Silver Ribbon Skinny: The Towpath adventure of Skinny Nye, a Muleskinner on the Ohio & Erie Canal 1884

Silver Ribbon Skinny is a work of historical fiction. The main character, Skinny Nye, is based upon the character Pearl Nye, who was born in 1872 and died in 1950, just short of his 79th birthday. Pearl began writing a story about one of his family’s trips on the Ohio & Erie Canal. More than 200 pages of the hand-written manuscript have survived and are owned by the Summit County Historical Society. Most of the people and some of the events in Silver Ribbon Skinny are based on Nye’s story. Other characters (specifically, Miss Uno) and events in the book are based on accounts found in old newspaper clip-pings.