When America Held Hands:
Remembering Hands Across America Along Lake Road on Ohio’s North Coast
I had a friend who lived on Lake Road in Avon Lake, Ohio, at the time the entire country attempted to join hands and create an unbroken, continuous human chain across the entire country.
It was called Hands Across America. And we had front-row lawn chairs to witness history happening right in front of us. But there weren’t enough people to close the gap, so we were recruited to join in the fun.
The gap still couldn’t be closed. Would we be the only hole in the human chain not connecting?
Not on our watch.
My friend had an actual Big Boy statue from a Big Boy restaurant in his front yard; a story for another time.
With the help of others, we were able to move that monstrosity to the road and finally closed the gap. I never saw a photo of this. I imagine it looked like the AI photo I created to accompany my nostalgic reflection about this monumental event in this addition to Vacationland: Echoes of Ohio’s Nostalgic Past by the “Blogs by Rocco,” where I revisit some of Ohio’s favorite memories of events and destinations.
There are moments in history that are remembered not because they changed the world overnight, but because, for a brief moment, they changed us.
If you were around in the spring of 1986, you probably remember one of those moments.
On Memorial Day weekend, millions of Americans stepped out of their homes in the cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural expanses with one simple purpose: to hold hands across America.
It was an ambitious effort to raise money and awareness for hunger and homelessness while attempting to create a continuous human chain stretching from New York to California. For fifteen unforgettable minutes on May 25, 1986, strangers became friends, and the country seemed just a little bit smaller.
Today, looking back forty years, it’s easy to smile at the innocence of it all. There were no smartphones announcing where to stand. No social media hashtags documenting every handshake. No drones capturing overhead video. Just newspapers, local volunteers, radio stations, maps folded across kitchen tables, and an optimism that seemed perfectly at home in the mid-1980s.
Millions of people gathered believing that if enough people cared, America could literally link itself together.
In Northeast Ohio, that dream passed right through my community on Lake Road (U.S. Route 6) through Avon Lake. For a few minutes, one of Ohio’s most familiar roads became something entirely different—not a route to somewhere else, but a destination itself. If you stood there that afternoon, you probably don’t remember exactly who held your hands. But you’ll never forget looking into each other’s eyes and smiling as a breeze drifted in off Lake Erie.
There was something wonderfully uncomplicated about the experience.
Along Lake Road in Avon Lake, nobody was trying to go viral. Nobody was capturing content for tomorrow’s feed. There was no need to prove you had been there because the memory itself became the souvenir.
Nationally, the line wasn’t perfect. Gaps appeared across parts of the country, particularly in rural areas of the Southwest, and organizers ultimately acknowledged that the coast-to-coast chain existed more in spirit than in uninterrupted reality.
The 1980s were full of shared national experiences. We watched the same television shows. We listened to the same Top 40 countdowns. We crowded around our TVs for Live Aid, celebrated the release of “We Are the World,” and, one Sunday afternoon, stepped outside together because we believed America was capable of something beautiful, and simply held hands.
Explore more Vacationland: Echoes of Ohio’s Nostalgic Destinations
By Frank Rocco Satullo, The OhioTraveler, Your Tour Guide to Fun
