Aerial.America.S04E03.Ohio
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00:00It's a state where centuries of American history are etched in the land, from remains of a
00:08mysterious serpent mound, to a majestic river crossed by thousands seeking freedom from
00:14slavery.
00:15Ohio.
00:16It may just be a stopping off point for some on their long migrations, but it's also home
00:23to many who've played big roles in America's history.
00:27From two brothers whose dreams of flight made Ohio the birthplace of aviation, to a young
00:33boy whose fascination with the stars propelled him to the moon, and a talented young runner
00:40who broke through the racial divide, managing to beat Hitler and win Olympic gold.
00:47Ohio is a powerhouse of industry, once home to the rubber capital of the world.
00:54Here on the shores of one of America's great lakes, loyalty to hometown heroes is fierce.
01:00When one local sports hero abandoned his fans, he was labeled a traitor for life.
01:05It's a place where rock and roll icons enter the Hall of Fame, and where a monument to
01:11a great naval victory towers over the land.
01:15It's easy to see why this northern state is called the heart of it all.
01:20This is Ohio.
01:55When October arrives in southern Ohio, migrating birds take to the air and head south, over
02:03Hawking Hills, one of the state's most majestic landscapes.
02:09Sandstone cliffs and remote ravines hide beneath the sugar maples, sycamores, and butternut
02:15trees.
02:16Here, autumn takes center stage, blanketing the hills in red, green, and gold.
02:25But on this October day, another annual spectacle is giving nature a run for its money.
02:32It's Homecoming Week at Ohio University in the town of Athens.
02:38Students and alumni line the streets to celebrate a tradition that goes back 90 years.
02:45A parade is the main event, with colorful floats, handmade banners, and costumed dancers.
02:54They wind their way through Athens' streets before stopping to perform for a panel of
03:00judges.
03:01Every year, one group of performers is particularly impressive, especially from the air.
03:07The Ohio University Band, known as the Marching 110, who call themselves the most exciting
03:13band in the land.
03:15They're already legendary far beyond Athens, thanks to their high-energy dance moves and
03:21YouTube videos that have gone viral and attracted millions of hits.
03:27When the parade is over, the 110 heads down the hill to Peden Stadium, home of the Ohio
03:33University Bobcats.
03:35They're rehearsing for this afternoon's Homecoming game, when the Bobcats will face off with
03:40their longtime rival, the Akron Zips.
03:44And during halftime, the Marching 110 will keep team spirit soaring with their signature
03:49moves, including the Diamond Ohio, a formation that spells out their school name in the shape
03:55of a diamond.
04:00Their impressive choreography and spirit has won them performances at Carnegie Hall, in
04:06presidential inaugural parades, and on late night with David Letterman.
04:10But Athens is the place they call home.
04:18Ohio University has been located here on the banks of the Hawking River since 1804, thanks
04:24in part to a deal drafted by President Thomas Jefferson.
04:28That deal, called the Northwest Ordinance, helped ensure that new territories, like Ohio,
04:34set aside land for universities.
04:37It's tempting to wonder what Jefferson would have made of the university's most recent
04:41achievement, ranking among America's top party schools.
04:46One well-known alumnus was no stranger to that reputation.
04:51In 1943, a freshman named Paul Newman joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, but he didn't
04:58last here long.
05:00One night, he allegedly rolled a beer keg down a hill on campus.
05:04When the keg crashed into a car owned by the university president, Newman was expelled.
05:12Before becoming a famous actor, Paul Newman then joined the Navy, hoping to become a pilot,
05:18but his dream of flight was dashed when he was found to be colorblind.
05:22But here in the small town of Wapakoneta, another young man shared Newman's dream of
05:27flight, and his journey would soon turn extraordinary.
05:31In 1944, a 14-year-old boy named Neil Armstrong and his family moved into this corner house.
05:39Gazing out at the night sky from his second-floor bedroom, the young Armstrong fell in love
05:44with the idea of flight.
05:47He got his pilot's license just two years later at the age of 16, even before he could
05:52drive.
05:54Armstrong flew for the Navy and worked as a test pilot for NASA before becoming an astronaut.
06:00On July 16, 1969, he and the rest of the Apollo 11 crew lifted off from Cape Canaveral.
06:08It was four days later, on July 20, that Armstrong set foot on the moon.
06:15While he inspired millions around the world, people here in Wapakoneta were especially
06:20proud of their hometown hero.
06:23That same day, Ohio Governor James Rhodes proposed building a museum to honor Armstrong
06:29and the state's contribution to spaceflight.
06:33Just three years later, the Armstrong Air and Space Museum opened its doors.
06:38From the air, it looks more like a moon station than a museum.
