Shirks Candies, Sansotta's Italian Restaurant, Cardinals (Marion Road Trip part II)

Shirks Candies!  Home made candy since 1932.  Located at 1235 South Prospect Street, Marion Ohio.  Closed on Sunday and Monday, opened 10 am til 5:30 pm Tuesday through Friday, and 9:30 am til 4 pm on Sat.  A must when you visit Marion.  You can order on line through their website.  They have a facebook page as well.

Lots of variety, you won't leave dissapointed.

An area showing family members, news articles with some history of the family.  Elwood "Bert" Shirk purchased The Carmel Crisp Shop which was in downtown Marion back in 1932.  He made his Carmel Corn often as the theaters were letting out.  The aroma tempting the movie goers to purchase.  In 1940 he owned a sandwich shop were he also sold his goodies.  In 1965 his son Dick and wife Joan took over the business and grew it.  In 1999 their son Rick took over the business.  

Me with my bag of goodies on the way out of the store.

My purchases:  Cashews, Turtles, Peanut Butter Cups, and dark chocolate and sea salt covered carmel.  All were fantastic.

Another family owned buisness to visit is Sansotta's located at 1292 Delaware Avenue, Marion Ohio.  Hours are 10:45 am til 8 pm Monday through Sat, and 10:45 am til 5pm on Sunday.  It's a small non frills restaurant with good homemade food.  Pasta Bowls, Salads, Sandwiches, and daily specials.  All very resonably priced.

Small amount of tables, but it appeared they do a large carryout business when we were there for lunch.

You order at the counter and seat yourself.  

Hubby and I had 2 Torpedoes a piece.  I had ham and cheese (pictured above) and he had  meatball Torpedoes.  

You can walk or ride around downtown Marion and see beautifully painted Cardinals.  There are 17 to find.  Ohio was the 17th state in the Union, and the Cardinal is the state bird.  Each bird is painted by local artists and represents history.  The plaques on the bottom tell you who the artists were, which businesses sponsored the Cardinal.

Look at the details, so pretty.

This one reprents the histoic Palace Theater.

The historic Palace Theater built in 1928 has served Marion for many years from Vaudeville and Silent Films to todays concerts and other activities.

The Beautiful Palace is also available for weedings and other special events.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.

President Warren G. Harding, Memorial, Home, and Library (Ohio Road Trip, Marion, Ohio...part I)

President Warren G. Harding

• Born Nov 2, 1865 Blooming Grove, Ohio
• Moved to Caledonia, Ohio
• Moved to Marion, Ohio
• Attended Village Schools
• Purchased the bankrupt Marion Star newspaper with 2 friends when 19 yrs old.
• Owened the paper he turned around for 40 years after buying out his friends.
• Married  Divorced Florence Kling DeWolfe July 8th 1891
• Became involved in politics is 1900
• Served 2 terms in the Ohio Senate
• Serveds at Lt. Governor of Ohio
• Served in The US Senate in 1914
• Won the ballot to be the Republican Presidential Candiate at the 1920 convention with Calvin Coolidge as his running mate, ran against Ohio's Democratic Governor, James Cox and FDR
• Served as President for 29 months, died in San Francisco from a heart attack
• 600,000 people came to hear him speak in his front porch campaign, which was ONLY 3 months long.
• Transistioned the country from WWI to peacetime
• Created The Veterans Bureau
• Created The Bureau of Budget, and was the first President to present a budge to congress

These 12 plagues are loaded with information about the President and is wife Florence, above are just a few of the highlights in bullet points. (I've cropped and posted each plaque separately in order so that you can read them, remember to click to enlarge the pictures to aid your efforts.)

These plagues are posted in order as you walk the circle to read them...and yes, they had raindrops on them while we were there.  The plagues are centered in the walk way down the steps from the beautiful momument.

I actually forgot to get a picture of momument while there, so this is a copy from their website.(on a non raining day, lol)

The inside of round momument.  Notice the tree to the right of the gravestones.  President Harding wanted to be buried under an open sky...thus the non inclosed memorial, and next to a tree.  When I was a child living there in Marion, there was a much larger tree that stood inside the memorial for many years.  However, it was hit by lightening and removed and replaced.

A close up of the stones.  The Memorial is located at 898 Delaware Avenue, Marion, Ohio.  There are two parking areas, and admission is free to the public.

Continuing on around the 2nd half of circle of plagues.

These words are from his March 4th, 1921 Inaugural speech, and quite interesting.  In case you can't read them from the plaque (though remember you can click any picture to enlarge):

Trump was obviously NOT the first to say American first, and Kennedy perhaps borrowed some sentiment from Hardings speech?

"In the great fulfillment, we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it, and more anxious about what it can do for the nation."

President Harding's Home is located at 380 Delaware Avenue and is opened for tours from 9 am til 5pm, most days.  Tours start at 10:00 am and are on the top of each hour.  Tours are limited to 10 people at a time, tickets are required.  Our senior rate would have been 15.00 each, but due to our membership in The Ohio History Connection (previousl known as Ohio Historical Society), our admission was free.  This is a map of the grounds showing the Press House, Christian Home, and The Harding House.

The Christian Home

The side of the Harding Home, showing the porch which is the front of the house.  I wasn't able to get a front view as traffic on the road was too heavy to get across the street to do so.  Picture are NOT permitted inside, as most of furnishings are originals.

The Presidential Library and museum is located at 355 E. Church Street, this property is right behind the Home, and is where you check in and park.  Entrance to the library and museum is included with your ticket and well worth the time.  There is also a gift shop inside.  This is their picture from the website, another photo I forgot to snap.

