Day 7: To Cincinnati
We were off and on about going to Cincinnati, but as these road trips go, at the last minute decided to check it out. The Reds were playing in town so we knew we could at least catch a ball game in a stadium we hadn’t visited before (it made the 26th MLB stadium in which I have seen a game). And also I wanted to find the (mysterious?) monument to the Twin Sisters. I’d heard of it, but wasn’t sure if there was such a thing. See more below.
Courthouse for Orange County in Paoli, IN. The drive to Cincinnati is short and the part of the drive on local highways passed through several of these small Indiana towns.
Southern Indiana seems to be a “car” place. Our bell boy at the hotel was a car guy. He talked about how Texas is a car place that had better laws to allow “modifications”…
More excitement in small town Indiana!
The story is that the Twin Sisters were a pair of cannons that the people of Cincinnati gave to the Texas army and that were successfully used in the battle of San Jacinto. This fact is pretty clear. (Where the canons ended up is a mystery today.) Somewhere way back I had heard that someone in Texas had later set up a memorial to Cincinnati’s help in a park in Cincinnati. So when I was coming here I thought I’d find it. Researching on the web initially turned up nothing. Even a couple of friends who went to the University of Cincinnati and live in Texas knew nothing of it. Finally after much searching, I found a post with a photo that confirmed it existed. But it only referred to a part of town, but no exact location! Finally a friend I put on the case found the location in a walking guide to the park. It turned out to be only 4 minutes from our hotel. The strange thing is that plaque in the photo is all there is to explain the story, and as you can see it really explains nothing! Replicas of both canons are there under a pavilion with a lone star shaped roof. There were 3 flag poles, but no flags.
Approach to the ballpark. It is downtown on the Ohio River.
The Red’s stadium, Great American Park is a great stadium. Wide concourses, good food and beer choices, etc. We got a great value for seats behind home plate.