(Reprinted with permission of the Ashtabula Star Beacon)

How she loved her bridges

Naomi Bottorf's lifelong interest in covered bridges
builds foundation for new museum

By CARL E. FEATHER
Lifestyle Editor

BARRIE BOTTORF (left) and Holly Watson (right) stand outside the new museum along with Watson's daughter, Julie Grandbouche. Watson and Bottorf are two of Naomi Olin and Fred Bottorf's seven children. They also are incorporators of the museum, along with Julie's husband Jason and brother Brad.

The late Naomi Olin Bottorf always wondered what would become of the hundreds of covered-bridge items she collected in her 95 years of living.

"She'd say, 'What on earth will you do with all my beloved bridges?" recalled her daughter, Holly Watson of Plymouth Township. "I'd say 'Don't worry Mom, we'll start a museum.'"

Watson and her brother Barrie Bottorf have made good on that promise with the opening of the Olins Museum of Covered Bridges, 1918 Dewey Road.

Located just east of the covered bridge that bears the family name, the museum occupies three rooms of a house that belonged to Naomi's Aunt Nettie Fuller. Now owned by Watson's daughter and her husband, Julie and Jason Grandbouche, the house had sat vacant for several years. About a year ago, Watson, Bottorf, the Grandbouches and Julie's brother Brad agreed that the house would best be utilized as a museum, and they formed a non-profit corporation, the Olins Covered Bridge Museum.

The primary purpose of the museum is to put Naomi's huge collection of covered bridge material in the public eye.

"Ninety-nine percent of the stuff in here was my mother's," said Barrie. "It's been in boxes and we wanted to do something with it."

The collection includes commemorative plates and mugs, key fobs, puzzles, books, towels, candles, dishes and calendars with a covered bridge image on them. There's even a can of air freshener that sported a covered bridge photo.

"If it had a covered bridge on it, she had to have it," Holly said.

Naomi, who died in 1995 at the age of 95, was known as the "Covered Bridge Lady of Ashtabula County." She belonged to at least 16 covered bridge societies and was a frequent speaker at schools and clubs about rural icons.

Her collecting interests included clipping articles and saving society newsletters. Over the decades, she assembled a vast reference library of wooden bridge history.

Holly said her grandmother's interest in bridges transcended those of Ashtabula County. Her collection includes information about and images of bridges from around the world.

With such a wealth of information available, the museum's incorporators want to make it as much an educational resource as it is a fascinating look at one woman's passion for this rustic icon. Holly is photocopying and indexing the thousands of pages of newsletters and clippings so they will be available to researchers. They plan to have a computer in the museum that will have bookmarks to the many covered bridge sites on the World Wide Web.

The one link the computer won't have is for other covered bridge museums. Holly's research has shown that the Plymouth Township museum is the only one like it in the world. The incorporators believe it's a matter of "if you build it, they will come."

The fact that there's a covered bridge walking distance from the museum further enhances the museum's chances for success.

The land surrounding the bridge has been owned by the Olin family since 1860. The bridge was constructed between 1873 and 1875 and spans the Ashtabula River. It is the only covered bridge in the county named after a family.

Naomi was raised near the bridge and grew up with a love for the structure and covered bridges in general.

A by-invitation-only preview of the museum was held on Naomi's birthday, May 29.

They are planning to be open three days a week — Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday — and by appointment. The season will probably run Memorial Day through Labor Day, Christmas and, of course, Covered Bridge Festival weekend.

The museum is in no way associated with the Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival Committee, although Holly Watson said the museum fully supports the work of that group. The family has always had a presence at the Olin Bridge during the festival and will continue to do so, although on a scaled-back level now that they have the museum.

The family has already invested about $8,000 in refurbishing the home and making it handicapped-accessible to the public. Holly said the museum will not have a set admission fee, but will accept donations. And with boxes and boxes of Naomi's treasures still to be unpacked, they are already discussing expansion plans.

"Now that we're open, we will apply for some grants," Barrie said.