Historic village of Glendale

Thursday
Glendale is a northern suburb of Cincinnati, designated a National Historic Landmark. Its founders were several gentlemen who wished to to build summer residences. They settled on the land, due to its location between Cincinnati and Hamilton and its location on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railroad which was being built at the time. It is a really beautiful area with beautiful old homes, fine churches and several great restaurants.

The story behind the blue squirrel in the picture is an interesting one. In the 1940s Thomas Carruthers III, a Glendale businessman, brought two pairs of black squirrels to the village from the resort town of Harbor Springs, Michigan. Barely two weeks had passed before someone shot one of the squirrels and its hide was prominently displayed on the wall of a local tavern (now the Glendale Gaslight Cafe). That left three black squirrels remaining, but they managed to populate Glendale's tree-rich environment, and now Glendale is one of the few places that can claim a large population of these furry little fellows. Over the years, Glendale has become well known for the black squirrels and so they celebrated the village's 150th birthday in 2005 with hand painted, four-foot tall, fiberglass squirrels, each one painted and decorated in a unique way, according to the business or organization sponsoring it. There are around twenty of these squirrels scattered around the small town! I have to admit I have only just found this information out myself and have never seen one of these black squirrels, but I shall have to keep my eyes open now!