06:43Inside is a Gemini capsule, a moon rock, and a simulator that gives visitors a chance to
06:49feel what it's like to land on the moon.
06:52After his gravity-defying travels and worldwide fame, Armstrong ultimately chose to come back
06:58home to Ohio.
07:00He took a job as professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
07:05But he wasn't the first in Ohio to explore the mysteries of the skies.
07:11In Adams County, not far from corn and cattle farms, lies an archaeological mystery.
07:18An ancient earthwork that snakes across the land.
07:21A site known today as Serpent Mound.
07:25Spanning over 1,300 feet, this prehistoric formation poses a riddle.
07:31One with twists and turns like the serpent itself.
07:35Who created it? And why?
07:38Early settlers believed it was a shrine, possibly a cemetery, or even a place for human sacrifice.
07:45In 1901, a Baptist minister suggested the serpent marked the original location of Eden.
07:53Carbon dating suggests it was built around 1070 A.D., possibly by the Fort Ancient people,
07:59a Native American culture that once thrived here on the land that's now Ohio.
08:04Researchers have discovered that features of the mound align with both the winter solstice sunrise
08:09and the summer solstice sunset.
08:12But the true intentions of its builders remain a mystery.
08:16Some believe they were giving earthly form to the constellation Draco,
08:21a celestial dragon that winds around the Big Dipper.
08:27Ohio's Native people may have turned to the skies for guidance, but for sustenance,
08:32they relied on the slow-flowing waters of the nearby Ohio River.
08:37This river valley was once the home of the Iroquois people,
08:41who called the majestic waterway that flowed through their land,
08:45Ohio, or Great River.
08:48It was from Ohio that Ohio got its name.
08:53The Ohio flows more than 980 miles, from its start in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Mississippi.
09:01With its particularly smooth and clear waters, Thomas Jefferson declared it the most beautiful river on Earth.
09:10But at the time, it lay on the wild frontier,
09:13and acted as an uneasy border between European settlements to the south and Native Americans to the north.
09:22After the Revolutionary War, the new U.S. Congress declared a vast swath of land west of the river as new territory.
09:30Today, that land is now the five states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
09:38But in the late 1700s, it was known simply as the Northwest Territory.
09:44And the first permanent settlement in this new territory was here on the Ohio River, a place called Marietta.
09:53It had been carved out of the forest in 1788 by Brigadier General Rufus Putnam and other veterans of the Revolutionary War.
10:01After the war, the U.S. government ran out of funds to pay its freedom fighters, so it offered them land instead.
10:09When it came time to name their new frontier town, they chose Marietta, after Marie Antoinette,
10:15as a gesture of gratitude for France's support in the war.
10:19Marietta soon played a key role in the development of Ohio, since it was the gateway to the rest of the state.
10:29Thousands flooded into the area, and Marietta and other new settlements to the west quickly boomed.
10:37By 1802, the territories had 45,000 residents combined,
10:42and soon, its supporters were applying for Ohio statehood.
10:46But the question was, how would it enter the Union?
10:50As a free state, or as a slave state?
10:54As delegates raced to write a new constitution, a passionate abolitionist named Ephraim Cutler
11:00drafted a veto of slavery to be included in the state's Bill of Rights.
11:05He managed to convince enough delegates to go ahead and sign it.
11:10He managed to convince enough delegates to get the veto passed by just one vote,
11:16which is how Ohio came to be a free state, with slave states just below the border.
11:24Over the coming decades, the Ohio River became a symbol of hope for thousands of escaped slaves
11:30fleeing the South on the Underground Railroad.
11:34They called it the River Jordan, for once they crossed the Ohio from Kentucky or West Virginia,
11:40they knew they were on their way to freedom.
11:44In the dark of night, slaves and their helpers made the journey across the Ohio River in small boats
11:50to houses of refuge, like this one, the Sawyer-Curtis House.
11:56For the owners of these safe havens, and for the slaves themselves, there was great risk.
12:02Even though slavery was outlawed in Ohio, slave owners from other states still had every right to cross the river too,
12:09and seize any slave that had escaped into Ohio.
12:13And, in 1850, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act,
12:19that not only required escaped slaves to return to their owners,
12:23it also made it a federal crime for anyone to help a slave escape.
12:28For many in the North, this law was the last straw.
12:34One woman, who had lived in this house as a young adult, decided to take action in the way she knew best, by writing.
12:43At the time, many Northerners opposed slavery in theory, but they'd never actually been exposed to its harsh realities.
12:52Harriet Beecher Stowe decided to open their eyes by appealing to their hearts,
12:57and set about writing what would quickly become an American classic, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
13:04It was published in a serial format in 1851, and as a book one year later.
