(upbeat music) (keyboard clacking) (upbeat music) (car engine revving) (upbeat music) (car engine revving) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] On this episode of "Scenic Stops & Stories."

- [Heidi] The vision for the outside look and feel of the Lincoln House Inn was the Southern Belle of Bowling Green.

- [Michael] Since 1992, we have been putting together a living history program that's centered around showing folks how baseball was played in the 19th century.

- [Announcer] But first... - [Bernadette] We have a really wide range of species, but all of these are very different from what you're typically gonna see in like a regular pet store.

(lighthearted music) (keyboard clacking) (mouse clicking) - Hello.

- Hi.

- Hi, how are you?

(playful music) - My name's Bernadette DiSalvo and I'm the owner here at Sugarcreek Bird Farm.

We're located in Bellbrook, Ohio.

Our bird farm is a little bit different than your regular retail setting.

We are a pet store, but we focus just on parrots.

So we have a wide range of birds that we sell here, but we have all the supplies, cages, food items that you would need.

And then if you don't own a bird and you just wanna see cool birds, that's what we do as well.

So we do a lot of education here.

We have about 50 plus store residents that are here for people to come and interact with actually, physically, one-on-one, and learn about them while they're here so they get a better appreciation for them.

(lighthearted music) So the bird farm, the origins basically are because my parents got a cockatiel as a wedding present, that was 57 years ago now, and they've just always enjoyed having pets in general, but the birds really sparked interest for them.

Started breeding birds throughout the '70s and '80s in our home, and then it got to be large enough that it was time to open a storefront.

So they opened that up about the year that I was born, so I've always been around the birds and enjoyed them, and we've been in our larger facility here for about 25 years now.

(lighthearted music) This is Nero.

Nero is a black palm cockatoo.

He is nine years old now, and he has slowly become kind of our store mascot.

We've had him since he was 11 months old from his breeder, and he's a very rare and unusual bird, and so a lot of people come just to see him.

He is on our storefront sign in the parking lot, so everybody knows him.

He's my personal bird and one of my absolute favorites here.

Prior to him, Mandy, our Moluccan cockatoo, who is standing behind us, she lives right by the front counter and she's kind of our store greeter.

She also throws her toys from her cage to get people's attention to bribe them to come in and play with her.

Cockatoos, if you'll notice, will have a theme of doing that to get all the attention they can.

And then probably the other bird that most people know about is Sadie, our hyacinth macaw.

Sadie's also a very rare species that you don't see, really, any of in the area as pets.

And so it's something that people would come here to get interaction with.

She's also probably one of the nicest birds that we have here.

So when people come in and wanna hold a bird, they kind of have a panic moment when I go and get the biggest parrot in the world and bring to them, but it's the safest bird, I feel like, to hand them, and it's a super cool experience to be able to have that type of bird on you.

Hi.

You are being a stinker.

(upbeat music) We still stick with what we originally kind of planned and wanted, which was basically to provide good pet-quality birds that are healthy and hand-raised.

So while that is our biggest focus here, we do a lot more now with educational purposes.

We really enjoy educating owners before they buy a bird and making sure that it's the right choice for them and a good long-term choice, but also just the average person that has never had interaction with a bird coming in to have a positive interaction.

It's really important to me for people to see birds in a good light because having exotics around are important to me not only for our livelihood, but in general, because they are disappearing from the wild.

So, doing our best to keep aviculture alive.

Something that's a little bit different is that we do offer a lot of educational classes, so to me, that's one of the most important services that we can provide in giving people kind of access to other people in the bird community.

So we do offer services, such as grooming and boarding.

We actually just expanded our boarding facility, so we have usually 20 to 40 birds boarding on a regular basis, and we do that year round.

We also provide services on our open hours for grooming.

So we do things like nail trimming, wings, beak checks.

We do bathing services, and then we always do kind of a physical checkover of the birds as well, so we can alert the owner if they have anything that might need veterinary care.