The state of Ohio ones and operates the Memorial, Home and Library.  The state has owned The Memorial and Home since 1978, and the library was built in 2021.

**This is a bit long, but there was so much to see.  Stayed tuned, there will be additional posts from my Road Trip to Marion to follow.

Stewart's Root Beer, Marion Ohio

Stewart's RootBeer Stand in Marion, a step back in time.  Stewarts is located at 1036 North Main Street in Marion, Ohio  43302.  1-740-382-6807.  There are open seasonally.

 Frank Stewart was a school teacher who needed to supplement his income and started making Stewart's Rootbeer back in 1924.  He blended 20 varieties of roots, herbs, and berries to come with the famous and delicious Stewart's Rootbeer.  His first location was in Mansfield, Ohio.

 It is now a franchise with locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and many places on the East Coast.  It truly is a step back in time when you ordered from your car and your meal was delivered by a car hop on roller skates.  Though the roller skates are missing, this location in Marion does still deliver to your car and hooks the tray right on your rolled down car window.

 Some locations are open all year and have grown into a sit down style restaurant, but I'm happy to say this Marion location hasn't!  It's so unique to sit in your car or at the picnic table and enjoy your foot-long hot-dog and root beer like my friend Wendy.

 Or a grilled balogna sandwich and root beer float like I did.

And look at that nice frosty mug!  A fun nostalgic spot for lunch or dinner that's easy on your purse strings.  I highly recommend you pack up the family and give it try.........next year, as they are now closed for season.

Spend some time at Linns Old One Room School House
Tour The Harding Memorial

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St. Mary's Cemetery in Marion, Ohio

Look at this beautiful sculpture of Jesus on the Cross.  It's taken in St. Mary's Cemetery in Marion, Ohio.  When I was a child we lived in Marion and would cut through this beautiful cemetery to get to The Park and to Harding's Memorial.  I don't think as a child I paid much attention to the beauty there.  Now, I enjoy traveling to cemeteries and find them interesting both for the artistic older stones, the history you can learn while there.  Sometimes the names you see will match those you see on street signs, sometimes other things jump out at me.

 Look at the dates here, born in 1844, Domenico Sansotta.  This jumped out at me for two reasons, the date and the name reminded me of what I thought I heard a woman I work with say was her maiden name.

 This jumped out, as it was nearby and is the same name, but look carefully...this is a Bronze Star Medal World War II Veteran.  I always love to honor our Veterans.  And certainly with the name of Dominic and the above Domenico there are related.

 Goodness this family truly served our country.  Joseph here was in The Navy, while above Dominic was in The Army; both in World War II.

And another beautiful Sansotta stone.  As it turns out, this is indeed family to my co=worker, so I was so pleased I had photographed these stones.  Makes me feel closer to her, honoring her family.  I was visiting this cemetery with a childhood friend who also remarked about how beautiful the cemetery was and how differently we feel about it now as adults vs a cut through when we were children.

When hubby and I travel, I almost always visit an interesting cemetery.  You learn so much about differently areas of the country, or other cultures if not in the U.S.

Did a little research and found Domenico immigrated here in September of 1921 on the San Giorgio ship from Naples Italy to the port in New York before settling in Marion, Ohio.  His parents were Diego and Pellonia (Pisane) Sansotta.  He was born in Cimina, Italy.  He lived to be 86.  I have his last address noted and hope to be able to photograph the house this interesting Italian Immigrant lived in.  He was an American Citizen.  I think I would like to have known this interesting man.

Related some of this to people who live in Marion, I also learned that Marion had a very strong and rich Italian history...I didn't know that before I took these photographs in St. Mary's Cemetery.

Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.

One Room School House, Linn School

 The plague gives the dates of this one room school house, built in 1897, in operation until 1942, and restored in 2003.  Reading various articles I found a bit of conflicting information regarding this one room school house.  In some articles it says the building was restored to it's 1905 status, and others said 1912 status.  Not a big difference, though I don't know which is correct.

 Above the door you can see (click to make any and all pictures larger) Marion Twp. Sub District #8).  Funny name for a school.  Apparently though #8 was the "official" name of the school kids who attended called it The Linn School.  There were many from the Linn family who attended the school, Linn's lived right across the street, and down the road.

 There were approximately 130 such one room school houses in Marion County back in the day to serve the rural population.  The school house in located about 4 miles north of Marion on Route #4, in Ohio.  The school was built of brick, measures about 800 square feet and served students through the 8th grade.

 Though we weren't able to get inside, this is an attempt to photograph the inside, complete with desks and chalk board, and pot belly stove.  It's opened to the public on Sat and Sun from May to October the first and 3rd Sat and Sun of the month.  We were there on the first Sat of the month, but apparently too early in the day, as it's opened from 1-4 pm.

 After it's closing in 1942, it sat empty and was used as a corn crib.  The Hamilton Brothers, Merle and Oliver decided to purchase it and with the help of The Historical Society restored it.  Both brothers attended this one room school house.  Merle was born Sept 29th, 1907 and attended the school from 1913-1920; while his brother Oliver born Aug 24th, 1903, attended from 1909-1914.  Merle recalls the train tracks (interurban) running right in front of the school, and in fact took the train to school.

 The school's been placed on The National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior.

 You can even see the school bell in the tower from across the street.

This is my happiness post for today.  The badge is link to the month long challenge for August to post what makes you happy.  Though I do love history, and to travel, the happiness I felt when photographing the above was due to spending the day with 3 of my childhood friends, Wendy, Debbie, and Pam.  It's been 50 years since we friends have gotten together.


Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.