13:11Stowe's emotionally charged story of Uncle Tom's suffering at the hands of evil Simon Legree helped readers to empathize.
13:20She succeeded in making slavery not just a political issue, but also a deeply emotional one.
13:28Uncle Tom's Cabin sold over 300,000 copies in its first year alone, and even went on to become an international bestseller.
13:36The story was also a rallying cry for abolitionists.
13:41By 1861, tensions between the North and South hit a boiling point with the start of the Civil War.
13:50When Abraham Lincoln later met Stowe, he said to have remarked,
13:54so you were the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.
14:01Today, in Cincinnati, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
14:06tells the powerful stories of the more than 40,000 slaves who arrived in Ohio risking their lives for a chance at liberty,
14:14and of those here who helped them make their journey to freedom.
14:20But escaped slaves weren't the only ones who found a haven here.
14:24Cincinnati had already attracted others looking for opportunity,
14:28especially German immigrants who settled here in the Over-the-Rhine District.
14:34Houses, markets, churches, even breweries look very much as they did in the 19th century.
14:40But the city that surrounds it has gone through some extraordinary changes.
14:45What began as a little town on the river that catered to soldiers and settlers
14:50later exploded into a bustling epicenter of culture and commerce.
14:55In 1854, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow crowned Cincinnati the Queen of the West.
15:03The name stuck. To this day, it's called the Queen City.
15:08When architects designed the new Great American Tower, they topped it off with what they called its own tiara.
15:15When it's not ablaze with the setting sun, Cincinnati Reds fans light it red when their team makes it to the playoffs.
15:24Ohio has always prized its sports heroes.
15:28But one athlete would not only make his home state proud,
15:31he would inspire the world by humiliating Hitler and winning gold.
15:41Ohio. No matter what kind of barriers its hometown heroes face,
15:45many have found ways to make history by inspiring others along the way.
15:50And one man here changed the way the world looked at race by running in one.
15:57In the 1930s, Ohio State University here in Columbus was the track and field home of Olympic runner Jesse Owens.
16:05Raised in Cleveland, Owens was breaking track records even when he was in junior high.
16:11Many colleges tried to recruit him, but he chose to study here at OSU.
16:17Owens went on to win four gold medals at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games.
16:24A huge upset for Adolf Hitler who hoped the Games would showcase the supremacy of his Nazi athletes.
16:31Owens' achievement was a great victory in the battle for racial equality.
16:36Although it would be many years before the civil rights movement,
16:39the Buckeye bullet was ahead of his time and the competition.
16:44His Olympic record remained unbroken for 48 years.
16:49Today, track students at OSU warm up at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
16:53Perhaps with their own Olympic aspirations.
17:00Buckeye pride is everywhere across the 1,700-acre campus of Ohio State.
17:06From basketball to hockey, baseball to tennis.
17:09But at the heart of the campus is one place where Buckeye fans really go nuts.
17:15It's here at Ohio Stadium.
17:18The horseshoe-shaped bowl is the fourth largest in the nation.
17:22More than 36 million fans have warmed these seats since 1922.
17:28For the most fanatical Buckeye disciples, Section 39A is the place to be.
17:33Known as Block O, fans here behind the South End Zone start cheers,
17:37put on spectacular card stunts, and keep Buckeye spirit high.
17:42Especially when Ohio State faces its most rabid rival, the Michigan Wolverines.
17:48Simply as The Game, this face-off has been called
17:51the greatest sports rivalry in North America.
17:57Despite their success as a top college team,
17:59the Buckeyes have had their dramatic ups and downs.
18:03In 2010, the team was rocked by Tattoogate,
18:07when the star quarterback and four other players
18:09were caught selling Buckeye Championship awards for cash and free tattoos.
18:15It ended with player suspensions and the end of Coach Jim Tressel's career.
18:21Despite the scandal, bragging rights help keep Buckeye spirit soaring.
18:26Their players have won Heisman Trophies seven times.
18:33The Heisman Trophy is named after Ohio native John Heisman,
18:37who was born north of Columbus in the city of Cleveland in 1869.
18:44The legendary impact on the sport lives on today
18:47at Cleveland's Browns Stadium on the shores of Lake Erie.
18:52Every time a Browns quarterback shouts out,
18:54hike, to signal the snap, he's using a term that John Heisman invented.
19:00Ohio sports fans take their devotion to their teams and players very seriously.
19:06In the 1990s, the Browns owner, an advertising executive named Art Modell,
19:11announced he was moving the team to Baltimore,
19:14in part because Cleveland's existing Browns Stadium was outdated.
19:19Enraged fans protested, and the city of Cleveland sued to keep the team in town,
19:24arguing that a new publicly funded stadium was already approved.
