My Cleveburgh Mental Map Part 1

I never learned any even simple graphics programs, but I thought it might be good to put up a mental map of the region to more clearly define my primary area of interest.

Greater Cleveburgh

Northwest Corner --- Lorain, Ohio (or actually the middle of Lake Erie north of there-if your trying to keep things lined up)

Southwest Corner ---- Athens, Ohio (Home of Ohio University)

Southeast Corner -----Just southeast of Cumberland, Maryland

Northeast Corner -----Around Olean, New York

Why not it stretch a bit east and include Columbus or take it up to include Buffalo or Southeast to Baltimore and DC? Mostly, because one has to stop somewhere and this seems like a very logical place to start.

Why isn't State College included? A better question might be, why is Penn State really in the middle of nowhere at all and what effect does that have on it's value?
Is it really that crude and cras to talk about our return on investments this huge?

By the way, the People who built the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad seemed to have been thinking along these lines. Notice also the dense network of roads and cities in the center of this map--Warren, Youngstown, Akron that were built on a very clear logistical logic. Westinghouse, Cranberry, right near the middle of the map.

Mental Maps Of Cleveburgh Part 1

"Amateurs talk tactics, dilettantes talk strategy and professionals
talk logistics." Military saying.

An outsider with even a slim knowledge of geography, and it's role in American economic history has to notice is the way the old mental maps and logical patterns that lead to the region's growth somehow got lost or distorted as state maps grew (based on the false idea that politics trumped physical reality) in importance. The problem is that the basic logistics that Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt knew so well hasn't changed. We need their maps.

Heads up on a major Cleveburgh planning and brainstorming conference on May 21st in Youngstown.

If you have thoughts, insight or images you want to share about art, music, film, urban design, architecture, transit or history in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Erie, Morgantown, Akron, Canton region--Cleveburgh, email me diggingpitt@gmail.com. We can hook you up to post.

This is not Hyper Local media, but regional media seeking local viewpoints.