NOTE: We invited our Icon intern to write a column comparing her hometown to Bluffton. Here's that column:

By Caitlin Nearhood, university intern

I couldn’t wait to get away.

I lived in Clyde, Ohio my entire life.  Understandably, it was time for me to explore a new place while staying in-state after graduating high school. I will admit that the thought of moving to a large city like Columbus for school enticed me—more things to do and see, more job opportunities after college—but I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the big city life. I don’t hate my hometown; I just needed a new environment with new experiences to help me grow.

When I arrived in Bluffton, I noticed that the two towns varied, but were similar in size and environment. Clyde is a town of over 6,000 people with a number of interesting points of interest that out-of-town people might be interested in knowing.

In Clyde, numerous places and things stand out. Whirlpool Corporation, for instance, is the largest employer in Sandusky County with over 3,000 employees and two of them are my parents. This factory is also the world’s largest washing machine factory where they also manufacture Kenmore, Amana and Maytag washing machines in addition to Whirlpool washing machines. I worked there during the past three summers and wouldn’t be surprised if my sister worked there during her college years also.

For those of you who are history and literature fanatics, Sherwood Anderson’s book Winesburg, Ohio was based on real events and people in Clyde. Written in 1919, Anderson wrote this book about memories he had while he lived in Clyde as a boy. I can’t say that I’ve read this book entirely, but I was delighted when we had to read a few of his stories in my First Year Seminar class my freshman year at Bluffton. I plan to read more of his book this summer.

For those who love movies, the 1990 film Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael starring Winona Ryder and Jeff Daniels was filmed in Clyde as well as in Sandusky along Lake Erie. Filming took place in downtown Clyde as well as in the high school. My parents remember this event somewhat well, as our home is not far from the high school. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s okay; the movie wasn’t successful in the box office as it made almost four million dollars in the United States.

Clyde has a few “war heroes” from 19th century wars, but the most famous is James Birdseye McPherson, a graduate of the United States Military Academy and general in the Union Army in the Civil War. McPherson was fatally wounded in Atlanta, Georgia in the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864, and was buried in McPherson Cemetery, obviously named after him.

Clyde’s middle school, McPherson Middle School, as well as McPherson Highway (Route 20) are named after him as well as places around the United States like McPherson Square in Washington, D.C., and Fort McPherson in Atlanta. McPherson’s boyhood home is now a museum that sits right across from McPherson Cemetery.

I suppose some perks to living my hometown include being 30 minutes away from Cedar Point, Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky. I must admit I’m spoiled—I’ve visited Cedar Point almost every year since my birth, so I can easily guide anyone to any specific attraction there because the map is burned to my memory.

Clyde’s equivalent to the Dairy Freeze is Twisty Treat, which is appropriately located in an ice cream cone-shaped building. I’m not kidding! Locals flock there during the summer for tasty ice cream. The original Twistee Treat is located in Orlando, Florida; the owner came to Ohio to start a sister business in Clyde. To my knowledge, these are the only two locations in the United States of this business.

Additionally, the school district I graduated from is somewhat unusual. The Clyde-Green Springs Exempted School District involves two towns because one of the elementary schools is located in Green Springs. At one time, the high school was located in Green Springs, so they decided to include Green Springs in the school district. The village of 1,000 people is about five miles from my house. We are the Clyde Fliers with our logo featuring a jet and our mascot being Freddie the Flier that makes a couple of cameo appearances at football games each year.

My hometown varies a little from Bluffton. We don’t have a movie theater, recreation center or hospital, but we have other attractions in town and close by that are still significant.
Though there are differences, Bluffton reminds me of home. And I wouldn’t change a thing.

Caitlin Nearhood is a junior Broadcasting and Journalism major at Bluffton University.

Check out the links below to learn more about Caitlin's interesting hometown! 

Link to Clyde, Ohio Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde,_Ohio
Link to Clyde, Ohio official website: http://www.clydeohio.org/