19:30In the end, Modell was allowed to move his players to Maryland,
19:34but he had to pay the city $12 million and leave the team's name behind in Cleveland.
19:41In 1999, a new Cleveland Browns played their first game here at the new Browns Stadium,
19:48and many fans today are just as devoted to the new team as they were to the old one.
19:55But not all Ohio sports tales have a happy ending.
19:58Cleveland is also the site of one of the most famous betrayals in sports history,
20:03which hit fans hard here at the Quicken Loans Arena, also known as the Q.
20:10In 2003, the Cleveland Cavaliers struck it big when they scored the NBA Lottery's number one draft pick.
20:17They chose Ohio native LeBron James.
20:21James quickly helped turn the struggling team around,
20:24leading the Cavaliers to the NBA playoffs in 2006.
20:28He became the pride of many Ohio sports fans.
20:32But in 2010, James suddenly announced he was leaving the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
20:38Fans were outraged. Some burned their LeBron James jerseys.
20:43The owner of the Cavaliers called the decision a cowardly betrayal.
20:48James moved to Miami, but held on to his 35,000 square foot Ohio mansion in his hometown of Akron.
20:56It becomes complete with a bowling alley, casino, barbershop, and of course, a basketball court.
21:03Not to mention plenty of security in case any betrayed fans still hold a grudge.
21:11LeBron James first caught the attention of pro basketball scouts here at St. Vincent St. Mary High School in Akron,
21:19a city better known as the rubber capital of America.
21:24It lies just south of Cleveland. In Greek, Akron means a high point.
21:30The town lies on the highest point on the Ohio and Erie Canal,
21:34a once bustling waterway that connected Lake Erie in the north with the Ohio River in the south.
21:41Fly over Akron today, and giant rubber factories appear in nearly every direction.
21:48But Akron's rubber story begins long before cars sped down its streets.
21:54According to legend, the city's first rubber king, B.F. Goodrich,
21:58launched his business after watching a friend's house burn to the ground when the firefighters' old hoses failed in the cold.
22:07Goodrich opened his plant here in 1871, first making rubber fire hoses and bicycle tires.
22:16By 1888, he was developing new inflatable tires for bicycles, and later for cars.
22:25Thanks to its specialized labor force, more rubber companies opened their doors here,
22:30and Akron became the rubber capital of America.
22:34Akron's streets bustled as the rubber industry boomed.
22:38In the early 20th century, it was at one point the fastest growing city in the nation.
22:44Actor Clark Gable even worked here at the Firestone plant, a brief pit stop on his road to Hollywood.
22:51It was an actor friend at the factory who first invited Clark to see a play,
22:55and the young man became hooked on the idea of acting.
23:01But by the 1970s, radial tires from Europe were all the rage, and business began to falter.
23:09In just 15 years, most of the big tire producers here were bought out by foreign companies.
23:16Most of Akron's rubber factories closed for good.
23:20The Goodrich tire brand is now owned by Michelin,
23:24and Akron's legendary Firestone plant was closed when the company was purchased by Japan's Bridgestone Corporation.
23:32Bridgestone still makes race car tires in Akron, but the rest of its manufacturing plants are located around the world.
23:43There may not be much rubber left in Akron,
23:46but there's one place here where the product that built this city is on proud display,
23:51covering an engineering marvel that towers over the Akron International Airport.
23:58This rubber-roofed behemoth is known as the Goodyear Air Dock.
24:03When it was built in 1929, it was the world's largest structure without interior supports.
24:10With nearly 364,000 square feet of floor space, it's big enough to house eight football fields side by side.
24:20And there's a very good reason why it's so big.
24:23In the 1930s, the U.S. Navy needed a place to build massive helium-filled airships that could act like flying aircraft carriers.
24:32Though some believe these airships, also called dirigibles, represented the future of air travel,
24:37they made easy targets for enemy aircraft and didn't fare well in bad weather.
24:46Airships never took off like many predicted,
24:49but this giant hangar is still in use by an aerospace contractor.
24:57The downfall of the dirigible may have put an end to one dream of flight,
25:03but it didn't diminish Ohio's lofty place in aviation history,
25:08thanks to two brothers whose daring first attempts to take to the air would make Ohio the birthplace of aviation.
25:24From its astronauts to world-class athletes, Ohio has been the humble home of dreamers who dared to aim high.
25:32For one pair of Ohio brothers, it took a little ingenuity, passion, and determination to turn their dream of flight into reality.
25:43It all began just about 50 miles north of Cincinnati, in the city of Dayton, a place known today as the birthplace of aviation.
