Although I live in Cleveland (and consider it my adopted city), I was born and raised in Salem, a town of 12,000 about 70 miles to the southeast of Cleveland. Salem was founded in 1806 and was a hub on the Underground Railroad and hosted Ohio's first Womens' Rights Convention in 1850. Nowadays, it's a small town surrounded by rural farmland and serves somewhat as a bedroom community to job centers on the outskirts of Pittsburgh and Youngstown. I guess like a lot of people, I didn't really learn to appreciate where I grew up until I became an adult - there's a genuine historic 'Main Street' downtown with some beautiful commercial buildings and a stretch on the National Register of Historic Places which has some gorgeous old homes. The area has changed over the years but it still has good bones and a lot of potential.
Whenever I visit home, I take the outerbelt I-480 which 'becomes' Route 14 and eventually meets Route 62 in Salem. At one point it was a stagecoach route and slowly but surely has developed over the years due to its location between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. I didn't know until I moved to Cleveland that Route 14's northern terminus is Lake Erie (where it's known as East 9th Street). Along the way are a few landmarks such as the Eastgate Cocktail Lounge in Ravenna at Route 59:
And Arnie's Steakhouse (and Cocktail Lounge, of course!)
One of the things that cracks me up about living in the city and growing up in Appalachia - in my mind, a 'farmers market' is a little shack on the main road that's selling produce from the adjacent 50+ acre farm; in the city, it's a bunch of vendors with farm grown produce congregating in some conducive spot in the city.
In between the outskirts of Cleveland and Salem, there are a handful of tiny burgs like Deerfield, which is pretty much known for its traffic circle and being close to recreational lakes like Berlin Lake. Coming into town on Route 14, you're greeted with this:
On the circle is this building, I believe home to the Deerfield Historical Society:
And of course, the Circle Restaurant:
But the drive is filled with this kind of scenery:
Finally, we're on West State Street (still Route 14) coming into downtown Salem:
I always like to grab a cup of coffee from Friends Roastery (in the building on the left) and the building on the right used to be a movie theater - it's where I saw Star Wars in 1978. Nowadays it's the community theater locale:
Inside the coffee shop; this used to be Fenske's News where all the old guys would form a cigar smoking gauntlet for us kids to maneuver to get our Bazooka gum:
Heading further east on State Street:
Back into downtown, the former Timberlanes Motor Inn - vacant for several years with plenty of unmet redevelopment plans; still has some mod charm to it:
But the better part of downtown Salem is the collection of historic buildings:
This was built as the high school, then converted to use as a junior high (when I was there) and most recently it's a newer branch of Kent State University:
About a half-mile away from the former junior high and CBD is the current junior/senior high school:
Back downtown, specifically the industrial area:
And up to State Street:
On the outskirts of downtown is this home, which has been undergoing renovation for a *long* time:
The next shots are from the South Lincoln Avenue Historical District
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_L...toric_District
Probably my favorite of the South Lincoln homes; the sloping landscape creates a beautiful private space on the lower level patio:
Does the name Alan Freed sound familiar? He's the radio DJ who coined the phrase "rock and roll" - this is his childhood home; currently listed for $250K:
Hope you enjoyed!
SALEM, OHIO - My hometown
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