Memorial Day in Leetonia...things to do.

There are two interesting things to do related to Memorial Day in and near Leetonia. First is to go up to Leetonia Cemetery and visit the soldiers grave sites.  This site is just about 600 yards down Francis Leetonia Rd to the left as you come up to Leetonia from the South. The graveyard is on a steep hill. There is also a row of babies buried up there from a whopping cough epidemic in the late 1870's. As you go up the hill you will notice an old foundation. That was the site of the first school house/church/meeting room in Leetonia.

The next thing involves a bit of driving out to Captain Lawrence Ritter's crash site. In 1946 this pilot crashed his WW2 P47 into the side of the mountain and was not found until 7 months later by bear hunters. I have instructions at the link to get there. If you are not familar with the roads but know where my place is. You head to the right out of my driveway and make the first left towards Cushman view then down the mountain and the first right is Francis Leetonia Rd. follow site directions and pictures from there. This involves about 3.5 miles of hiking to get to the wreckage site. Please do not take any of the wreckage out of respect.

Enjoy the weekend, but take a little time to remember all those who came, fought and died before us. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Memorial Day

Don't forget to remember the fallen soldiers today. We have two special ones close to me. Lawrence Ritter who crashed  his P47 not far from here. Following the link on his name will give you more info. And Capt. Campbell buried in Leetonia Cemetery.  Visiting these sites on Memorial day gives a hands on feeling to memorial day far above the family barbecue.

On a different note we had a visitor the other night. While watching television I heard Scooter growling at the fireplace. Scooter isn't one to make noise for no reason so I asked Lee if something was over there. Sure enough, there was a three-foot long Rat Snake like the one above crawling on the hearth. Now a rat snake can look and act a lot like a rattler to try and fool you into leaving it alone so I wasn't too quick to grab it. Once I identified it, I grabbed it behind the head and tossed it outside. Scooter and the rest of us were glad to see it on the right side of the house. 

I am not one to kill a snake when at all possible as they do a lot of rodent killing, which helps keep the intermediary host of Lyme's disease, the mouse population, down. Most of my snake killing is accidental during lawn mowing. Snakes do not go through a lawn mower well.

The bear who knocked the fence down has stayed away since we and the dogs are home and I am hoping it stays that way. Lee and I are spending the afternoon with friends having a cookout and playing a game called, "Dudo". My son sent me home with this game and it is simple and fun, specially if you are a good liar. It involves dice and trying to guess and bet how many of each kind everyone has. The guess has to get progressively higher so eventually someone has to lie and the next person calls, "Dudo". If there is not the number of dice kind bet the person who bet losses a dice, if there is the Dudo caller losses. Last one to have any dice wins. You start with 5 dice each. Part of most people's experience at camp is playing a non-electronic games. Hopefully, this will continue to be a part of camp in the future. Have a great Memorial Day. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Capt. Lawrence J. Ritter....P47 crash of 1946

A picture of a P47







Cold Springs Camp








Long Shot of gate to road.








Close shot of gate to road

GPS location of site is: N 41 degrees 33.646 minutes

W 77 degrees 35.184 minutes

elevation 1804 ft. This is the center of the circle about 75 feet from crash site.

Plane crash location from Leetonia Road:

Take Cushman Road to Francias Leetonia Rd. from this point you will go 3.1 miles to the right on Francias Leetonia. About 100 yds past Cold Springs Camp (picture 1) on the right you will see a logging road gate that has fluorescent green paint on it. (Pictures 2 & 3) From this point you will go about 1.5 to 1.75 miles up to the end of the logging road. The first half a mile is between a 10-20% upgrade after that it is not too bad. At the turnaround at the end of the logging road at about eleven o’clock you will walk about 75’ to the crash site and memorial. The whole walk at a fair pace takes about forty minutes one way.

There isn’t a lot left of the wreckage, which has been pillaged by souvenir hunters. I took a picture of the twisted aluminum body still sitting at the site. Lee Anne said she heard the propeller to the plane was once hanging on a camp in Slate Run, a fact that needs further investigation.

Lee Anne stood in the crater made by the plane’s impact and you can see it is about as tall as she is and about 10 foot wide. The stone is very nice and the flag in good repair. I am going to check with the Boy Scout Troup that put the stone there and see if there is more information about Lawrence J Ritter’s family.

As I lay in the crater looking up through the trees I thought about the cold snowy day the P47 crashed into the hill. You can almost hear the sound of the engine as it became one with the mountain. I wondered if the pilot knew he was going down much before impact. Just from the looks of things I am certain he did not survive the impact. It took seven months before they found the plane and not much of the pilot remained. It was November so it was probably during deer hunting season when someone came across the wreckage. The site reminds you how quickly life can be taken. Captain Lawrence Ritter died at the age of 27, not a long time to spend on this earth.

I am continuing to look for more information about Captain Ritter his family and the accident. For now enjoy the pictures and for those of you capable of walking at least 4 miles go up and see the site. It is a bit of history so easily forgotten it seems few people in this area even know it exists. A great walk for memorial weekend!

Mountain Girl, Paula, logging out.