25:52It was here that Wilbur and Orville Wright ran a modest bicycle shop and printing press,
25:58in a brick corner building that still stands downtown today.
26:03From their work on bicycles, they already knew control and balance would be critical,
26:09so they tested their ideas with unmanned gliders.
26:16Although the Wrights had managed to lift off on the beach of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina,
26:20they hadn't found a way to stay in the air for more than a minute.
26:24But that was about to change.
26:28The brothers convinced a local farmer to lend them a cow pasture.
26:32The owner of this field gave his permission, but on the condition that they clear the runway of livestock before taking off.
26:42They also needed a place to store their invention, so they built a simple hangar on the field.
26:48A reconstruction of that original building now stands at the site.
26:54After many attempts, the brothers' dreams finally took off.
26:59In October 1905, Orville lifted up into the skies in their handmade airplane, for their longest flight to date.
27:08He managed to circle the field 29 times before finally running out of fuel,
27:13after staying in the air for a record 39 minutes.
27:19What may have excited the Wright brothers the most was knowing that flight offered a chance to see the world from a new perspective,
27:26something that their own hard work tinkering with aerodynamics had made possible.
27:32Isn't it astonishing, wrote Orville, that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years, just so that we could discover them?
27:43Five years later, the Wright brothers were building the world's first mass-produced airplane, which they named the Model B Flyer.
27:51Costing $5,000 in 1910, it was released at about the same time as Henry Ford's Model T.
27:59It's believed that 100 of these planes were mass-produced and sold, including some to the U.S. Army,
28:05and even one, some say, to the Mexican revolutionary leader, Pancho Villa.
28:11Today, aviation buffs fly high over Dayton in this replica of the Model B.
28:17Nicknamed the Brown Bird, it's been soaring the skies since 1982.
28:22Only a few pilots in the world are qualified to fly it.
28:29It's like riding a motorcycle in the sky, except there's almost unlimited visibility.
28:35It's built to the exact specifications of the original Model B,
28:39as a two-seater with separate controls that allows the pilots to maneuver the plane's pitch, yaw, and roll.
28:46But not everything's the same.
28:48The Model B Flyer's original spruce frame has been replaced with sturdy but lightweight steel.
28:54And instead of landing on wooden skids like the original, this plane touches down on Harley-Davidson tires.
29:04After their astounding success, Wilbur and Orville traveled the world, but always came home to Dayton.
29:12Orville later lived here at Hawthorne Hill, a mansion with the Wrights' endless flair for clever DIY gadgetry,
29:20including a toaster that could slice bread and what was called a circular shower bath.
29:27But the Wright brothers knew that success required much more than just new gadgets and technology.
29:34As Wilbur put it, what is chiefly needed is skill rather than machinery.
29:41And that's proven to be the case for another of Ohio's legends,
29:46one who lives just outside Columbus in this mansion that's rumored to be 60,000 square feet and have heated sidewalks.
29:55This is the estate that Victoria's Secret built.
29:58It belongs to Les Wexner, CEO and retired founder of the global retailing giant, Limited Brands.
30:06In 1963, Wexner borrowed $5,000 from his aunt to start a clothing store in Columbus that he called The Limited.
30:14He had a special skill for identifying trends in fashion.
30:17And just six years later, The Limited went public.
30:22In 1982, he purchased Victoria's Secret.
30:26Today, Wexner's net worth is estimated at $4.4 billion, which makes him the richest man in the state.
30:37And he's kept much of his empire right here in Ohio.
30:40The headquarters of one of his most successful companies lies just down the road,
30:45the giant campus of Abercrombie & Fitch, a brand that caters to the youthful and the athletic.
30:52Inside this $131 million complex, there are few cubicles or closed office doors.
30:59The office space has an open layout to encourage teamwork.
31:04Consistent with the company's active and outdoorsy branding, the complex is designed to bring the outdoors inside,
31:11with large windows and open concrete walkways.
31:15Here, scooters and skateboards are more common than suits and ties.
31:19Abercrombie & Fitch's devotion to lifestyle branding has helped this retail giant go far,
31:25with hundreds of stores around the world and billions of dollars in revenue.
31:30But some accuse the company's culture of youth and beauty of going too far.
31:35In a business where six-pack abs are part of its selling strategy, lawsuits are popping up.
31:41In 2004, the company paid $40 million to settle claims from minority employees who claimed discrimination.
31:50Since Les Wexner no longer personally runs Abercrombie & Fitch,
31:54he remains to be seen if this Ohio company can continue his success.
31:58And Wexner is not the only one in Ohio that's proven to have a Midas touch.
32:02Nearly two centuries ago, a young U.S. naval commander facing certain death
32:07launched a daring assault against a foreign power just off Ohio shores.
