The Phelps In Cincinnati

The Phelps In Cincinnati

Rooster searched online until he discovered the Phelps In Cincinnati. He thought it would be a safe place for us to spend the night in the wake of Covid-19.

Our first overnight trip since lockdown

Our visit to The Creation Museum is the first overnight trip we’ve taken since the country closed down due to Covid-19. We were both a little nervous about traveling in a city we’ve only visited a couple of times.

Rooster’s first attempt was to find a place for us to stay at The Guild. We’d managed to get a room there on previous trips to The Queen City; however, they didn’t have a vacancy when he inquired.

We wanted to find a hotel near the river, so we could have a chance to explore the area further. Indeed, a return trip to Cincinnati was on our adventure list before Covid-19 made travel nearly impossible.

Rooster is an expert when it comes to doing online research. He has a talent for coming up with cool and unique places for us to stay. Without delay, he went to work searching hotels near the Ohio River for room openings. My husband looked at pictures of people hanging out at the roof bar and restaurant at The Phelps and booked us a room.

 

Brief History of the Phelps

The Phelps was built in 1926 by Charles Phelps Taft to encourage his business associates to live in downtown Cincinnati instead of the suburbs. Charles was the half-brother of William Howard Taft, the 27^th President of the United States. The upscale apartments in the historic section of the Queen City is now a boutique residence Inn, owned by Marriot.

The Taft Museum next door is home to a small art collection. It remained closed during our stay due to Covid-19. Also, the museum was once known as the Taft Mansion. Indeed, William Howard Taft stood under the mansion’s portico when he accepted the nomination for the presidency.  His residence before he left for Washington in this neighborhood doesn’t exist today, but his childhood home still stands. Therefore, the Taft family has a prominent connection to this historic neighborhood.

Lytle Park

Lytle Park is across the street from The Phelps. In the early days of Cincinnatti, the park was known as Fort Washington. The Abraham Lincoln statue in the park was a gift from Charles Phelps Taft and was unveiled by William Howard Taft in 1917. The Philps and Lytle Park almost didn’t survive the construction of the Northwest Expressway. People raised money to built a tunnel under this historic district.

Our stay at The Phelps and impressions of Cincinnatti

I knew as soon as we enter the room, I would feel comfortable staying at The Phelps. Our room was on the third floor, so we had an excellent view of the city from our lofty perch. What Rooster booked for the night looked like a small apartment. The kitchen situated to the left of where we walked in the door was tidy and neat. The living room area directly in front of us appeared warm and welcoming. The bedroom was large enough to have a king-sized bed; we could walk around without bumping our knees. The shower in the bathroom was magnificent. The removal of the bathtub created a large enough area to move around in while we showered. I told Rooster I wanted him to make me one once we got home.

There remained one area to investigate where we could get a birdseye view of the city. Rooster took me to the roof, and we sipped our soft drinks while we watched the river down below us roll along its merry way.  The rooftop of the Phelps towers over the other buildings in the vicinity.

The Phelps is close to the Cincinnati Reds Stadium. The lighting and puffs of smoke made it obvious some sort of game was happening, but the empty bleachers made it appear ominous. We discovered later we were watching The Reds Opening Night. If it wasn’t for COVID, we couldn’t have got a room at The Phelps.

What we saw from the roof

• Lots of Bridges
• The Reds Stadium
• A confusing freeway system
• Rooftops of the other hotels in the area
• A party of people dressed in white
• Many interesting buildings
• Boats on the Ohio River (including a Mark Twain style steamboat)

We don’t know what these people were celebrating, but they looked cool doing it.

Enjoying the evening at the Phelps in Cincinnatti

After we ate a light dinner on the roof of The Phelps, Rooster and I decided to take a walk through Lytle Park. It didn’t take long for us to find the Lincoln statue. Rooster also made a new friend sitting on the bench. The evening was cool, and the walk down unfamiliar city streets was intriguing. The city seemed full of endless possibilities. It was easy to forget the existence of COVID-19.

 

Rooster and I took precautions during our travels. We wore masks and washed our hands often. These days we keep a bottle of hand sanitizer with high alcohol content in the car. It was easy to fall back into the romance of the adventure and forget about the danger of the disease.

Rooster and his new friend.

Good night from the Phelps in Cincinnati

Rooster and I walked for about an hour before we strolled back to The Phelps. We watched a little television but turned in early. There were several places we wanted to visit the next day before we headed for home. Expectations about tomorrow’s adventures were a nice ending to a great day: good night and sweet dreams from the Phelps in Cincinnati. There is the promise of endless possibilities tomorrow, even in the middle of a pandemic.

Steamboat on the Ohio River.

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana, who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures click here.

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