Shenandoah Crash Site #3

Sharon, Ohio

The USS Shenandoah was America's first zeppelin, and a big deal in its time, which was brief. On September 4, 1925, during an ill-advised publicity tour to drum up support for airships, the Shenandoah flew into a storm over Ohio. The zeppelin proved no match for Mother Nature, was ripped into several pieces, and crashed.

A Zeppelin crash site is something worth visiting, and the people of Noble County have provided several locations where travelers can ponder the calamity-prone sky whales of yesteryear.

The spot where the Shenandoah's bow landed is marked with a sign: "Wreckage Site Number 3." It's on the north side of Hwy 78, four miles west of I-77 exit 25. The bow, partially buoyed by remaining pockets of helium, floated gently to the ground, with, amazingly, everyone on board alive. Ernest Nichols, the farmer who owned the property, tied the bow to trees to keep it from blowing away. For many years the trees, and later the stumps of the trees, were tourist attractions. Now all that's here is the sign, a single picnic table, and a tombstone with "USS Shenandoah" on it, with little explanation of what it means, or of why something with a USS in front of it was crashing in landlocked southeastern Ohio.