This is the seventh in a series of guest posts by Abigail Van Gelder, who with her husband, Josh, is journeying across the country on the Library’s “Gateway to Knowledge” traveling exhibition:
We knew that Oberlin, OH was going to be a special event. Oberlin College is the alma mater of Emily Rapoport—who, with her sister Abby, made our rolling exhibition possible–and the school wanted to make sure we had a great trip. However, we had no idea what all this community had in store for us.
Pulling into our Oberlin, OH show early in the morning we saw this picturesque little community waking up. Folks were getting the paper and enjoying a cup of coffee; local businesses were sweeping off porches and unlocking doors, all with smiles. This was just the beginning to how Oberlin made us feel like a part of the community. Oberlin College has a beautiful campus, particularly with the vivid colors of the turning leaves. It was such a treat to be surrounded by the changing of the season.
Nothing makes us feel more welcome than having a street closed for our exclusive use; we placed the truck right in the middle of town on a road bordering a park and Oberlin College. This put us right on the path of students moving between classes and going about their daily business. Over the two days Gateway to Knowledge was open, we chatted with some brilliant young minds. It was pleasure to be the object of such inquisitiveness that comes from students questing for knowledge.
Oberlin had lots of surprises in store for us, including some wonderful restaurants– how can one little town have so many great chefs? We also had great company to go with it. We had a friend and fellow blogger (The Abraham Lincoln Blog) from Akron come and have dinner with us our first night in Oberlin and then Mike Crosson from MRA, the firm that fitted out our truck, came down from Michigan to help out on Tuesday. It is always a pleasure to meet up with friends and share a delicious meal.
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