We took a break yesterday and went on a little drive over the Ohio River and into Meigs county. We've been through Meigs before but there were a lot of areas we had not yet seen. It's funny how you can live so close to a place but never really know it.
Our first stop was at the Buffington Island Battlefield Park, which also has an Indian mound in its center.
The view from the top of the mound is serene and rural, with cornfields and trees the predominant features.
There are many mounds along the Ohio River, built by the early Native American cultures. This is, I suppose, one of the smaller ones. Many were destroyed by early settlers as they developed cropland.
The Battle of Buffington Island was the largest land battle to take place on Ohio soil, and even as such it was a fairly small affair. I remember attending a re-enactment of the battle in 1997 or 1998 that was held in this park but had not been back to visit since then.
Inside the old stone restrooms, the glass block windows and stonework create interesting patterns.
The road along the river is straight in many places, lined with corn and produce farms. There aren't many houses along here, just quiet, farms and corn. This area is called Long Bottom, with good reason--long, flat stretches of good land.
Further north we spotted another monument, up on a roadbank so we turned around to investigate, and found ourselves standing on a campsite occupied by George Washington in October of 1770, when he was surveying the Ohio Valley.
The view from the site was gorgeous and it was easy to see why Washington elected to camp there: a long view of the river and anyone approaching, and at your back a steep stone cliff that would keep any attackers at bay from that direction.
This was hostile territory then, and history is filled with stories of attacks and atrocities by both the settlers and the natives.
My favorite house on this side of the river! Isn't it stunning? It looks out across a broad sweep of valley and water.
I can never get enough of looking at the "Beautiful River," although often I think of how many lives were lost trying to navigate its treacherous waters back in the days before the locks and dams tamed it.
We turned west and away from the river finally, and headed into interior Meigs. This bridge crosses the lovely Shade River and is the entrance to the small town of Chester. We did not stop here, or take any photos, although there were several places that looked interesting. We were looking for lunch at this point, and apparently Chester offers no places to eat except a convenience store. Maybe we just missed it.
More of Meigs county in my next post!
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This sounds an interesting drive with lots of history which I always like. Ars the mounds burial mounds or more like meeting places?
ReplyDeleteI have never been that far East, so it is interesting to see the country and get a bit of history at the same time.
ReplyDeleteRowan, these are burial mounds. Many of them were raided by the early settlers in the area, some were flattened when fields were plowed. Some are huge, others smaller like this one.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny how we often don't know what's in our own back yard, Brig. East has such smaller distances to travel than you Westerners have. That sounds funny...but I mean that getting from town to town. I remember driving to Kansas to see my son who was stationed there in the Army, and the sign said something like 265 miles to whatever the next big city was. Kinda daunting!
ReplyDeleteYou must have blinked in Chester lol. They do have an eating place called Summerfields. It is a combination restaurant, bar, pool hall but the food isn't half bad!!
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