The Dayton Ohio Carillon Bell Tower

Since I was a kid I passed this amazingly tall Bell Tower on the way to and from my parents home towns, they grew up in North Georgia. Dad came North to work in the car factories and mom took up professional hair dressing, we now know as stylist or cosmetologist.

I was a 5 mo. baby taking my first trip from Michigan to Georgia. Back then I-75 had not been built all the way through so we passed on the very road closest to it. When i was old enough we began making regular stops here at the Carillion Bell Tower. When I-75 was pieced there we could only see it from a distance. Strangely enough as many times as I've been there, and passed it this is the first time I actually got photos and some details about the, "unknown Bell Tower."

After learning about it as you'll see below, I'm just utterly amazed that I never was aware people made these Bell Towers, one bell for each family member!

I want one! OK, that's not a reality, just some fun thought! But it would be amazing if we all could have a place of remembrance like this! No one in history would be at wonder of family history!

When I finally got over to asking about this amazing Bell Tower, an ever so nice person came and gave me both the information and how their search differed than mine!

When I did my searches on Bell Towers I kept coming up with nothing on this particular one!

I was beginning to wonder just how many Bell Towers there actually are! I guess there are quite a few, and we hear them, or see them, not really knowing, or like some who go out especially to look around for them, they know all there is to know!

Reading the information about the tower brought me a few fond childhood memories. Other things turned out to be quite interesting. Things sure have changed since I was a small child and played on the grass.

Below is a view of the Bell Tower grounds. It's very pretty up close, and this shows how much space is there. If you get the chance to be around for the time the bells chime that would be a great added pleasure to visiting them.

I'm a map lover myself and I believe you can click the map and take yourself to views of it on the road and look around it. Googles maps are amazing, even using Google earth! Click the street view and click up the road a bit and you can move it around to get different views of the Tower and the surrounding area.

You can zoom in and get better close up photos. I didn't have time on this trip to spend too much time. Plus across the street behind me is a high school and the band was at practice as were the cheerleaders, so traffic was a bit of an issue although the road leading up to the tower didn't have much traffic at all. Possibly something was going on at the school.

They are truly beautiful in all their glory for what they are. I have been doing some other research and hopefully can do another hub on other Bell Towers. I really had no idea that families did this sort of thing and it's amazing to think of each bell representing a family member.

I do not know, but in my research of these, if families still do these and if they moved across the country would their family begin a few Bell Tower for their new family or the other side of a family. It's an amazing thing other than what it just appears to be here online. I hope you take the time to do a street view and look in on them closer!

I found the facts of the Bell Tower rather interesting after seeing it so many times but never knowing any of the history behind it. I think I find the names being associated with the family members and that was their reason for ringing or not is the thing that intrigued me more than any other details about the Bell Tower.

It sets just within eye-shot of I-75 and if you take the exit nearby you can get closer for photographs. When I was a kid my parents would pass it by on the road right in front of it before I-75 was completed through that area. My dad stopped and said us kids would roll in the grass because it was so soft and thick, it was better than carpet. It's funny how I only have a vague memory of that but I've never forgotten to look for the Bell Tower in all the time's I've passed them from my many trips through Dayton Ohio, from Michigan to Georgia. Of course and newest home on the coast of North Carolina.

Funded by Edward Deeds' wife Edith Walton Deeds, the Deeds commemorated each family member with a bell bearing their name.in 1942 now called "The Deeds Carillon tower" Which stands 151ft tall. The park in which the Bell Tower resides get it's name from the tower as well and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places back in 2005.

As I mentioned my most interesting factoid about these particular bells are the way the bells ring. They have, what they call; "silent" bells which don't ring on the members of the family that are deceased. Those that ring of course are the ones with living family.

From the 23 it began with inscribed names of family members, it grew to the 57 Bells iow has that makes it the largest Carillon in Ohio. Looks like an interesting place to visit if you're passing by Dayton Ohio, or just like to visit monuments or other Carillon's.

In 1968 the carillon was refurbished and converted from the electric keyboard controlled instrument to a more traditional mechanical carillon called baton-keyboard. Every Sunday at 3:00 the Parks Carillonneur, Larry Weinstein puts on a live concert from May to October!

It was great getting out even though the day was chilly and brisk to view the Bell Tower close up again! I enjoyed the time spent and writing this for others as well. If you travel anywhere close to Dayton Ohio it's worth a bit of driving out of your way. Especially if you're a traveling person, as am! Landmarks can be amazing and fun to learn some of the details!

Please don't forget that while Ohio is a big state, and it doesn't seem as if there is much to do there for tourist, there really is! Not just this beautiful bell tower, but it's also home to:

http://www.armstrongmuseum.org/ It's nearby and if even if you're not interested in Space, you'll not be disappointed in the least! From the road, you can miss it if you're not looking out for it! it's built right into the ground!

Museum of Divine Statues This makeup artist has taken some unwanted and old religious sculptures and restored them to their natural beauty! Even if you're not into religion, it can be inspirational for the art and time he's spent renewing these items!

https://www.cedarpoint.com/ There is plenty right on the I-75 route, but if you want to get off the path, there's an amazing and huge amusement park, Cedar Point in Sandusky,

David Grohl Alley, World's Largest Drumsticks Drummer David Grohl Alley, from Nirvana has the worlds largest drumsticks just a bit farther in Warren.