Every story has a beginning and before Neil Armstrong could land on the moon, his inspiration started here, at the historic site where Armstrong took his first flight on Parkman Road in Warren.

"This is where Neil Armstrong took his first flight on the Tin Goose when he was 6 years old. He asked if he could ride on the plane, so instead of going to church they took the ride and that day he told his father that he wanted to go into space," says Linda Carpenter. 

Fast forward to 2002, Linda Carpenter and her family came up with the idea to acknowledge the area where he took his first flight as a historic site. In 2003 the site was finished, complete with a half-size replica of the Apollo 11 lunar module produced by a team at the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center.

In 2005, Armstrong himself even paid a visit to the site. However since its completion, the site hasn't undergone any renovations, and that's when a team of volunteers stepped up to give this historic site some new life.

"I got the rocket sandblasted and I got the rocket painted, and I got everything power washed," says Ed Novak, one of the volunteers who led the revitalization efforts. 

The organizers tell me that revitalization took about a year, but they hope that all of the work that they put in during that time will help inspire the next generation and help them learn a little bit more about the piece of history that happened right here in their own backyards.

"It means a lot to me because it's history from Neil Armstrong and the more I read about it, the more I got involved with it and I meet a lot of people from a lot of different states and everything," adds Novak. 

"This was built for not only the vision of Neil Armstrong but for our youth," says Carpenter. 

You can visit the Neil Armstrong First Flight historic site at 2553 Parkman Road NW in Warren, the site is open 7 days a week from dawn to dusk.