Stop 1: Punxsutawney, PA

Week 1

Montgomery, OH

We departed from Montgomery, Ohio, home to St. Barnabas and many of our members. Montgomery was settled in 1796. The town was a coach stop on the Cincinnati-Zanesville Road, later known as the Montgomery Pike, with an inn, two taverns, a grist mill and a carding mill to process its agricultural products. It is unclear whether Montgomery had any ordinances at that time from preventing business or churches from hanging signs along it’s main thoroughfare.

Columbus, OH

Passing through Columbus, the state capitol and the largest city in Ohio by population, we saw a huge college campus, home to one of the best marching bands in the country and an okay football team. Just outside of Columbus in Worthington, we walked by St. John’s Episcopal church which is one of the largest congregations in our Southern Ohio Diocese. St. John’s was founded in 1804 by a band of settlers from Connecticut led by James Kilbourne – an Episcopal Deacon, businessman and later Colonel in the Ohio Militia. St. John’s was the first Episcopal Church west of the Alleghenies and the first church in the area.

Wooster, OH

A quiet college town, Wooster sits in the heart of Ohio Amish country. The greater Holmes county settlement which encompasses Wooster is the 2nd largest Amish settlement in the US behind Lancaster County in southeast Pennsylvania. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and are slower to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view to not interrupting family time, nor replacing face-to-face conversations whenever possible. The Holmes county Amish community made national headlines in the early days of the Covid-pandemic as overnight they converted their furniture making operations to make much needed personal protective equipment for Ohio’s healthcare workers.

Canton, OH

Canton, OH, Home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well as the birthplace of the National Football League, Canton is also the hometown of the 25th US President, William McKinley and the site of the famed front porch campaign President McKinley used to win the 1896 presidential election. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, located in the heart of downtown Canton was founded over 150 years ago and embraces music through it’s monthly monthly concert and compline series.

Hudson, OH

Likely best known as the birthplace of St. Barnabas’ Senior Warden, John Davies, Hudson is also well known for its role in the Underground Railroad as thousands of fugitive slaves, heading for freedom in Canada, passed through Hudson. Several historical Hudson homes have secret rooms where slaves were hidden on their journey. John Davies was actually baptized at the First Congregational Church of Hudson where at an 1837 prayer meeting, church member and Hudson resident John Brown, the famous abolitionist who led the 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry, made his first public vow to destroy slavery.

Youngstown, OH

Known for being a center of the US steel industry in the early 1900s, Youngstown is also the birthplace of Good Humor Ice Cream and the site of the first Arby’s restaurant. Youngstown also gained notoriety as a center of organized crime in the midwest. So, those of you interested in true crime, you could stop and ask questions. For the rest of us not wanting to trade our walking shoes for cement shoes, we kept on moving. Dedicated in 1889, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Youngstown is a beautiful building complete with a red door and a thriving Episcopal community.

Punxsutawney, PA

While not directly on our route, we took a slight detour to end our week in Punxsutawney, PA. Punxsutawney's most famous resident is Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog said to predict the weather annually on Groundhog Day (February 2) in front of thousands of people. Phil and the town were brought to international fame in the 1993 film Groundhog Day, which it seems we may have been living the last few months.

Collectively, we covered 415 miles this week. That’s fantastic! At this pace we are on track to get to Bethlehem sometime in December, but it will be close to make it by the 25th. We’re off to a great start. This week we’ll be walking across the state of Pennsylvania which is a LONG state. If anybody has some fun facts about this section of our journey, please email them to Colleen at cdavies67@gmail.com. We had over 30 people participate this past week. Let’s keep it up and encourage other members to join us!