Ashtabula, OH

We may have been camping in Williamsfield, but we drove the 25 miles north to Ashtabula to visit the Ashtabula Maritime Museum.   The Museum is housed in the former residence of lighthouse keepers and the Coast Guard chief.   The house was built in 1871 and added onto in 1898.  It opened as a museum in 1984 and is dedicated to preserving maritime and the history of Ashtabula and the Great Lakes.  There are seven rooms full of artifacts and other memorabilia and is one of the largest and best collections in all of the Great Lakes.

Of special interest is the pilot house of the Thomas Walterss with its working radar.    Across the street from the museum is Pilot Point Park with it's overlook of the Ashtabula river and the historic Bascule Lift Bridge which is raised every 30 minutes to allow boats access to Lake Erie.  

After a late lunch, we visited the Hubbard House Underground Railroad Museum.   Colonel William Hubbard arrived in Ashtabula in 1834 with his wife and six children.   He brought his strong anti-slavery sentiments with him and became a founding member of the Ashtabula Anti-Slavery Society.   Ashtabula county was a very strong anti-slavery county, and Colonel Hubbard sheltered runaway slaves in his basement, his barn and provided ship transport to Canada.   His house had a hidden room behind the pantry to also hide the runaways.