In the late 1800’s the Moraine Pinnacles were a popular picnic destination. I have mentioned in past articles, while picnicking at the Pinnacles, Orville and Wilbur Wright would lay a blanket down and not only enjoy the scenic overlook but observed the birds on the wind drifts coming up from the cliffs. The Wright Brothers weren’t the only people that had superb comments about this Moraine area.
According to the Dayton Herald newspaper article from Wednesday, April 29, 1891, the Herald writer talks about President Benjamin Harrison. “California is making a handsome display of its flowers for the President Harrison. We beg to say that if he would stop long enough in the Miami Valley, we will agree to furnish a climate equal to that of the Golden State, with forest and field unsurpassed in loveliness. At this time of year California is a little chilly, and southern Ohio this year merely excels itself. We should take the Presidential Party a drive down the eastern side of the Miami River (through Moraine) to as far as Carrollton, cross the river there and return through “the Narrows” and “Pinnacles”. The landscape has no ocean view, but plenty of the wide Miami, but such fields of wheat and budding forest trees, studded in a carpet filled with the tiny flowers of early spring, that his oratory would come like water over the “falls of Lodore”. The writer goes on to say, “the President (Harrison), why he would forget he had ever seen California”.
Just a week later, a May 6, 1891, Dayton Herald article states, “a man who went to collect botanic specimens remarked to a Herald writer that “the country in the vicinity of the Pinnacles is the most picturesque in the valley of the Miami. In the early spring and in the succeeding summer, floral attractions exist there in profusion, and the fishing in the Miami River is excellent”.
In the past 120 to 150 years have the Pinnacles changed? To find out, try hiking the 1.1-mile Wright Brothers Pinnacles Historical Trail and walk in their footsteps. Start at the South Trailhead off the Main Street Bike Bath or begin at the North Trailhead off the Pinnacle Road Bike Path. There are plenty of signs along the trail of vintage photos that the Wright Brothers took along the cliff plus other fascinating archeological finds here.
