A Trip on the Buffalo Post Road, Part I
Duncan Virostko, Museum Assistant
“...And now for something completely different.” ~ Monty Python’s Flying Circus, 1969
Google Maps Directions For This Trip: https://tinyurl.com/mux4mhzd
It may come as a shock to regular readers of this blog that I on occasion actually leave the museum. It’s true that Dunham Tavern is where I spend the bulk of my time, but occasionally I have the opportunity to travel farther afield in search of historical adventure.
This week, I intend to take you along with me on just such an adventure. It will be a trip beyond the doors of Dunham Tavern, through time and place to rediscover Ohio through the eyes of a traveler some two hundred years ago. So why not take a read and, if you have the time, visit corners of Ohio that are still waiting to be rediscovered?
Dunham Tavern ca 1974, ClevelandMemory.org
Dunham Tavern is located at 6709 Euclid Avenue, also known in the 1800s as the Buffalo Post Road. The road was a mail route used by stagecoaches, linking Cleveland, Ohio, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo, New York. It flourished until 1853, when a railroad connecting the three cities was built and the mail route was abandoned. Stagecoach traffic ended, and as a result the taverns and towns along the way went from bustling to sleepy. Yet the roads remained and would go on to become the basis for the burgeoning highway system. Thus during the 1920 to 1940s the route and it's destinations experienced a brief renaissance. However, this ended with the postwar development of “superhighways” under the Eisenhower administration. Today, the Buffalo Post Road is part of US Route 20, running east towards Pennsylvania, and seldom traveled.
You'll want to start your trip on a Friday, for reasons that will become apparent later in Part II of this article. The first stop on your trip is of course Dunham Tavern. Please call ahead so that we know to expect you, as Friday is a day we are open for tours by appointment only. Estimate about an hour to tour our museum and grounds.
Luster Tannery (Christopher Busta-Peck)
Luster Tannery, Rear View, ca. 1930s (Christopher Busta-Peck)
After you’ve finished your tour of the Tavern, it is time for you to start your adventure, just as the travelers of the Buffalo Post Road would have in 1824. Drive east on Euclid Avenue, following US Route 20. As you leave Cleveland, and pass through East Cleveland, keep an eye out on your right side. You may spot an old, white painted stone building in a commercial area that looks out of place and time, at 16360 Euclid Avenue. This is the Luster Tannery, one of the oldest industrial buildings in Cleveland. This building, once connected to the now culverted Doan’s Creek, served as a tannery to process animal hides into leather. It is a rare remnant of the Buffalo Road’s heyday still in Cleveland, and is in desperate need of preservation. However, the installation of a new roof recently gives some hope that it is finally receiving the recognition it deserves.
Lawnfield, ca. 1880, showing the old Buffalo Post Road in the Foreground. (National Parks Service)
When you reach Mentor, you’ll want to stop by James A. Garfield’s home, Lawnfield. Located at 8509 Mentor Avenue, it is now a National Parks Service property. The house that President Garfield would later live in was originally built in 1832 by James Dickey. It was a modest story and a half structure, typical of early Ohio farm houses. Garfield himself was a product of early Ohio. He was born in a simple log cabin, in Orange Township, Ohio, in Cuyahoga county, in 1831. In the 1850s, bored of his pastoral life and with troubles at home, young Garfield took a page from his favorite novels and decided to run away to sea… or in his case the Ohio & Erie canal. Fortunately for the United States, Garfield made a poor canal boatman. After one too many falls into the shallow, polluted water of the canal he became badly ill. During his convalescence, he returned home and promised to improve his studying in school. Thus, he began a long journey that led to his service in the Civil War as a Legislator, General, and his later ascendancy to President.
Lawnfield, 2021. (wikipedia.org)
Garfield bought the property in 1876, for $115 per acre, as a country getaway where his sons could grow up in a more wholesome country atmosphere. By 1879, the original simple farmhouse had disappeared under later Victorian remodeling. It was from Lawnfield that Garfield ran his famous a “front porch” campaign, and today visitors can even see the telegraph office behind the home which made this possible. The home was further added on to in 1885 by his wife Mrs. Lucretia Garfield, after the President's death, to create the first Presidential Library.
Rider’s Inn, Painesville, Ohio, (wikipedia.org)
By this point, you will have spent quite some time on the road and will, like your 1824 counterparts, be looking for food and a place to spend the night. The next stop, in Painesville, offers you just the thing: Rider’s Inn (Since 1812), located at 792 Mentor Avenue. As the name implies, this is a Tavern which is even older than Dunham, and has served weary travelers continuously for the past 212 years. Prior to the Civil War, it served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and was a speakeasy during Prohibition. Today, it’s a bed & breakfast whose future is assured thanks to a recent passing of torches between owners. They are open to guests 4 PM -11 PM on Fridays. Rooms are $163 a night, and the owner respectfully requests you to book a minimum of two days in advance. Their website is linked in the Sources section below.
To Be Continued August 2nd!
Sources:
Orville Beamer, Arthur, Lawnfeild Home of President James A Garfield, Western Reserve Historical Society, 1955 e.d., 3.
http://www.clevelandareahistory.org/2010/03/luster-tannery.html
https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/press/id/13132/rec/5
https://www.ridersinns.com/
Special thanks to Rider’s Inn (Since 1812) for their assistance in the preparation of this article.