32:15These sandy shores mark Ohio's northern border on Lake Erie.
32:21The waters of this lake may be peaceful today,
32:25but in the early 19th century, they were filled with battleships, cannons ablaze
32:30during one of the most important naval battles in United States history.
32:36It all happened in the waters off South Bass Island,
32:39which now lies just south of the Canadian border.
32:43In 1812, war broke out between Britain and the U.S.
32:48That same year, British forces captured Detroit.
32:51The U.S. Navy feared that Lake Erie could be next.
32:56Then, on September 10, 1813, six British warships sailed towards South Bass Island.
33:03Many feared it was part of a British plan to take complete control over Lake Erie.
33:08In response to the threat, 27-year-old United States Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry
33:14rushed his fleet into action, here in a place called Put-in-Bay.
33:21At first, the southwest winds worked against Perry's fleet.
33:25The British ships fired heavily on Perry's ship, the USS Lawrence,
33:29killing or wounding nearly all of his crew.
33:33Desperate and on the verge of defeat, Perry decided to risk it all.
33:38In a small skiff and under fire, he rode to his nearest fighting ship, the Niagara, and climbed on board.
33:45Then, Perry and his men sailed the Niagara straight towards the British fleet.
33:49The winds changed, and so did Perry's luck.
33:54Two British ships became entangled and were unable to maneuver in defense.
33:59Almost immediately, the British surrendered.
34:03In a span of just 20 minutes, Perry had gone from facing certain death to capturing every British vessel.
34:12Lake Erie was now safely in American hands.
34:15Today, a memorial to Perry's victory soars 350 feet over the site of the battle.
34:21With the British threat removed, Ohio's focus turned to trade.
34:26Ohio's farms were already producing corn, wheat, and other grains by the bushel.
34:31But getting them to markets was proving to be a challenge.
34:39In the early 19th century, the state government commissioned new canals
34:43to connect Lake Erie to the Ohio River, helping create a giant transportation network
34:49that reached from New York City to the Mississippi River and ultimately New Orleans.
34:54In the days before trucks and trains carried goods across the country, canals were the highways of commerce.
35:01Farmers, merchants, travelers, and industrial tycoons all relied on these watery routes.
35:07Long stretches of Ohio's early canals have fallen into disrepair.
35:11But some remain and offer a glimpse of how goods were once transported across the state.
35:18To keep the boats and barges moving, mules often pulled them from the shore
35:23and could drag barges all the way from Toledo to Cincinnati.
35:29In Ohio, the city that benefited most from this network was Cleveland, thanks to a few titans of industry.
35:36One of the earliest was John D. Rockefeller, the world's first billionaire, who grew up just outside of town.
35:43In 1863, he and a partner built an oil refinery here on what's called the Flats.
35:49It was the start of a business that would become the oil giant Standard Oil,
35:54parts of which would later go on to become both Chevron and Exxon Mobil.
35:59Rockefeller's success helped transform this lakeside business.
36:03Rockefeller's success helped transform this lakeside city into a bustling epicenter of industry.
36:10Steel quickly became the city's backbone.
36:13By 1880, nearly 30% of Cleveland's residents worked in steel mills south of town.
36:19Today, Cleveland's steel plants are still going strong.
36:24These are some of the largest plants of their kind in America.
36:28And they still rely on the winding Cuyahoga River to ship their goods to market.
36:34Today, bulk carriers carefully navigate this narrow waterway, just as ships have been doing for more than a century.
36:42But one wrong move of these long, cumbersome carriers can spell disaster.
36:48This busy river was once the embarrassment of the city,
36:51and may be one of the reasons why Cleveland was once nicknamed the Mistake by the Lake.
36:58For years, Standard Oil, Goodyear Tires, Sherwin-Williams Paints, and Republic Steel all dumped their waste right into the Cuyahoga River.
37:08Until one day in 1969, when the river itself caught on fire in one of the most famous environmental disasters of the 20th century.
37:17It began when sparks from a passing train ignited oil-dredged debris floating in the stagnant water.
37:23Flames leapt high enough to burn down a wooden bridge.
37:27Firefighters quickly controlled the blaze, but by then, it was too late.
37:33Cleveland was now a symbol of industry gone amok.
37:37The fire happened at about the same time that Ohio native Neil Armstrong made his historic first step on the moon.
37:44And after Time Magazine covered both events in the same widely-read issue, the river that burned became a rallying cry.
37:53The Environmental Protection Agency was formed within three years.
38:00Ohioans started paying attention to the Cuyahoga itself, a once-beautiful waterway that had been abused.
38:06Soon, more and more people were fighting to clean up and restore this watershed.
