June 24, 2021

June 24, 2021

From Erie, PA we drove northeast along Lake Erie to its terminus in Buffalo, NY. The freeway dropped us downtown and we soon passed the 96-ft tall William McKinley Monument. This obelisk was built in 1907 to honor our 25th president who was assassinated here in 1901 while he was attending the Pan-American Exposition.

We finished our drive several blocks away at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site. The park was added in the 1960’s as a way to preserve this historic home. It just happened to have had some history worth remembering. This is where McKinley’s VP took the oath of office. Despite the obscurity, I had to reserve a tour spot several days in advance. The private association that runs the site does a good job with the story they tell. It begins with the excitement surrounding the Exposition, followed by the assassination by a disgruntled anarchist. It then moves into Teddy’s view of the concerns roiling the country and his philosophy in addressing them.

From Buffalo, we returned to Pennsylvania and then headed south. The rural rolling countryside reminded me of southern Missouri. After an hour we arrived in Titusville and the start of the Oil Region National Heritage Area. Our first stop is at the Drake Museum in Oil Creek State Park. It was here in 1859 that Edwin Drake successfully drilled the first commercial oil well. This set off a series of boom towns throughout the area. That history is long gone and now Oil Creek is a beautiful river valley with only snippets of that oil legacy remaining. One example is Petroleum Center, another former boomtown with a line of storyboards replacing storefronts. I think I can smell a faint odor of petroleum.

Northwest Pennsylvania was long noted as a spot where oil seeped out of the ground. Once it was recognized that 'rock oil' could be refined into kerosene and replace expensive whale oil for lighting, entrepreneurs began to dig, and then drill. The oil was first floated down Oil Creek, then a rail line was laid, followed by pipelines. Pennsylvania was the world’s largest oil producer until 1891.

We followed Oil Creek south to its confluence with the Allegheny River in Oil City. We stopped for the night further downriver in Franklin, PA. It is just what Aimee likes. An historic small town full of old Victorian mansions and little shops. We had pizza and beer on the main drag. Aimee showed me the earrings she bought to remember our time in Buffalo, NY.