This week Columbus officials honored a woman who's 'highly' regarded.
Pilot Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock was honored on Monday as the 53rd inductee into the Columbus Hall of Fame. Mock was the first female pilot to fly solo around the world. Dubbed the "flying housewife," she flew her single-engine Cessna 180 "Spirit of Columbus" plane 23,000 miles in nearly 29 days before landing in Ohio's capital city in April 1964. She was a native of Newark, Ohio, a suburban mother of three and an experienced pilot who studied aeronautical engineering at Ohio State University.
Sadly Mock recently passed away late last month at age 88, but the memory of her journey will live on forever in our state capital's hall of fame.
Also in Columbus, state officials are celebrating the release of nearly 200 large amphibians into three eastern Ohio watersheds through a partnership with two zoos.
A watershed is an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.
The release comes in an effort to re-establish the eastern hellbender, an aquatic giant salamander with grayish skin and a flattened head. It's the largest amphibian in Ohio and one of the largest salamanders in the world. The state department of natural resources says the amphibians' release occurred over the summer and consisted of 45 animals reared at the Columbus Zoo. Another 144 salamanders came from eggs reared at the Toledo Zoo. State officials say the hellbender plays a key role in the state's natural heritage, and the species' presence is an indicator of healthy habitats, such as clean water.
Ashtabula County in northeast Ohio held its annual covered bridge festival this past weekend at the county fairgrounds in Jefferson. Named the covered bridge capital of Ohio, the county's two day festival celebrated its 18 covered bridges, including the Smolen-Gulf, the longest covered bridge in the United States, extending 613 feet long and standing 93 feet above the Ashtabula River. Ashtabula County also has the shortest drivable bridge in the U.S. The 18 foot long Liberty Bridge in Geneva. Some of the bridges were originally built in the 1860s and have since undergone renovation to keep them accessible to cars. All but one covered bridge in the county is drivable.