(lighthearted music) So, we have a couple new birds.

So this one here, this is Max.

He is a military macaw and he's a male.

He is about 25 years old.

And then this little little pest up here is Cherie.

(Cherie mumbling) Mm-hmm.

(Bernadette laughing) Cherie is a female slender-billed cockatoo, that's why her beak is so long.

That's normal for her, it needs a little bit of a trim, but she is 13 years old and she's one of our show-off cockatoos.

We have several of those.

(Bernadette laughing) So every bird that we have here at the store is a non-native species to Ohio and the United States.

Everything that we see here is also captive-bred, meaning that we probably bred them ourselves or came from other people around in the area.

It is illegal to import anything from other countries since 1992, so any of the wild-caught birds that we might have had have pretty much aged out.

So everything that you're seeing has been bred for a pet.

We have a really wide range of species, but all of these are very different from what you're typically gonna see in, like, a regular pet store.

And they come from various countries, from Australia, all the way to South America.

And it's just really neat to see such a wide range of birds in one spot.

Most of our birds are very comfortable to sit on a hand because they've been tamed for that.

The two that I have here are getting a little anxious, so they're excitable and wanting to go get around.

Usually, when they get more anxious, they do clamp down a little bit tighter on their grip, but they always have typically nicely-rounded nails for being held by lots of people.

You can see they still have a nice curve to them, but that's how they grip onto perches or hands, whatever they're doing so they don't fall down.

On weight-wise, though, this is a macaw, and most macaws are gonna be your heaviest-bodied birds, weighing in between 1,000 and 1,600 grams.

And so really, that's only two to three pounds.

But after you hold it for a little while, it does start to get a little heavy.

Usually, I just switch hands.

You wanna come over here?

He's like, "No, I wanna hold this hand," just to give myself a break.

But yeah, it's not leaving any puncture marks or anything on me.

(playful music) It can be really hard as an individual bird owner to know about body language with parrots because there's so many different species.

Every species has their own unique way of showing different emotions, but also each individual also has different things.

What Nero might do when he's excited, he'll put his full crest up and kind of open mouthing, kind of stand up real tall.

Whereas Gabby, the female black palm that we have, she actually puts all her wings out and stands up and fluffs every feather out.

So, you do have to get to know your individual bird.

But for me, what I always look for is kind of thinking about they are prey animals, so they're always thinking, no matter how trustful you are, you could be a predator to them.

So the way that their feathers are slicked or standing up plays a big role in that.

Their eyes pinning and opening wide is important as well.

And then play full time.

Yeah, thank you.

And then otherwise, just their posturing.

If they're very relaxed, like how Nero is, or if he's standing up super tall, he might be alert at a certain noise or a new person that walked into the room.

All of our birds here are very different, for sure.

They all have different ways they like to communicate.

For example, Max loves to dance.

So while he is not the friendliest bird to complete strangers, his favorite thing is to throw a paper towel tube back and forth.

So, he loves kids, especially, and he loves that kind of physical interaction, whereas cockatoos like Cherie really love to be pet and be affectionate with.

So, you can make generalizations of that type of bird.

But in general, each one kind of forms their own... Hello, forms their own personality based on who has raised them and the kind of the environment they're in.

It doesn't really matter how big or small the bird is.

I think each one can have just as much fun, and exciting, and dynamic personality just depending on their own experiences.

All of our parrots have the ability to talk, and it depends on what they hear, and that's how they mimic back and forth.

All of our birds here have their own unique phrases that they like to say, both good and bad.

So, when you come in, sometimes we have certain words that will trigger them into repeating certain phrases.

One being our Quaker parrot, he loves to... If you ask him, "Are you a bird or a chicken?"

And he goes, "I'm a chicken, bawk, bawk, bawk."

So they do learn how to connect things as well with that.

Peek-a-boo.

- Peek-a-boo!

- Peek-a-boo!

