Trip 17 · Adams County, Ohio (border run)
The Serpent & the Amish Ridge
HistoryEatsOdditiesborder runGrade-school sweet spotTeens won't groan
A quarter-mile earthen serpent built by ancient hands atop a meteor scar, a ridge of Amish farm stands and fry pies, and the hundred-step stairway where real escapes from slavery began. Not on Sundays — the Amish shops close.
The route
US 68 to Maysville → Aberdeen, OH → OH 41 north to Wheat Ridge → OH 73 to Serpent Mound → OH 125/62 → Ripley → US 52/68 home
Stops
Wheat Ridge Amish country
Adams County's ridge of buggies and farm stands; Miller's Bakery is the fry-pie mothership. Cash, patience, closed Sundays. Pass buggies wide and slow.
Serpent Mound
A 1,300-plus-foot earthen snake uncoiling along a bluff — built by ancient hands, aligned to solstices, sitting on bedrock most geologists blame on a meteor strike. Climb the tower; feel your century shrink.
Ripley & the Freedom Stairway
One hundred steps climb from the river to the Rankin House, whose lantern guided freedom-seekers across the Ohio. The escape over the ice in Uncle Tom's Cabin began on this real riverbank. Seasonal tours.
If the day runs long: If Trip 5 left transparent-pie debts, Maysville settles accounts on the way home.
File a field report
Found a new dairy bar? Bridge out? Dog mayor re-elected? Email a field report and the best dispatches get published (first names only) on the Field Notes page.