Until next time Dayton

This might be a longer post than needed, as it was meant to be two.  Just hang in there …

For our last day in Dayton we went to watch the Wright State Raiders wallop the visiting Purdue Mastodons, from Fort Wayne.  Why ???

Well, Fran’s brother, Bill, has a granddaughter who is the step-sister of their star!  Watch for Boston Smith to be in the MLB.

Boston Smith

double off his first pitch

And he scores!

A really nice young man signing autographs for the kids.  His signature may put them though college!  Well, maybe …

Wright State is know for turning out some of the best college baseball talent.  Check out this list of players that went on to the MLB.

We packed up and left the following morning.  Our destination was Hopewell Culture Historical Park.

We visited the Effigy Mounds in Iowa several years ago.  And like most mounds, those are burial mounds. 

However, the Hopewell people cremated their dead.  The mounds may contain remains, but their primary purpose ceremonial.

Mound City

Mound City is the single largest site that remains of the Hopewell.

All Hopewell sites include a square of 27 acres, large circle and a smaller circle.  The Large Circle was used primarily for the cremations, but the square was ceremonial.  They had no written language, not even  a village, but lived in family huts, only to join forces to build these mounds, which probably took generations.

The perimeter mound is not for protection, but to mark the ceremonial area.  Walking among the mounds is an experience.  Just to imagine a group would dedicate generations to moving the dirt to build the perimeter and the mounds for religious, astronomical and ceremonial use.

Within the mounds effigy figures are common.  But most prized was mica.

and lots of effigy pipes.  Yupper, it appears the Hopewell were indeed tabaco users

Each of the remaining 22 mounds have had archeological excavations and then returned to their original composition.

A nice shaded spot along the Scioto River that linked the many Hopewell sites

The river linked the Hopewell, while providing food, water and communications.

There is no other place that Links so many ceremonial sites than the Hopewell sites along the Scioto River.

Only six of the Hopewell sites remain, and are all preserved as part of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park.

We were then off to Point Pleasant WV.  When George Washington surveyed this area, where the the Ohio and Kanawha rivers meet, he recorded it as a ‘pleasant point’.  But we’re here to meet the Mothman!

The Silver Bridge (built in 1928)collapsed on December 15, 1967.  Seventy vehicles were dropped into the Ohio River, resulting in 46 deaths.

More than 100 residents came forward to testify a ‘Mothman’ had warned them of the impending disaster.

So we’re at the Mothman Museum to see some of this for ourselves.

Meet the Mothman with large red eyes and batlike wings.

Dozens of pages of both handwritten and typed of affidavits are on display.

I’ve read the book The Mothman Prophecies

and we’ve seen the movie, of the same name, staring Richard Gere.

Profits soared after Carolin Harris renamed her Steak House the Mothman Diner.

Point Pleasant also has a river walk, which includes an amphitheater.

The river walk is paneled with numerous murals depicting their history.

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Eventually treaties were made.

We stayed at the Point Pleasant Krodel Park.  A city park with FHU for $35.  A small lake and walking trail.

But no pictures!  We would stay there again!

Driving east through West Virginia we realize John Denver made a good observation by calling the rolling hills 'Almost Heaven.'

We are now in Virginia and will begin our way south.