When sacred structures get built, history shows that great patience, determination, and resilience underscore the efforts. Hundreds of years, even. I think about building my house in Vermont—all eighteen years of living in and working in a construction site. Most people who “build” a house do some of the work, but mostly become managers of other workers. But me? I wanted the learning curve, and the financial offset of doing as much work as possible on my own. It was my only chance, I thought, to owning my own home. Once I was finished enough, I hit the road. I needed a break. Enough of all that work! I cannot even imagine what I would have felt to have the work- load continue on for even more decades, my whole life, until I died, never seeing the end result.
Serpent Mound, just outside of Peebles, Ohio was likely constructed by the Adena culture, one of the earliest prehistoric cultures in the Ohio Valley, around 1000 BCE. It is estimated that the mound was created over a period of several hundred years.
Sitting within a meteorite impact crater nine miles across, it is a massive effigy mound, representing a serpent, stretching for over 1,300 feet and varies in height from around one to three feet. The mouth of the serpent opens onto a prominent oval-shaped mound, which is believed to have religious or ceremonial significance.
The serpent’s head faces towards the western Horizon and the sun setting on the summer solstice. Theories state the curves of the serpent face in other directions to coincide with the other solstice and seasonal equinoxes. Some say it works with positions of the moon.
An effigy mound is a geoglyph, most common in North America are animal effigies. Effigies could be burial mounds, or shrines to honor a specific powerful spirit.
The Adena people were eventually succeeded by the Fort Ancient culture, who continued to use the site for ceremonial purposes. It is generally believed that Serpent Mound was created and used as a sacred site for generations of Native American peoples.
In 1919, Serpent Mound became one of the first archaeological sites in the United States to be preserved as a state park. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
The Adena people were eventually succeeded by the Fort Ancient culture, who continued to use the site for ceremonial purposes. It is generally believed that Serpent Mound was created and used as a sacred site for generations of Native American peoples.
In 1919, Serpent Mound became one of the first archaeological sites in the United States to be preserved as a state park. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
With the observation tower closed for repair, I am only allowed to walk the asphalt sidewalk snaking its way around the serpent effigy. I can see the serpent shape and can compare it to the maps.
The experience is still introspective—thinking about the effort used to construct the mound. There is an energy here that demands presence, meditation, and reverence. I walk the path twice, each time in a different direction, so as not to miss anything. The serpent winds around some trees, but mostly is covered in mown grass. Several single mounds closer to the parking lot are testament to a time gone by when indigenous tribes would pilgrimage to the site for ceremonies, erecting a village for their stay. Or maybe, I imagine, villages existed in the area to be close to their sacred effigy. Different tribes, perhaps, over the centuries.
I stop at a wooden bench near the tail end of the serpent and listen to nearby birds. The chilled, raw air flows around my face, gently lifting strands of hair along my cheeks as I sit with the serpent.
The experience is still introspective—thinking about the effort used to construct the mound. There is an energy here that demands presence, meditation, and reverence. I walk the path twice, each time in a different direction, so as not to miss anything. The serpent winds around some trees, but mostly is covered in mown grass. Several single mounds closer to the parking lot are testament to a time gone by when indigenous tribes would pilgrimage to the site for ceremonies, erecting a village for their stay. Or maybe, I imagine, villages existed in the area to be close to their sacred effigy. Different tribes, perhaps, over the centuries.
I stop at a wooden bench near the tail end of the serpent and listen to nearby birds. The chilled, raw air flows around my face, gently lifting strands of hair along my cheeks as I sit with the serpent.
Phipps Botanical Conservatory
Along the side streets of Indiana, not the state, but the small city northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Spring pushes through the temperature variations of the seasons’ transition. Chilly rain pummels the new-green lawns sprinkled with dandelion dots of yellow. Purple, white, pink, and red blooms adorn tree limbs along the avenues. Tulips edge asphalt driveways and sidewalks. Seasonal sunshine eventually pushes its way through lingering clouds—an ego-attempt competing with what hasn’t come to a final shift.
But it is time, now far enough away from the scent of bluebonnet fields and the Arkansas forest’s new trillium bursting into burgundy blooms.
And so, my time here in Indiana to visit a dear friend, nudges us into the big city-scape of Pittsburgh to Phipps Botanical Conservatory, part of the generosity of the Carnegie family line, for an orgasmic foray into a floral fandango awakening every sensory appetite.
Yes, the famed Jimmy Stewart grew up here!
The James Stewart Museum was dedicated in Indiana, PA, on 5/20/95.
James Stewart was born in 1908 Indiana, PA, and died in Beverly Hills, California in 1997
I grew up watching old classic movies on Saturday afternoons. It was my way to tune out of my family dynamics, find emotional respite in the daydreaming of other possible lives, and feel out my emotional range through the lens of Hollywood. Movies in black and white, movies in color, movies with actors I came to seek out, and Jimmy Stewart was one of them. As a leading man, he was tall and dapper, but seemed, to me, to have a certain kind of vulnerability. Maybe he was just that good as an actor. He became part of my annual foray into favorite Christmas movies, like It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street. I'm not a fan of commercialized celebration, but I do recognize, and delight in, certain rituals. Ands so, alone on many Christmas days over the years, I would create a lovely meal, take a sometimes-snowy stroll along the back roads, and curl up near my woodstove watching movies. Jimmy was a part of my ritual. The city of Indiana has long celebrated the actor and his ties here, and so it is, I had to go. My friend now having moved back to this place of childhood memory accompanies me to a museum never visited by her, and we delight in all things Jimmy Stewart!