38:11Today, their efforts have resulted in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, now a protected stretch of river with miles of biking trails and places set aside for wildlife to thrive.
38:23While fish populations have risen dramatically in years, the high levels of contaminants and bacteria still plague this waterway.
38:34But it's not just rivers that are being claimed in Cleveland.
38:39In this university circle district, old buildings are being invaded and new ones built.
38:45This modernist cube, designed by Farzad Mousavi, the Cuyahoga, is home for Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art, or MCCA.
38:54Its blue light weapons respond to the changing light and activity on the street below and are meant to help visitors experience and reflect on the passing of time.
39:04Even its shape is in flux.
39:07MOCA starts off on the ground as a hexagon, but ends up as a square at its roof.
39:16Another design undulates more like crashing waves.
39:20Frank Gehry's Peter Beane's Cuyahoga, designed by Frank Gehry, is home to the Cuyahoga National Park.
39:27Another design undulates more like crashing waves.
39:32Frank Gehry's Peter B. Lewis's Cuyahoga, home of the Weatherhead School of Management, is one of University Circle's most iconic structures.
39:40Here, some existing buildings are being given a modern twist.
39:45Cleveland's Museum of Art, which first opened in 1916, is getting a $350 million renovation, which includes a brand new glass-roofed atrium.
39:56But in University Circle, cutting-edge design is not only reserved for kids.
40:02This glimmer-curve design is home to the most innovative medical centers in the world.
40:08This is just one of several buildings belonging to the Cleveland Clinic.
40:12Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, and even William Randolph Hearst have all sought treatment here.
40:20But the building that kick-started Cleveland's modern building boom isn't on University Circle.
40:26It's downtown, and looks out over the banks of Lake Erie.
40:31This is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
40:35Nearly 300 legendary artists have been inducted here.
40:39And there's a very good reason why this popular site was built in Cleveland.
40:43Many believe rock and roll was born right here in town.
40:47Not the music, but the moniker.
40:49In 1951, a Cleveland DJ named Alan Freed first came up with the phrase rock and roll to describe a new beat-driven kind of music.
40:59The hall's glass and steel pyramid was designed by famed architect I.M. Pei, who once admitted he had no idea what rock and roll even was.
41:10But after seeing a few concerts, Pei understood what it was all about, and decided that the best way to capture the energy of rock and roll was with a pyramid design.
41:19Outside, painted replicas of Fender Stratocasters are part of Guitar Mania, an art project that raises money for the United Way of Greater Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's educational programs by auctioning off the guitar sculptures.
41:34The highest bid yet was for Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace guitar, which brought in $105,000 for charity.
41:43While these guitars may act as colorful tributes to rock and roll, other monuments here memorialize lives gone by.
41:52Here, at Lakeview Cemetery, this Victorian garden-style cemetery is the final home to many of Cleveland's finest citizens, including John D. Rockefeller.
42:04This castle-like memorial is for President James Garfield, who was shot in 1881, just after four months in office.
42:14The injury itself was light, but unfortunately, in 1881, American doctors hadn't yet embraced the idea of germs, and didn't sterilize their equipment before operating.
42:26Garfield finally died from an infection. He rests here, with 100,000 others, in this 300-acre cemetery that feels more like a garden than a graveyard.
42:37Built in 1869, this cemetery was planted with chestnut oaks, Japanese maples, and magnolias, all designed to create a serene urban oasis.
42:47But not all of Ohio's pastoral places are as peaceful as they might seem. Sometimes, horrifying things can happen where they're least expected.
43:02Ohio. It's been home to innovators, industrial titans, and record-breaking athletes.
43:08But for many out here in rural Ohio, their ventures are best when they're kept small, and in the family.
43:15Nearly 90% of Ohio's farms are family-owned. Corn and soy are their top crops.
43:22Every fall, teams of modern combines and trucks roll out across the state.
43:28These highly efficient machines harvest acre after acre of corn and other crops with amazing speed.
43:34But not all of Ohio's bounty is harvested the modern way.
43:39Take these upright bundles of corn. They've all been cut and stacked by hand.
43:45This technique, called corn-shocking, allows the stalks to dry without any rot.
43:51Hundreds of years old, it's still practiced today by the Amish.
43:56Here in Holmes County, Ohio, the Amish are the pioneers.
44:01Here in Holmes County, they live pretty much as they always have, since they first arrived in Ohio nearly 200 years ago.
44:09With close to 60,000 Amish in Ohio, this state has the largest Amish community in the country.
44:16The Amish believe that modern technology corrupts, which is why they still drive horse-drawn carriages and wear simple, unadorned clothing.
44:25On narrow country roads, their buggies can come in handy to bypass traffic.
