Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1932-11-17
Renr0ck

Seeing Perfy's Den--and Others
One morning recently orr aged
mother Incidentally remarked that
she had never seen Perry's d n Her
parents lived and died only three
or four miles away (Hiramsburg)
and she herself had never lived
more than ten niles distant yet il
had never been her privilege to visit
this noted place. That day, befole
the sun had reached the western
horizon, she had explored every
nook and corner Of the rendezvous
of Walter G. Perry, the notorious
horse thief and counterfeiter. 1t
had been many years since the writ
or had visited this place, and upon
his recent occasion we went by the
way of Ava and entered the grounds
from the south side, always hereto
fore, going by the way of Cumber-
land and entering the woods on the
north side. Our first observation
was that this portion of the ground
had been changed into quite a park
with many conveniences for the
comfort and entertainment of Wis
itors. We paid the small admission
fee and started up the narrow val
ley to explore the rocky ravines,
when we were confronted with a
high wooden barrier which looked
almost as formidable as the wall Of
the penitentiary, and upon which
priu n
trespassing' This was a "stinger,'
after paying TO see the thing, and
made us feel so little that, had we
gimlet, we might have bored
hole and gone through anyway, but
after buying our gasoline, etc, We
had no money to pay any fines. so
we turned back. However, we
found that these restrictions were
not being enforced, and that there
was a semblance of needles eye,"
which we could crawl through, so
we retraced our steps and Chamber
ed UP and over rocks to the ''Den,o
"Circle Rock" and other places of
interest, to our hearts content.
This romantic place is worth Wis
it and it seems that the interest in
creases viii the passing Of time. We
went back down to Ava and follow
ed dirt road about a mile south
westward and that brought us to
Bull Rock The grandeur of this
huge cavernous rack has been mar
red by the clearing out of the TIM
a,lxy rr,Jenr md dnl IL
Years ago when it was all in woods, |
to approach this spot by following
up the ravine, and upon getting the
first gympse of its great. ,yawning |
mouth, was really appalling. It's
size makes up for its |
lack of history. All we know about |
tits that a valuable farm animal |
fell over the precipice and lost its |
life and that was the way it got its |
elegant CD name. We were now
headed toward the McElroy school |
house near which is the old cabin |
and burying ground,-the final rest
ing place of John Gray, the last SOL
dier of the Revolution. This sadly |
neglected place has not been exag- |
gerated. 1t is as one writer ex-
pressed it, the nations shame. I'm
less you can, trough it, work your
way through a hedge fence, inter-
laced with barbed wire, stand to
have your shanks scratched with
briars, you'll not be able to get up
close to it. The short lane leading
from the main road is also in bad
condition. We imagine that If John
Gray's historian, who was none 9TH
or than the Hon. j. M. Dalzell, was
10 return to his old home in school
district OF "Bedlam," (that was
what 1t was before it got it's new
name of Pleasant Ridge) and make
4 Sunday school speech, as in the
days of yore, the first thing he
would inquire about would be, "has
here been a suitable monument 4
erected over the grave of John
5ray?" And this reminds us that !