Field research during a snow day

Yesterday, I went out into the cold and unforgiving weather to take pictures and to do field research for one of my Geography classes. I had myself geared with all of my heaviest clothes. Surprisingly, I did not think it was that cold outside. There was a lot of snow on the ground and I had to hike my way to the location but other than that, I was fine with the weather. Students at Ohio Wesleyan were wondering why wasn't school closed. I did not mind because both of my professors decided to cancel class. The snow stopped falling by the time I decided to leave the comfort of my warm house. This was around 2:30 pm.

My area of research was Lake St. I believe I had the furthest location to the East of Sandusky St. I am very familar with the area because I work at the Common Ground on East Central, which is past Lake St. and past the Railroad tracks. I walked over to Lake St. and carefully surveyed the surrounding area. First, from East William St. to East Winter St. Then, from East Winter St. to East Central St. Finally, from East Central St. to Flax St. I had to verify the information from the 2007 data of Delaware Township by doing the field research with the latest information. There was a lot of changes with the addresses I saw. I mapped the new addresses with the 2007 data of Delaware Township and made sure that the data was correct before I headed back into town.


I had that Geography class earlier today. I had to create and print off Lake St. maps from 1950, 1959, 1969, 1980, 1990, 1999, and 2007 with the additions or subtractions I saw during my field research. I had info from those dates to do the project. The results were interesting. I discussed the changes of Lake St. at length in class but the main thing I realized was that Lake St. used to be like Sandusky St.- filled with industry and residential homes. With Sandusky St. being the main street for Delaware township, Lake St. became a shell of its former shelf. This is evidenced with the vacant and abandoned buildings. There are some signs of life but not like how the data showed for the 1950, 1959, and 1969. The evolution of a street. Very interesting phenomena.



I have more pictures of my adventure to Lake St. in Delaware, Ohio. I wanted to bring a personal perspective of the area and pictures are worth a million words. The snow makes the area even more mystical and mysterious, yet beautiful and even educational. I had fun doing the research on a snow day; it make me all the more appreciative of Delaware, Ohio and its rich history. Enjoy the pictures- I am going to relax before the day's end and write my weather log. Oh, the joys of snow.






Long live the snow day and field research in Delaware, Ohio,
Hasani Wheat
Class of '10

P.S.- More pictures are at the bottom. Some are taken on Lake St. and some are taken from my balcony.