It sits by US 6 in Sheffield Lake, just east of Root Road and the historic Root homestead, and just a few hundred feet from my house across the highway.
When I first noticed it a few years ago, I though it was some kind of planter, a decorative piece on a well-maintained property. Then I got a closer look (I think traffic had backed up at the light and had put me right next to it) and I wondered if it was a relic of a bygone era.
Clear out of the blue, fellow Sheffield Laker Gretchen emailed me a few months ago and asked if I had ever noticed the "old horse watering trough along the road."
A quick search on the internet reveals that it sure looks like an old limestone horse trough. Here are three from the South of France, listed on an antique salvage website called www.salvoweb.com.
Our friends Lynne and Lenny, who live out in Wakeman on a century farm have something very similar on their property (below). Lenny says it's hand-carved; once someone offered him a bunch of money for it on the spot.
Obviously, I don't know if the item by US 6 in Sheffield Lake has been there for decades, or if it was purchased and deliberately placed there by the road. But the unique nature of the piece and its deteriorating condition makes me think it's been there a while.
2 comments:
-Alan....
I hitched and walked 6 between Lorain and Avon Lake many times BITD, and I don't remember a horse trough. Of course, I generally was on the south side of 6, and may simply not have noticed it on the lakeward side.
Hi Alan,
Plus--despite the well-manicured photo from a few days ago, a year or two back it was almost hidden in the bushes there, too (no offense to the property owners)!
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