time capsule town right out of the 1890's. If you are driving through Cincinnati be sure to stop at the fire engine museum which is a block or two from the federal courthouse downtown.

Bill

Antique Alley running alone Hwy 40 from Centerville (huge mall there w/ lots of dealers) all the way to Indy gets you passing through cool little towns like Knightstown are worth a stop if you enjoy antiques.

I'm not sure when the last time you've been to Metamora was but two summers ago I stopped by with a friend on a visit back home and it has really changed. Lots of "craft store" junk like factory made painted ducks and windchimes, and less of the historic/antique vibe, very sparse w/ tourists (some may prefer this but I don't like being one of a dozen people at an event, it was during their Strawberry festival at that), prices for food was very high and, quite oddly, we were even physically threatened by a food vendor who seemed to be on some mind altering substance based on his words to us. There was still a couple of old favorites like the canal boat and steam train rides, but I soon realized most of the other people around us were residents and business owners, even in a competition where they paid entry fees only to get their money handed back afterwards, felt kind of like a scam to me, like they had to have locals pretend to be part of the contests to lure us tourists in. It was a bit too surreal and left a bad impression.

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Guest Bill Miller

Hi Marrs

Sorry to hear that about Metamora. We had a short but pleasant visit there about five years ago. One stop in PA I should also mention is fairly near Altoona on the outskirts of Huntingdon PA. The Swigart Antique Car Museum is there. Definitely worth a detour to see but they are not open year-round so check to make sure they are open. Billed as the country's oldest auto museum still in existence, they have the original Tucker prototype and one other Tucker in the museum plus a very unusual Duesenberg and 40 or 50 other cars on display at any given time. The collection is several times larger than what you see and is always changing as cars are rotated in and out. Pat Swigart is a wonderfully nice lady and she's always eager to talk with visitors and likes to show them around the place. She also seldom forgets a face and if she's met you once she will remember you the next time.

Bill

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Guest Bill Miller

John,

The museum is one block southeast (downhill) from the Stonewall Inn (Hotel??) in downtown Staunton. As you face the front entrance of the hotel turn left and walk to the corner and you will see a public parking lot. The museum is at the right (south) end of the lot across the street and has big plate glass windows so you can see many of the cars inside from the sidewalk. When we were there a couple of months ago a large yellow American LaFrance speedster was in the window.

Bill

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  • 3 months later...

Grampa's Garage

If you are coming across Ohio on I-70, there is a NEW FLEA MARKET dedicated to old car items and model trains. They also have several antique cars for sale. It is about a 15 to 30 minute stop as they have only been open since the middle of June.

It is located near Springfield OH at exit 59 and the cross highway is route 41. Turn south on 41 and left at Titus Rd, first road to left, and left at first driveway. It is next to the interstate. If you get past the gas station on 41, turn around.

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