Dreams Along the Ohio River

Boat Tied to a Meadow
Pencil on paper, 10” x 8”, $100

One day Tom found himself downriver below Ludlow Bromely. After Bromely the houses stayed along the road and down further it was just farmhouses and fields of corn, orchards and pumpkin patches. Through a slot off the road slipped down the hill and led to a meadow about two acres in size. Several teenagers were with Tom as they worked their way down to the river. Tied up along the bank was a huge riverboat. There seemed to be no one on board but Tom knew how to get on board. It was cool along the bank. The weather was huge billowy clouds making the temperature just right for a t-shirt and jeans.

Under Mike Fink's
Pencil on paper, 10” x 8”, $100

On numerous occasions Tom found himself working under the Mike Fink Restaurant. He spent his high school summers working on the converted stern wheeler turned restaurant and dock. But in this sequence the entire boat was floating in the air above the river. Tom and Henry, the old man he worked for, were under the boat seeing to lines or repair work that needed to be done. The boat cast a huge shadow on the bank. It was dark and cool under the boat. Sometimes Tom would just marvel at the shear wonder of seeing the boat from the under side. Oddly enough the Suspension Bridge was directly overhead. You could only see the huge bridge pier from under the boat.
People were still up on the boat having dinner or at the bar. It was easy to climb up from the bank to the deck of the Mike Fink and onward to the very top of the pilot house.

Map of Cincinnati
Pencil on paper, 10” x 8”, $100

Tom lived near the Ohio River across Cincinnati in Park Hills, the first suburb of Covington. The homes in his neighborhood were classical stately structures looking more at home outside Washington DC than Covington. One man designed the homes and all had copper appointments, brick and breezeways. Tom grew up on top of the hill that spawns those homes. Strange English European designs influenced those homes. The suburb was on top of one of the many hills of the Ohio River Valley at Cincinnati. Once graduating from growing up in that river valley, Tom dreamt of that valley. As a boy he roamed the hills around his house always ending up along the river bank. It was a mile to the river any which way you went. Most times Tom went east into Covington. Other times he would drop down through Ludlow. Ludlow was the most adventurous. A railroad bridge crossed the river in Ludlow. You could get to the river quicker if you got on the bridge.
Tom's map of the area takes in both sides of the river. The fairest he went on the Ohio side was the art museum. He was just young enough to take the bus across the river and to the museum. The effect of riding across the Ohio River and traveling to the Art Museum was fantastic. The Suspension Bridge was the center of Tom. Everything happened around it and from it. Swimming around the bridge pier was Tom favorite pastime.
The other two distant points explored were Ludlow and Newport. Ludlow was directly down the hill towards the river from Tom's home about one mile. Newport was the far point east about two miles from his home and across the Licking River. The whole area took in about four square miles.

The Landing
Pencil on paper, 10” x 8”, $100