There are at least three things I like about this spot on the globe. (It’s in Logan County, Ohio.)
The road is a boundary between Virginia Military Reserve lands on the west, and lands on the right which were part of the rectangular survey system. The land on the west was surveyed according to a system of metes and bounds, which meant a lot of work over the years for lawyers.
But the rectangular survey of the land on the right, while part of a much more orderly system, wasn’t quite the usual. It’s a system of 6×6=36 square miles per township, but the numbering is different than the usual zig zag pattern that was used almost everywhere else. More on that another time.
The third thing is that it overlooks the Mad River valley. In 1812, General Hull’s army came this way on its way to Detroit, where Hull soon saw fit to surrender to the British. The army travelled from right to left on the valley below, and then made another turn to the left to go around the ridge on which I was standing when I took this photo.
On this googlemap, I’ve marked the position where I was standing and I’ve marked in red the approximate path taken by Hull – a path that later became known as Hull’s trace. I must note, though, that not everyone seems to interpret the path quite as I’ve done here. It’s something I may have an opportunity to study further tomorrow, if I can work it in among more bike rides.
I must say that such descriptions of his route that I’ve read now make a lot more sense after seeing them from my bicycle today.
Today’s milleage total: a little over 57 miles.
We’re staying in Bellefontaine now — at a much nicer discount motel than where we stayed in Wapakoneta. There is good food in Bellefontaine, too.
[...] now see that back on September 2, in an article titled “Hull’s Trace in the Mad River Valley,” I gave out some bogus information about the route that General William Hull’s army [...]