GLMC - Trip 2
Refer to the GLMC - Trip 1 story for an explanation to what GLMC is.
It was going to be a much warmer day today and very sunny. I decided to head out early to hit up a few more items to add to my list. All the items are in Charlotte (starts with a 'C').Since Charlotte is not that far away, I opted for the extremely long route to get to get there.
Grave of John King
Once I arrived, The first item to visit was the Grave of John King. Why is this unusual? Well, he was crushed by the elephant "Chief" and has an obilisque grave marker featuring an elephant.
He is buried in Elmwood Cemetary which has quite a number of historical people buried there. The story is unclear exactly what happened (some say he was smashed against a rairoad car and other against a cage of lions). In either case, every bone in his body was broken.
King was an animal trainer for the John Robinson Circus. After this incident, "Cheif" was moved to a zoo and actually killed two more people before being put down. He was made into steaks and served in local restaurants and his skeleton is on display at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Produce Clock
I have to admit, I never knew about this one. On the wall of the local business Freshlist, there is a giant clock. This clock does not tell time but tells those passing buy what vegetables to purchase. The clock is 12ft in diamter with 12 noon being the winter solstice. The hands slowly move around the clock pointing to various hand painted vegetables indicating what to buy now.
Very cool concept! This was created during Covid. I just with it was in an area that is more frequented.
Gainesville-Midland 301
I found this to be interesting as it is an old steam locomotive that is located in Freedom Park. Placed there is 1959, it used to be used as a piece of playground equipment. Yes, you could climb all over it. Of course now it is fenced off with No Climbing signs all over it.
I got here early but I guess not early enough. The place was packed. It is very strange to see a train in the middle of a park. I bet it was pretty cool being able to get up inside. Those days are long gone. I bet someone got hurt at some point, sued the city and won. In any case, it is odd to go to a park in the city and find a train engine.
It was starting to heat up and crowds were getting larger. There are a number of other oddities to see in Uptown and I will get to them but I will need to go even earlier so there are not so many people around.