Boneyfiddle Historic Area

As I have been posting the pictures from my walk yesterday, I have mentioned in all of them the area I took them in is called The historic Boneyfiddle Area of Portsmouth Ohio.   Most people when they hear this name often scratch their heads as to why in the world it has such a funny name.   In truth, I never knew the reason until a few months ago when I was reading an article in our local paper. 

The area of Boneyfiddle was settled sometime in the 1800's (I forget the exact year, I'll have to check that out on the Floodwall Murals (more on those in a few).  The German Immigrants decided to move to higher ground, because their first settlement was flooded nearly every year by the floods of the Ohio River (Finally they got smart I guess hehe, the funny thing is, modern humans are not that smart, there is currently a race track for cars that is in the spot that Alexandria, the old settlement, would have been. And every year it floods.  I just have to wonder if the owners ever read a history book.)

Fastfoward a few decades or so, the Boneyfiddle area florished as a commerical area, thanks to the completion of the Ohio & Erie Cannals (which Some of the cannal can still be seen in some places, I'll have to get pictures of the ruins sometime).  

Throughout the Civial War, the Boneyfiddle District as well as other parts of Portsmouth were stops on the Underground Rail Road.   Some of the buildings have hide away spaces in the basement that would have had an artifical wall that runaway slaves could hide behind.  (I'm making a mental note to try to get to take pictures of some that I have access too, as I write this its creating 'to do' pictures in my mind hehe).

In the present time, the area suffered greatly during the Ohio River Flood of 1937.  The flood waters reached an amazing 74 feet, and most of the buildings retain watermarks.  Below is a picture from the Washinton Building (now part of the senior center) that shows the high water mark. (please click next on the photos above to view it, when I try to add pictures to my essay, they get all blurry)

After the flood, the Portsmouth Flood Wall was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.   In 1993, the city commissioned Robert Dafford,  to paint the murals with the history of the town from prehistory to present.    They are truly an amazing sight! (They will be part of my next walk)  

So where did the name "Boneyfiddle" come from?  Local historians are of several opinions.    Some say it is from the "boney fields" of slaughtered pigs from the settlers farms (I am thinking this one is a stretch of the imagination, because you would think the settlers had a better way to use the bones.)  The story I am most willing to believe is that it is shortened  from the French, Bonne Fidele which would mean "Good Will" (The French did spend some time in this area prior to the Germans, so this to me is a probable meaning). 

Regardless of meaning, I hope I have peaked everyone's interest in my hometown, and you will come by again to see the rest of my pictures from yesterday's walk, as well as the walks I will take later on.