Traveling with Grace: Heading East
In this week’s entry for our #TravelTuesday series: Traveling with Grace, the party continues eastward towards home, enjoying some time in Indiana, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. To read more of Grace’s travels, click here.
Friday, August 29, 1947
Indianapolis, Indiana
Weather: Warm and Sunny
After a late breakfast we started out about 12 o’clock and rode to French Lick Springs, 112 miles from here. The ride was very pretty through Bloomington, Bedford, where we stopped for a bite of lunch, Martinsville, Shoals to French Lick where we visited the Catholic College with a beautiful campus and the French Lick Springs Hotel perfectly enormous, and not very crowded at this time of year. We made a circle around Paoli and then back the same way. The Pluto Water Spring is quite an industry. Back in Indiana we went to see the pretty, old-fashioned home of James Whitcomb Riley.
Saturday, August 30, 1947
Weather: Clear and Warm
After resting late this morning we had lunch in the hotel and later walked across the street to the Indiana Theater where we saw an entertaining musical called “Variety Girl” with a galaxy of stars including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Billy DeWolfe, Rudy Vallée, Dorothy Lamour, etc. Also an interesting short “Juvenile Jurors and Alcoholics Anonymous.” About 8 o’clock we made a tour of the city which is very well planned and prosperous looking. Among the many interesting places we saw were: a magnificent state capital, library, Civil War Memorial richly ornamented with fountains and statuary, the Obelisk Square, Scottish Rites Temple, Court House, Post Office, Garfield Park, a number of fine bank and Insurance buildings, a lot of good looking stores, etc. We saw the home of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the U.S. who died in 1901. He, Riley and a number of other famous people are buried in the cemetery at the edge of town. The city is very well lighted at night but it is very warm, the first time we have felt uncomfortable. Saw 1st dirigible with [????] teletype.
Sunday Aug 31,1947
Weather: Clear and Warm
We left Indianapolis about 10 (lost sometime looking for my check book) and followed route 40 thru Richmond Ind. to Greenfield (Lilly Biological Lab) a number of small towns, Springfield (had lunch in nearby South Vienna), Columbus (where we saw the state capital not as attractive as the others we have seen( the nicest building in the city is the Ohio Insurance Building like a monumental tower), Zanesville, very old and once the state capital and many more towns. The roads are excellent but due to the proximity of the town it is very hard to make time. (Lots of coal mines through here.) We also lost an hour traveling eastward and arrived in Wheeling W. Va. (Daylight savings or as they call it fast time) at 8 and went to Hotel McLure for dinner. The dining room was closed but after a little finagling we persuaded them to serve us and really got a delicious meal. Didn’t see much of Wheeling in the dark (though there is a full moon) but the part up on the hill overlooking the Ohio River seems rather pretty. Rode up the mts. thru Washington, Pa. and Brownsville, arriving at the Summit at midnight.
Monday September 1, 1947 (LABOR DAY)
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Weather: clear and warm
After our long ride yesterday, we are glad to rest today. Had a buffet breakfast and lunch in the hotel and sat on the porch (I love a nice place to exercise) watching the people swing and dive in the outdoor pool. The grounds are pretty and the views from the porch, though not as dramatic as we had further west, are very pleasing. But the hotel is rather disappointing in view of the steep prices. We went to the White Swan for supper and later to Brownsville to catch an outdoor movie (our first) and saw Joan Fontaine in “From This Day Forward.”
Tuesday September 3, 1947
Weather: Fair much cooler
Had lunch at the White Swan. Saw something of Uniontown, not much of a place, They do have a beautiful country club on the outskirts. Sat on the porch and read this afternoon air delightful. Manager came up and talked. Ask for comments and I gave him plenty, not complimentary. He wanted to know how Summit compared with Stanley at Estes Park. They are run by the same company and there seems to be some rivalry in the management, all in favor of the Stanley. Mr. Stewart, manager of the Stanley, was here last winter and seems to have been a great favorite as all the personnel asks about him. This evening we went into the White Swan again for dinner and at 9:30 two of the boys helped me down to the Baron (Charles said he hoped it wouldn’t give the wrong impression when they carried me up) Munchausen room where we had a few drinks and watched a rather interesting cabaret. The M.C. told a few shady stories, but he had a good voice and sang several different types of songs. A lady acrobat-dancer was excellent and the magician was also good, got to bed after one.
Thanks for reading “Traveling with Grace,” a series where we’re sharing (and annotating) posts from the travel diaries of Grace Amelia Hecht, native Baltimorean, b. 1897 and d. 1955. As mentioned in my introductory post transcription errors sometimes occur and I’ve made my best guesses where possible, denoted by [brackets]. – Rachel Kassman, marketing manager