It’s a little museum in Zanesville, Ohio with a big story to tell. Actually three big stories. This city of about twenty-five thousand people was founded in 1790s as a result of Ebenezer Zane’s building of a road, Zane’s Trace, connecting Wheeling WV and Maysville KY. Ultimately Zanesville was one of the stops along the National Road, the first federally funded road in US history. The museum tells the story of the building of Zane’s Trace and the National Road, of what travel was like on those roads through the ages, of the life and work of Zanesville’s Zane Grey, and the products of Zanesville’s art pottery industry. As if wonderful dioramas, impressive personal effects, and incredible examples of Weller and Roseville pottery aren’t enough, we got a personal tour with extra insight into many of the displays, and explanations of the origins of some popular words and phrases such as “brake shoes”, “pot holes”, “with bells on”, “turnpike”, and “station wagon”. It was a most enjoyable experience and has whetted our appetite to return and explore more of the area and of US-40 which follows the route of the National Road from Baltimore to St Louis!
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