(jaunty music) (parrot chirping) - Fresh, fresh water.

(parrot cheering) - Hello.

- Hello.

Even if you're not interested in getting a bird or currently own a bird, I think a lot of people just have a nice, positive experience with animals.

I rarely meet somebody that is very afraid of birds that come into the store, but my goal is just to change that attitude before they leave.

One of all of our staff members' favorite things to do is to hand someone their very first bird.

You see a lot of excitement and wonderment, especially in kids' eyes, when they get to do that.

And it also just gives them a better appreciation for all animals, but especially such an exotic and exciting type of bird.

So, you can have a really fun experience.

If you don't wanna be hands-on and you just wanna see them, we have lots of birds in the store to do that as well.

And obviously, if you do have a bird, I don't think we have anything that you couldn't want.

So, there's lots of things to look at for any size bird, whether you have little finches and canaries, up to the big guys.

(bright music) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Coming up next... - [Shaun] We're really hoping that this can be a place that the community can come together and really enjoy the space, and, you know, meet up and come home and visit family and friends and have a nice place to stay.

(upbeat music) (keyboard clacking) (mouse clicking) (lighthearted music) (equipment whirring) - [Shaun] So me and Heidi first started considering this project.

It was in the fall of last year.

- So the first interaction that I had from Shaun was, "I have an idea, and I want you to be a part of it."

- The Lincoln House is an up-and-coming inn.

It's kind of like an Airbnb meshed with a historical inn and also a community center for community to come together and learn all kinds of things through our classes that we will offer.

The original owners were Dr.

J. C. Lincoln and his wife, Nettie, and they built this house in 1895.

He was a doctor of the town, she was a socialite, and she was noted for having afternoon teas on her porch.

She actually taught art classes to students in the home.

So, we're just kind of continuing that kind of notion.

(lighthearted music) Mary Parkinsons and her husband Marcus did purchase the house in 2014.

She knew that I had interest in buying the house from her.

I had asked her if she would sell me this house.

She knew that I would take care of the house, and I think we're doing it justice by turning it into a place where the community can come together.

(uplifting music) After I closed my business, painted clovers after 10 years, and wearing every single hat when it comes to running a business, I knew that I didn't want to continue to work like that.

And, you know, a partnership is a pretty big deal and I wasn't gonna just be with anybody.

So, I had one person in mind, and I asked her, and she said, "Yes."

I am sure she's regretting it sometimes, but it's too late now.

- She's always got ideas, she always has something new that, you know, so I was... I am always interested to hear her ideas, and so I was all ears.

And when she came to me, she just said, "I am tired of moving furniture, I'm tired of working myself to the bone, and I kind of wanna learn more about how you do things, and I think we could make a good team and you bring things to the business that I don't do and vice versa."

And I think both of us have always been in business for ourselves, and it just felt right to come together.

We've had some experiences, personal experiences, in both of our lives where we've come together.

We actually lived together at one point for a short amount of time, and it was... I mean, we really worked well together.

I just felt confident that if I was gonna pick anybody to be a business partner with, I would be successful to do that with Shaun.

- We were able to start on the outside, doing the outside renovations during the summer.

So, we knew that we weren't gonna be able to get inside of the house until the lease with the previous residents had ended.

There were a few things that we did outside, the arbors we put up, the landscaping.

We were able to fix a hole in the ceiling of the porch, we put on a brand-new roof.

The roof had, like, seven different types of shingles on it, so the roof was definitely an issue.

It was an unexpected expense.

I wasn't anticipating having to replace the roof so soon, but it definitely did add quite the curb appeal and it's more a cohesive look on the outside.

- [Heidi] The vision for the outside look and feel of the Lincoln House Inn was to have it feel like the Southern Belle of Bowling Green.

(lighthearted music) - People ask like, "Well, where is it?"

I'm like, "Well, it's the house on the hill with the arbors."

