We took off after lunch to visit the Adena Mansion and Gardens high upon the hill overlooking the Scioto River Valley. I had checked the website and thought it was open today (closed on Mondays), but when we got there, the sign said "Closed on Mondays AND Tuesdays." So much for that!
Our drive did take us through some of the older residential sections of Chillicothe. We saw some gorgeous old houses on our way to Krogers. We stocked up on groceries at Krogers, then headed back to Auntie Violet for a spaghetti supper.
We've been in touch with our friends Leslie and Bill, who are in Red Bay, Alabama at the Tiffin factory getting some needed repairs done to their coach, Serenity. They had a pretty long punch list of things to be fixed (they had purchased her used, as is). I think all of their list has been taken care of, but the factory also had a couple of things to be fixed under warranty. One of them had to do with the roof -- they are actually cutting the roof loose and replacing a portion of it with aluminum! Kind of scary to think about. Evidently they do it one day, then paint it the next. I almost feel like we should send Serenity a get-well card.
Our friends Tom and Juni are also in the south. They are in Tennessee visiting Juni's family and will also be heading for Red Bay after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure when we will cross paths with either set of friends, but since we are slowly but surely heading in a southerly direction it will happen one of these days.
Showing posts with label Chillicothe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chillicothe. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
As Westerners we know a great deal about the ruins and the culture of early peoples in the Southwest, but we don't hear much about the early cultures in the eastern part of our country. The Hopewell Culture built intricate geometric mounds and earthworks throughout the Ohio river valleys more than two thousand years ago. The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park covers five different areas of mounds. The Park was established following World War I after Camp Sherman had been built right over the top of many of the mounds.
The Mound City group, along the Scioto River, consists of 23 mounds that cover the remains of ceremonial buildings.
The mounds were not living spaces, scientists think they were for ceremonial purposes. Most of the artifacts recovered from the mounds have been from burial or cremation sites. Copper jewelry and ornaments, seashells and mica sheets recovered from the sites give evidence of an extensive trading network even in those early times.
A two to three foot high earthen embankment encircles the entire site. It's hard to imagine that the only tools used in this massive amount of earth moving were shells, baskets and bone hoes! Can you imagine the organization needed -- and the number of workers?
From the mounds, we were able to follow the trail down to the banks of the deep, fast-moving Scioto River.
Along the river is most likely where the Hopewell people built their living quarters. It is believed that the weather during this time was temperate and the people did not have to spend all of their time finding food and game, thus allowing the immense building projects.
We followed the Nature Trail back along the river and around the embankment through a young forest.
We saw several shrubs like this with red berries sitting almost on the top of the leaves. I was not able to find what it is in any of my books or on the Internet. Any ideas?
While most of the trees had already dropped their leaves, this golden maple tree stood out like a beacon in the sunshine --
The Mound City group, along the Scioto River, consists of 23 mounds that cover the remains of ceremonial buildings.
The mounds were not living spaces, scientists think they were for ceremonial purposes. Most of the artifacts recovered from the mounds have been from burial or cremation sites. Copper jewelry and ornaments, seashells and mica sheets recovered from the sites give evidence of an extensive trading network even in those early times.
A two to three foot high earthen embankment encircles the entire site. It's hard to imagine that the only tools used in this massive amount of earth moving were shells, baskets and bone hoes! Can you imagine the organization needed -- and the number of workers?
From the mounds, we were able to follow the trail down to the banks of the deep, fast-moving Scioto River.
Along the river is most likely where the Hopewell people built their living quarters. It is believed that the weather during this time was temperate and the people did not have to spend all of their time finding food and game, thus allowing the immense building projects.
We followed the Nature Trail back along the river and around the embankment through a young forest.
We saw several shrubs like this with red berries sitting almost on the top of the leaves. I was not able to find what it is in any of my books or on the Internet. Any ideas?
While most of the trees had already dropped their leaves, this golden maple tree stood out like a beacon in the sunshine --
It was further around the trail then we had thought. We were glad to get back to the car and water! We took time to drive through Chilliclothe, which was the first capital of Ohio. There were lots of neat old buildings -- and a place to get some ice cream before we headed back to Auntie Violet. I stuck an acorn squash in the oven with some butter and honey for supper. We watched the finals of the bull riding that were in Columbus this weekend. I sure wish we had known they were going to be there -- we would have gone!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Gusty, Windy Day
It is finally quiet outside. The wind blew all night last night and most of the day today. It wasn't a steady wind either, it would blow lightly, then wham! with gusts that shook the motor home! At least the sky was blue when we finally got up this morning -- after staying up late to watch ABC's Diane Sawyer's show about the Lakota Sioux children last night.