We learn that Stewart's mother was a pianist, and music was an important part of family life. When a customer at his father's hardware store was unable to pay his bill, Stewart's father accepted an old accordion as payment. Jimmy learned to play the instrument with the help of a local barber. His accordion became a fixture offstage during his acting career. A shy child, Stewart spent much of his time after school in the basement working on model airplanes, mechanical drawings, and chemistry—all with a dream of going into aviation. | A WW II bomber pilot from 1941-1946, Stewart joined Air Force Reserves and became brigadier general in 1968 He was the first movie star to enter the service in World War II, joining a year before Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was initially refused entry into the Air Force because he weighed five pounds less than the required 148 pounds, but he talked the recruitment officer into ignoring the test While he served as an officer and a pilot in the US Army Air Forces in World War II, one of the sergeants in his unit was actor Walter Matthau. |
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey in 1932, continuing into graduate studies with a thesis on airport terminal design.
He excelled academically but also became attracted to the school's drama and music clubs, including the Princeton Triangle Club, and then the University Players, an intercollegiate summer stock company on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
His performance as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is ranked #8 on "Premiere" magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
When he won the Best Actor Oscar in 1940, he sent it to his father in Indiana, PA, who set it in his hardware shop. The trophy remained there for 25 years.
Plans for a Jimmy Stewart movie marathon run through my thoughts....and I never did see Harvey.
Plans for a Jimmy Stewart movie marathon run through my thoughts....and I never did see Harvey.
In the Neighborhood
My friend and I spend more time driving from the town of Indiana to the Buttermilk Falls parking lot than we do on our "hike". Our research let us know the trail to the Falls was about a half mile long, but really, maybe, the round trip might have added up to that mileage.
It wasn’t until we arrived that the history of the Falls linked to TV’s childrens’ show host Mister Rogers. Even though the television program ran from 1968 to 2001, with 31 seasons worth of shows, I never watched it. In 1968, I was in 5th grade, a tad older than the targeted pre-school age range. But everyone knew of Mister Rogers, his “Neighborhood”, cardigans, and sneakers. There were good messages that he espoused, and along the path to the Falls, small wooden plaques offer his most popular quotes. I mean, who doesn’t need to be reminded to be 'kind', or that we are each a 'unique' jewel. My friend and I stop to read the wooden signs, navigate along the steps down to the side of the Falls, and don our raincoats to make our way through the drips to the metal grate platform behind the cascade.
It wasn’t until we arrived that the history of the Falls linked to TV’s childrens’ show host Mister Rogers. Even though the television program ran from 1968 to 2001, with 31 seasons worth of shows, I never watched it. In 1968, I was in 5th grade, a tad older than the targeted pre-school age range. But everyone knew of Mister Rogers, his “Neighborhood”, cardigans, and sneakers. There were good messages that he espoused, and along the path to the Falls, small wooden plaques offer his most popular quotes. I mean, who doesn’t need to be reminded to be 'kind', or that we are each a 'unique' jewel. My friend and I stop to read the wooden signs, navigate along the steps down to the side of the Falls, and don our raincoats to make our way through the drips to the metal grate platform behind the cascade.
Growing up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Fred Rogers spent time on this New Florence property then owned by his grandfather, Fred McFeely, from 1931 to 1956. McFeely, a wealthy industrialist utilized the property as a retreat. His estate featured a cottage, horse stables, a three car garage, outbuildings and a swimming area in the creek above the falls.
It was a place of childhood enchantment. After Sunday dinners and on summer vacations he would walk the grounds with his grandfather sharing in memorable moments. Many ideas and expressions used in the children's television program 'Mr. Rogers Neighborhood' were originally conceived here at Buttermilk Falls.
In a 1996 Indiana Gazette interview he remembered climbing on the stone walls at the site and crawling behind the fall to look through the cascading water. Two small dams were constructed just upstream from the falls. One pond was for swimming and the other for goldfish.
Remnants of the stone walls are still visible and the water still flows over a 45 foot cascading waterfall.
In a 1996 Indiana Gazette interview he remembered climbing on the stone walls at the site and crawling behind the fall to look through the cascading water. Two small dams were constructed just upstream from the falls. One pond was for swimming and the other for goldfish.
Remnants of the stone walls are still visible and the water still flows over a 45 foot cascading waterfall.
Pathway wisdom from Mister Rogers slideshow:
Some Mister Rogers trivia:
Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first.
He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.
He weighed exactly 143 pounds for the last 30 years of his life. According to Esquire, Rogers lived a healthy life and was disciplined in his daily routine. Writer Tom Junod explained that Rogers found beauty in his weight of 143 pounds because “the number 143 means 'I love you.
Fred Rogers was not a fan of television, which is why he gravitated toward it, wanting to change what kids viewed in that medium.
Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first.
He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.
He weighed exactly 143 pounds for the last 30 years of his life. According to Esquire, Rogers lived a healthy life and was disciplined in his daily routine. Writer Tom Junod explained that Rogers found beauty in his weight of 143 pounds because “the number 143 means 'I love you.
Fred Rogers was not a fan of television, which is why he gravitated toward it, wanting to change what kids viewed in that medium.
We speak of small Fred, with his grandfather, making their way to the bottom of the Falls, or Fred swimming in the dammed pool of water and watching the goldfish in the lower pool. I’ve often thought about the hidden history of places, and if one is open to explore, one never knows what one will chance upon, like today.
Let’s remember to be 'kind'…after all, we are all 'neighbors'.
Let’s remember to be 'kind'…after all, we are all 'neighbors'.