We did plant some Eden, English garden, roses, climbing roses up there, so hopefully in the next couple years, they'll really take off, and we'll continue to add more plants and stuff out there, and just make it a nice place to sit out.

We did get the keys on August 1st, and our first project was to bring the community inside for a historical home tour.

So, we'll take you upstairs where you'll get to see our first classroom.

We welcomed over 160 people.

So this is going to be Heidi's room.

Heidi specializes in meditation, reiki, she's a life coach.

- Shaun and I will be teaching everything from in the home, to art classes, to wellness.

- That wall over there is gonna be super solid plaster.

And then this hollow, you know, so this was the built-in here.

So this room, we are theming it after Ms.

Nettie Lincoln herself.

- We have three rooms to start.

We will be renting up to five rooms, eventually, and they will each have their own access codes, and they'll also have common areas, like the living room and the kitchen, where people can cook if they want to cook, and they can also enjoy just walking right a block down into the downtown district for food, restaurants, you know, just entertainment.

The community has really come together, from people donating their services for getting the flooring refinished, to landscaping, to people coming in and helping us clean and paint.

It's been helpful to have people being as excited about this project as we are, and they really wanna be a part of the journey, and we just, you know, wouldn't be able to do this without everybody, so it's been nice.

- We're really hoping that this can be a place that the community can come together and really enjoy the space, and, you know, meet up, and come home, and visit family and friends, and have a nice place to stay.

(upbeat music) (rock music) - [Announcer] Still to come.

- Since 1992, we have been putting together a living history program that's centered around showing folks how baseball was played in the 19th century.

(upbeat music) (keyboard clacking) (mouse clicking) (rock music) Well, right now, we're in Greenfield Village, and since 1992, we have been putting together a living history program that's centered around showing folks how baseball was played in the 19th century.

And since 2002, we focused specifically on 1867 as our rule set.

We have two teams here.

Both teams are actual real teams from the 19th century.

So we have the Lah-De-Dahs, which were originally a baseball club out of Waterford, Michigan.

And the origin of the Lah-De-Dahs here at Greenfield Village actually goes back to our J. R. Jones General Store.

When they were doing restoration on that, they actually found materials that referenced the Lah-De-Dahs, and that became our home club and has since been our main club.

When we moved to the 1876 Rules, we went to the Nationals, and the Nationals were based out of Parma, Michigan.

And they were a team that played in that era in the 19th century, and so we adopted them as well as one of our home teams.

Primarily down here during the summer, you're gonna find the Lah-De-Dahs or Nationals playing some historic team, either each other or from another local museum, and usually by the rules of 1867.

Today is actually a special day.

We're just trying to show different eras to our visitors, and so we're doing the game rules from 1876, which is a little bit ahead of time from what we normally play.

- So, I've been fortunate.

This is my 20th year playing at Greenfield Village.

I started working here when I was in college, and it's a fantastic place for American history.

So, I will say one thing that I find really interesting about historic baseball in general is that we play 1867 Rules baseball at Greenfield Village.

So, 158 years ago.

And it's shocking to me how we still played nine positions back then, very similar to the positions we play today.

So the uniform's very interesting, obviously a little different than modern baseball.

It also gets a little hot, I will say.

So, when you're playing baseball growing up, you could kind of unbutton your top button and you get a little airflow.

In vintage baseball, you have a neck tie on.

You're kind of like, "All right, here we go."

Even the bat, it's a wooden bat.

The ball's a little bigger than a modern baseball, a little smaller than a modern softball.

It's remarkable to me how similar a modern baseball is to historic baseball.

(bright upbeat music) - We really try to present the entire environment of the game as it was in that era.

At this point in history, it is not the case that the home team automatically bats second.

There is a coin toss between the two captains, and they will then decide who goes to the bat and who goes to the field.

There's a lot of strategy that's involved in that involving the equipment as it evolved over time and how firm the ball was and whether it would get softer over the game if it did.

In the early days, you might choose to hit first to hit a harder ball.

