Historical Markers

[Scott NC]

https://www.hmdb.org/results.asp?Search=KeywordA&SearchFor=Blacksmith

[BillyBones]

Historical markers are pretty cool but sometimes are wrong. We have one here near my house in Oldtown, Old Chillicothe. That was the "capital" for the Shawnee that were here. The markers says, in short, that it is the site that Simon Kenton ran the gauntlet and to get away jumped into the Clifton gorge. Not a bit is true. Daniel Boone and his men were captured there, Boone was made to run the gauntlet but it was more the Shawnee having fun with him that violent. Boone was eventually adopted by the Shawnee chief while some of his men were still held captive. Boone managed to escape. A 16 year old boy, George Darnell, managed to also escape and steal a rifle. He was chased by the Shawnee to the Little Miami River where the Clifton Gorge is.  He jumped across the gorge... almost. He caught a tree hanging off the other side and managed to climb up. 

Anyway, an interesting story. I can not remember his name but the Shawnee chief at the time was Tecumseh's predecessor. There are some really cool stories from here in Ohio from during the late 1700's - mid 1800's.

[Nobody Special]

The Shawnee were not completely homogenous, and had varying tribes and chiefs, sometimes serving different roles concurrently; tribal relations are always complex. 

Black Hoof, I think, is maybe the best known before Tecumseh, and before him maybe Blue Jacket, the war chief that got together with the Delaware, other assorted tribes and Little Turtle of the Miamis to whoop the militias' collective butts under St. Claire in 1791. That led eventually to the first standing US Army and an invasion/genocide by Mad Anthony Wayne. Jefferson either resigned or was going to resign from his position he was so opposed to a standing army.

Boone's capture though, was I believe during the Revolutionary War, and he was taken by a relatively minor chief named Blackfish, who was allied to the Brits. I dunno, I'm more solid historically with the Plains tribes.

[BillyBones]

Yes i knew that about the Shawnee, that is why "capital" is in quotations. Old Chillicothe is referred to as that loosely, kind of for lack of  better term. IIRC it was their largest settlement. Could be the largest settlement in this part of what was the Shawnee nation. I have always just heard it referred to as the "Shawnee Capital". Could also just be a local thing saying that. 

You are correct about it being during the revolution, 1778. 

Blue Jacket and Black Hoof were about the same time, both born in the early 1740's. Tecumseh was born in the 1760's into the tribe that Black Fish was the chief of. All of which allied with the British. 

Anyway, Simon Kenton still did not run the gauntlet there nor jump in the gorge. 

As a side note there are tales here of a couple million dollars worth of silver that the Shawnee dumped into a swamp in Oldtown to prevent the Americans for getting it  when the American forces defeated them in this area. 

[George N. M.]

Billy, since you are a local it seems logical to ask you.  How do you pronounce "Chillicothe?"  Is the final E sounded or not?

Thanks.

G

[JHCC]

Chill-ah-KOTH-ee.

[Daswulf]

The KOTH sound is like cloth without the L from how I know it from visiting a bunch of years ago. Wish I had visited for more than the biker parties but I was young and having fun then. 

[BillyBones]

Yep, the "E" is long. JHCC nailed the pronunciation. 

Here is a couple that i have heard many people fail at pronouncing : Xenia (Zee-nya), Piqua (Pick-wa), Cuyahoga (Ki-a-hoga), and Bellefontaine (Bell fountain). Oh and i of course forgot the oddest one Russia. Looks easy dont it? It is pronounced ROO-shee. 

 

[JHCC]

I have to disagree with that last one, Billy. I live in the city of Oberlin, which is right inside the town of Russia. Around here, everyone pronounces it the same as the country immediately east of Ukraine, although they usually refer to it simply as "the township".

Also, let's not forget that Milan, OH is pronounced "MY-lan" rather than the Italian "mih-LAHN", Berlin, NH is "BURR-lin" rather than the German "burr-LIN", and Charlotte, VT is "shar-LOT" rather than the English "SHAR-lot" (the last of these deriving from the influence of Canadian French).

[BillyBones]

Wait, isnt Oberlin up near Youngstown on the NE side of the state? Russia is about halfway between Dayton and Lima a bit west of I-75 in Shelby county. It is not inconceivable that we have 2 i suppose. I mean we do after all have an East Palestine on the PA border and Palestine on the IN border. 

When you say people refer to it as "the township" and that Oberlin is inside the town of Russia, are you referring to the township of New Russia In Lorraine county or the village of Russia in Shelby county? 

[JHCC]

New Russia Township in Lorain County.

Oberlin is about half an hour* west and slightly south of Cleveland.

 

 

*Depending on who's driving.

28 minutes ago, BillyBones said:

East Palestine on the PA border and Palestine on the IN border

And in NYC, "North End Avenue" is actually significantly closer to the south end of Manhattan.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

The residents in a small town by the name of Elk Ranch, just north of us tried for years to get a historical marker outlining the Civil War fighting that occurred there. They finally succeeded a couple of years ago. It was placed where the hwy crossed a small creek  Leatherwood Creek with a one lane bridge. We know a couple of families who had fighting /action that occurred on their land there. Mostly by units on the way to and after the major battle at Pea Ridge.

Luck would have it the Highway Dept. decided to replace the one lane bridge with a new 2 lane one. The construction started around the first of the year and the Hwy, dept has taken so much property widening the approaches and the massive new bridge that a lot of that property has been bulldozed. The bridge they are putting in looks like it could be 4 lanes, although the highway is 2 lanes and I seriously doubt they will ever 4 lane it because of the high stone bluff's that are along it would be cost prohibited to blast out. I have no idea what happened to the sign, it's gone.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Frosty]

We had stuff like that happen all the time. Ak DOT would survey the proposed site, announce the proposed project to the locals and research records for historical, cultural or archeological conflict. Then we on the bridges and foundations crew would drill test holes, on the abutments and any piers the centerline crew would've drilled the road centerline, usually before we got on site. Then design and construction would design the bridge. a little different that a proposed design. 

The project would go out to bid and too often the contractor would just build it the way he wanted to. Little things like under-driving piles leaving out the batters, slopping the pile caps, etc. For a structure that is straight it was hard to believe how many corners could be cut by a talented contractor. We had to start assigning an engineer geologist to keep them straight and narrow.

A historical marker? We didn't see any historical marker, Uh Uh.

Frosty The Lucky.