44:39Since the Amish have cut off many of their ties with the outside world, their way of life has remained a mystery to many.
44:47So when the news broke of a shocking Amish scandal, it captivated the nation.
44:53It began here, in this small valley, in 2011.
44:58At the time, this was home to an Amish splinter group, led by a man named Samuel Mullet,
45:04who lived in this White House, surrounded by dozens of his followers.
45:10Some said that Mullet's direct Burkholtz clan was actually a cult,
45:14and that he was known to severely punish those who didn't follow him.
45:17So, when members of his group fled, Mullet was accused of taking revenge.
45:24In Amish communities, beards for men and uncut hair for women are treasured symbols of religious devotion,
45:31which is why many believe they became Mullet's targets.
45:35He was accused of ordering some of his loyal followers to kill him.
45:39The gang, now known as the Burkholtz Boys, carried out attacks in the dark of night,
45:44holding down their victims and then cutting off their beards or hair with scissors and battery-operated clippers.
45:50Mullet's own sister was one of those attacked.
45:54The FBI raided the settlement, and Mullet and others were arrested.
45:58The Burkholtz Boys, who had been working for the Amish for many years,
46:03Mullet's own sister was one of those attacked.
46:06The FBI raided the settlement, and Mullet and others were arrested.
46:10Prosecutors charged him with hate crimes.
46:14In 2013, Mullet was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail for his role in masterminding the beard-cutting attacks.
46:27But there's another twist to this tale.
46:29Thanks to the modern technology that the Amish often shun,
46:33it's been reported that Mullet is now a multi-millionaire,
46:36and that his property sits on a gold mine of natural gas,
46:40that fracking companies have paid millions to extract.
46:45With its rolling hills and open plains,
46:48Ohio offers plenty of places to carve out one's own community,
46:53even for celebrities with a cult-like status.
46:57Roughly 70 miles northeast of Columbus lies an idyllic spot called Malabar Farm.
47:04Here, surrounded by forests and fields, creative minds have found a place to return to nature,
47:11surround themselves with the season's natural beauty,
47:15and write a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel or two.
47:19Author Louis Bromfield lived here, at Malabar Farm, in the 1940s and 50s.
47:25But he was often not alone.
47:28Hollywood's biggest stars at the time considered the farm an ideal getaway.
47:33Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married here in 1945.
47:38At the time, it was the tabloid's most sensational story.
47:42Errol Flynn, Dorothy Lamour, Clark Gable, and others soon flocked here.
47:47But even stars had to work on the farm,
47:50thanks to Bromfield's passion for sustainable agriculture.
47:52Some locals remember seeing James Cagney selling vegetables at the farm's produce stand.
47:58Although the stars have since moved on to other glamorous getaways,
48:02Malabar Farm has yet another intriguing link to Hollywood.
48:08Hidden in the trees, this small cabin on the property may not look like much,
48:14but it's where the powerful opening scene of The Shawshank Redemption was filmed.
48:19Starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, the film follows a banker accused of murder,
48:25his sometimes brutal imprisonment, and his inspiring friendship with a fellow inmate.
48:30Much of the rest of the movie was filmed nearby, at the Ohio State Reformatory.
48:35This castle-like facility was built in 1896 and closed in 1990.
48:42That's when Hollywood saw an opportunity.
48:44The gloomy Romanesque architecture provided the perfect setting for Shawshank.
48:51From the moment character Annie Dufresne walks through the prison yard on his way to see the warden,
48:56to his brutal stint in solitary confinement,
48:59the prison plays the role of the ultimate antagonist.
49:04The facility's goal is to break the spirits of all who enter its gates.
49:08Yet, Andy does not give up hope, and his unflagging faith in freedom
49:12encourages those around him who've long ago been broken.
49:19The film's most iconic scene takes place under an oak tree nearby.
49:24It's beneath this tree's heavy boughs where Morgan Freeman's character, Red,
49:29digs up a buried message and realizes it's time to eat.
49:32Severe winds nearly took down the tree in 2011,
49:36but true to the film's message of hope and survival,
49:39a good part of the oak still stands tall.
49:42For now, its most serious threats may come from movie buffs and tourists
49:46seeking out this legendary tree.
49:49Many fans of the film make a pilgrimage to the oak tree
49:53to see if they can get a glimpse of what it's like to live under it.
49:56But there's no fencing in the bold spirit of Ohio.
50:00From those who dreamed of flight,
50:03even making it all the way to the moon,
50:06from the brave who dared to take a stand against slavery,
50:10to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:13to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:16to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:19to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:22to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:24to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:27to those who dreamt of freedom,
50:30the innovative, inventive, and inspirational
50:33will always be found in Ohio.