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It was the fall of 1993 and I was a junior in H.S., I didn’t care for school to much except I loved the socializing, I always felts that lessons should be more hands on and practical. Sitting at my desk looking out at the dreary day, the teacher started talking about an assignment we had to complete so I had to snap out of it and pay attention. I don’t recall the assignment exactly but I do remember once I got the gist of it I knew exactly what I was going to do. A few weeks earlier I had been told about a town that once existed along the Miami River that just happens to be a few miles from my house and I knew I had to see it in person and do my report on the town of Tadmore . I quickly teamed up with a friend of mine, who much like me, loves the outdoors and history, we were both excited to get there and explore what was left.
I picked him up that Saturday to begin our adventure, it was cold enough that I had on Carhartt insulated bibs, and a heavy insulated sweatshirt but we weren’t about to let the cold stop us, I had barely slept all week, not able to stop thinking about it, the remains of a town sitting in the woods right on the river excited me and there was no way I could take another day of waiting.
We pulled up beside the river just out of town, it was early afternoon because we didn’t want to get started early because it had been a cold morning. We started walking back the river following an old trail that we soon realized was part of the old Erie Miami canal, it was beautiful along the river, the best time of year for a nature walk and being in the woods we could barely feel the wind that had really picked up that morning. We slowly walked along the river for probably no more than a mile and a half when we found it, I quickly realized the huge mound of dirt right beside the river had been a bridge crossing, this place was amazing to me, I love history and to actually be able to witness it in person and not out of a book was overwhelming to me, I was looking at a foundation to an building that was a general store, sitting in the middle of the woods along the river, people lived here and died here! We spent some time looking at all the old foundations and bricks lying around. We found an old sign that gave a brief history, there were a few building and several houses in a very small area, they had all been destroyed by the great 1913 flood in Ohio and although small at the time this town would have had potential to grow with the railroad tracks laying within a few hundred yards. My friend and I were taking all of this in, We stepped back to the tiny trail we had came in on to get a better overall look at the layout, I could imagine how it once looked, I could see the people working, horses and wagons coming down the dirt road and over the bridge, it was all so surreal to me.
My friend and I had both been standing on the trail for only a few minutes with about ten feet between us, I was deep in thought wondering why anyone would put a building less than thirty yards from the river and there wasn’t just one, they were all close, didn’t they know that a flood could destroy it all? At the same time I was deep in thought, out of nowhere a gentleman passed right between my friend and I and didn’t even say a word! At first I couldn’t believe it, I never even heard him coming, was I in that deep of thought that I neither of us heard him walking through the woods stepping on all the leaves? I couldn’t believe he didn’t even say “hi" or “excuse me" I mean he did just walk right between us!
Shaken a little we decided it was time to start back, the wind had started to pick up again and it seemed the sun was hiding behind clouds and getting dark, it was quickly beginning to feel more like winter than fall. W decided to take a bigger trail we had found while exploring the deceased town, it had been a road that ran north and south and from what we could tell the road crossing the river would have ended into this one. As I reached what was left of this old dirt road that sat up high overlooking the town, I couldn’t help but stop and turn around to imagine it again and wonder what it must have looked like but when I did for a split second I thought I seen the town but only this time it was all there and how it must have looked before the flood destroyed it.
I was seventeen years old and very little scared me but on our walk back I couldn’t help but thank about what all had happened, who was that guy? He was hardly dressed for such harsh weather, jeans and a flannel shirt? And who passes on a trail without saying hi? I was so deep in thought I barely noticed it had started snowing and it just seemed to get windier, the closer we got back to civilization the harder it snowed, we probably weren’t even half way out and snow was accumulating and quick and with the wind howling, almost like it was trying to tell me something, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. What had started off as a fun day had quickly turned to confusion wondering about the guy that passed us but that quickly changed because as we were walking the trail back I felt like I had seen the town and felt what some of them had felt and the closer we got to the truck the more I was sure someone was trying to talk to me, tell me something and I didn’t want to hear it!
I was so happy to finally make it back to the truck sitting beside a road with black top, so excited that it wasn’t until later I wondered even more where the gentleman had come from, our vehicle was the only one there. By the time we got in and let the truck warm up for a few minutes the wind was already starting to die down and what had seemed like snow attacking us now as we walked to trail now seemed calmly fall to the ground, I felt normal again, peaceful, and I was glad to be out of there.
I am now thirty one and I can say I have never been back, I don’t know if I believe in ghosts and I certainly can’t understand or explain away what happened that day or why I became so emotional but I can tell you, it was deffinently an experience. I have thought about that town for a long time, I can’t help but wonder what struggles and hardships those people faced and I have never been able to put it out of my mind. This fall I am planning to take another trip back there, I feel it is something I have to do so I can stop wondering about that place. I hope I have fun, take some great pictures and enjoy it for the great historical place it is to me and although I know it will be difficult, if I get overwhelmed with emotion this time I will try to listen and keep an open mind when I visit the ghost town of Tadmore.
» left by Anonymous (1 year 176 days ago.)
Interesting. Yes, I've explored Tadmore. There are some prints out there before the flood that show how many homes were there and quite a few. It is indeed the crossroads of america meaning e/w trail, canal, river, trains . . . Very special place.
By the way, heading south check out the Aqueduck (Canal Water bridge) toward the dam.
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