Later on, by 1876, you would've almost always chosen to bat second.

The umpire's placement was shifting over time.

Every pitch is now called a ball or a strike.

In 1867, that's not the case.

So spectators at the game today might notice that the umpire is not yet behind the catcher, but they're a little bit more to the side and closer to behind the catcher than they normally are in 1867 because they have to get a better view of the pitch.

So, all of these things were evolving over time.

We do our best to pay attention to that and get it right.

(upbeat music) - [Matt] The batter can state his preference when he gets up to the plate, and then the umpire has judgment regarding when he or she decides to start calling balls and strikes.

So if the batter takes a bunch of good pitches, the umpire will warn the batter and then he'll start calling strikes.

Or if the pitcher pitches a bunch of poor balls, the umpire will warn the pitcher and then start calling balls if the poor pitches continue.

- [Umpire] 0-1.

- We try to do things as accurate as we can here and we try to create a really immersive experience.

You'll see a fence around our field, and we like to say, "Once you step over that fence, it's 1867."

And so you're not gonna see sunglasses, you're not gonna see wristwatches, you're not gonna see Gatorade bottles.

All the modern luxury is that we would enjoy while we were playing softball or baseball today won't be out there.

So the idea is when you step down on our Walnut Grove, you're gonna see as close as possible representation of what 19th-century baseball would've looked like.

- There's very much a sense of desire to play the game fairly honorably.

It is using the equipment that replicates what was used then.

People are not allowed to be paid in this era.

So you're playing for the love of the game, for my club against your club, for the glory and honor of our club.

So that was really a mindset of the era, and there's a lot of appeal to that when people come to a game like this and see people playing for those reasons.

(train steam hissing) (people chattering) - [Matt] I have been down here since 2002, so I've seen my fair share of these vintage baseball games.

I think it really opened up a totally different perspective for me of what baseball is, seeing how they innovated the game, especially during the 19th century, almost every year, they were finding things that would work and not work and changing the rules.

And then when you compare that to how the rules can change today in modern baseball, it's interesting to see them having the same dilemmas, the same debates.

And so seeing innovation in a game like America's game in baseball that was happening in the 19th century and how that progressed into the 20th century just kind of opened my eyes to the whole history of the game, and that it was more than just something I played as a kid and or in high school.

It gave me a bit much more broader perspective and something I appreciate.

- [Michael] Many people laugh when I say this, but the thing that really made it attractive was that baseball was seen as a game of constant action.

It certainly was.

The games were much higher scoring in the 1860s than they are today.

Scores of 35 to 23 would've been very common.

So it was a very active game, and many people commented that that matched the American spirit.

I think that baseball just took hold because of the individual nature within the team sport, which is a very American concept as well.

So, it just hung on as America's pastime.

(lighthearted music) - [Matt] Everybody's naturally competitive.

I mean, you still have 20 to 25 men out there that want to win the baseball game.

As much as it's about coming out and playing ball, you just meet so many interesting people playing and gained a ton of friends here.

So it's also about maintaining these friendships not only with the own teammates here at Greenfield Village, but all these teams from all over, not just the state, but the region.

You meet all these players from Ohio and Pennsylvania and out east, and you just maintain these friendships over the years.

(lighthearted music) - [Michael] I think when people come out to see a vintage baseball game, whether it's here at Walnut Grove, at Greenfield Village, or anywhere they go, they see people who love the game, who love the sport, they enjoy the competition in a context of honorable play.

Many times, people come and they see a play at the bases, and the players are expected to make their own calls.

If you know you're out, you don't pretend you weren't.

And it's only if there's a disagreement that you appeal to the umpire, and they see it's a close play, and they see the runner get up and leave the field, and they appreciate that.

They appreciate the honor, the integrity that's inherent in the game.

So, you're gonna see some great baseball played in a way that really brings credit to the people who play and shows a lot of joy.

(bright music) (bright music)