Forry dug his Belgian waffle machine out from under the couch and we had waffles and pork sausages for brunch. We did take showers, but otherwise just spent the day vegged out. Forry watched a couple of football games (WSU is playing Stanford right now); I took a nap and read a book on my Kindle. It was definitely not a day to be running around outside.
We will be staying here at Sun Valley Campground for the next week. It will give us a chance to have our mail sent and to explore the area. There are a large number of ancient mounds in the area as well as many historic sites. Chillicothe was the early capital of what was then the Northwest Territory and later the first capital of Ohio.
Forry dug his Belgian waffle machine out from under the couch and we had waffles and pork sausages for brunch. We did take showers, but otherwise just spent the day vegged out. Forry watched a couple of football games (WSU is playing Stanford right now); I took a nap and read a book on my Kindle. It was definitely not a day to be running around outside.
We will be staying here at Sun Valley Campground for the next week. It will give us a chance to have our mail sent and to explore the area. There are a large number of ancient mounds in the area as well as many historic sites. Chillicothe was the early capital of what was then the Northwest Territory and later the first capital of Ohio.
Friday, October 14, 2011
And Now We Are in Ohio!
Fall is definitely in the air and it is also getting chillier. After weeks of Indian Summer with daytime temperatures in the the high eighties and nineties, a cold front has come through with rain, wind and a definite drop in the temperature. We had been thinking about going up to Maine and then coming down the east coast to eventually winter in Florida. Because of our detour for repairs, it is getting late in the year to head north without thinking about the possibility of snow...
My friend Cathi sent me a page and one-half note of lists of places to see and things to do in Maine (where she used to live) and New England. I also had a list of some other places I wanted to see as well as visiting out friend Wayne in Waldoboro, Maine. After we sat and talked about it for a while, we decided that we would wait until Spring to visit New England when we wouldn't have to sweat out bad weather. Then we would head back to Washington visiting North Dakota and Nebraska on the way. We had been thinking about driving to Alaska next summer, but we have been there twice (by air) and that may not be a priority.
So, with that decision made, we headed south into Ohio today. We stopped at a Welcome Center and chatted with the friendly fellow on duty. When he found that we had never spent time in Ohio, he suggested we head towards Chillicothe (south of Columbus) and do some exploring in that area.
The country we drove through today was a little more open then where we had been in Indiana. There are STILL lots of fields of soybeans and corn -- and corn and soybeans!
One thing I did notice -- the majority of the houses in Ohio are square! They may have dormers like this one, or they may have a porch attached, but they are square.
This perfectly square building is a county courthouse we saw on the way --
We passed some Amish farms and furniture marts along the way and saw evidence of Amish buggies along the road. The one buggy we saw had white stripes on the back instead of the orange "slow vehicle" triangle on the ones we saw in Indiana.
It was NOT a nice day to be driving today. The cold front that came through brought last night's rain, but also brought gusty winds all day! Highway 23 south is two-lane part of the way, so that meant for extra concentration as well. We drove longer then we usually like to in order to get to Sun Valley Campground outside of Chilliclothe. We got here about 6:30, just before dark.
My friend Cathi sent me a page and one-half note of lists of places to see and things to do in Maine (where she used to live) and New England. I also had a list of some other places I wanted to see as well as visiting out friend Wayne in Waldoboro, Maine. After we sat and talked about it for a while, we decided that we would wait until Spring to visit New England when we wouldn't have to sweat out bad weather. Then we would head back to Washington visiting North Dakota and Nebraska on the way. We had been thinking about driving to Alaska next summer, but we have been there twice (by air) and that may not be a priority.
So, with that decision made, we headed south into Ohio today. We stopped at a Welcome Center and chatted with the friendly fellow on duty. When he found that we had never spent time in Ohio, he suggested we head towards Chillicothe (south of Columbus) and do some exploring in that area.
The country we drove through today was a little more open then where we had been in Indiana. There are STILL lots of fields of soybeans and corn -- and corn and soybeans!
One thing I did notice -- the majority of the houses in Ohio are square! They may have dormers like this one, or they may have a porch attached, but they are square.
This perfectly square building is a county courthouse we saw on the way --
We passed some Amish farms and furniture marts along the way and saw evidence of Amish buggies along the road. The one buggy we saw had white stripes on the back instead of the orange "slow vehicle" triangle on the ones we saw in Indiana.
It was NOT a nice day to be driving today. The cold front that came through brought last night's rain, but also brought gusty winds all day! Highway 23 south is two-lane part of the way, so that meant for extra concentration as well. We drove longer then we usually like to in order to get to Sun Valley Campground outside of Chilliclothe. We got here about 6:30, just before dark.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)