31 minute read
Historic Bartrum Trail
William Bartram, one of America’s first naturalists to visit and write about Florida, piqued the interest of Dr. Tony Abbott at Stetson Universit. He retraced Bartram’s travels across Volusia County and created a brochure to guide visitors along Bartram’s sites. It is called Experience William Bartram’s Florida. Let’s begin at the Bartram Gardens and Trail in DeLand at the Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center, a ten-acre natural area on the shores of Lake Beresford. The gardens are native plants and interpreted with signage using copies of Bartram’s original drawings. Bartram traveled from Lake George southward towards Lake Monroe on the Seminole County line.
Staying true to Bartram’s route, head for Astor and visit the Bartram Oak on Highway 40 just east of the Saint Johns River. Spalding Upper Indian Trade Store, the last European settlement west of St. Johns was just across the river. William Bartram spent several weeks here in 1774. He describes searching for curious vegetable productions, collecting seeds, planting and growing roots in boxes.” The oak would have been a sapling at that time. So the legend grew and it became “Bartram’s Oak.”
By Kathleen Walls Americanroads.net
Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge
This is where the Saint Johns River earns the name “River of Lakes. The river forms Lake Dexter, a few smaller lakes, and then Lake Woodruff. This group of lakes is where Bartram describes the anhinga, or a Snake Bird. It’s also where he describes the multitude of alligators found here. He writes, “The alligators were in such incredible numbers, and so close together from shore to shore, that it would have been easy to have walked across on their heads, had the animals been harmless.”
The refuge was established in 1964 as a migratory bird home to more than 230 species. It is the second-largest pre-migration roosting point of swallow-tailed kites in the United States. Swallow-tailed kites are easily identified by their distinctive black split tail that forms a perfect V. These black and white birds of prey winter in Brazil and return to Florida each spring to build their nest.
There is a good chance of seeing bald eagles here. You might see deer, marsh rabbits, otters, and gopher tortoises while you hike their fifteen miles of trails.
Other wings to see are Erica Group’s Swallow-Tailed Kite Wings murals as part of the “Wings of The West.” They represent something about the location where they’ve been painted.
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DeLeon Springs State Park
There is no recird of Bartram visiting here. If he had, he would have loved the spring with a constant 72 degrees and depths ranging from 18 inches to 30 feet.
The Visitor’s Center has exhibits showing people lived here 6,000 years ago. These earliest recorded dwellers were the Mayaca. Evidence of their lifestyle was found in shell mounds they left behind. The site was once a plantation and during the 1950-60s, a resort. The park is on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. You have a choice of the Wild Persimmon Hiking Trail, a four-mile loop, to spot deer, turkeys, wild hogs and Florida black bears, or the halfmile paved wheelchair-accessible nature trail. Had Bartram passed here he might have seen a cypress tree now more than 600 years old.
If you are on the water, you can canoe or kayak into Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge. Another water adventure here is the 50-minute eco/history boat tour on Spring Garden Run aboard the M/V Acuera.
A unique dining option is the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant built on the remains of a sugar-making operation from the 1830s. Remnants of the mill, the brickwork, boiling kettles, mill machinery, and the original mill wheel hub are located behind the restaurant. The tables are each equipped with a griddle where you can make your own pancakes. The waitress brings you pitchers of batter and your choice of addins. You just pour, flip, and enjoy.
Hontoon Island State Park
This park can only be reached by boat. Bartram described it as “A delightful little bluff consisting chiefly of shells.” It was here he sheltered as best as he could from the hurricane writing that it was “a large islet or grove of Oaks and Palms. Here I intended to seek shelter, and abide till the fury of the hurricane was overpast.”
The shells were most likely the remnants of the Timucuan settlement once here. Today, there is an Owl Totem replica. The original was recovered in 1955 and is in the Florida State Museum in Gainesville. The totem’s located between the visitor’s center and the playground/area. The Timucuan used the totems to show which clan lived in an area.
The interpretive center tells the history of the island and the wildlife you might see. You can camp there, stay in a primitive cabin, or rent a kayak, canoe, or bicycle to explore the island.
Egret at Hontoons Landing
There’s a good place for lunch just across from the park, Hontoon Landing Deli. Aside from a great sandwich, you might meet two sand hill cranes near the outside dining area in front or an egret perched on the rail while you dine overlooking the water.
Blue Spring State Park
West Volusia, being such an outdoor treasure, has three state parks. Blue Spring is the most famous as a manatee area. They come into the spring beginning in November and stay for the winter months. The spring remains 72 degrees year-round, and the manatees are sensitive to the cold so this is one of their favored refuges.
While Bartram was staying at the Beresford Plantation recovering from his brush with the hurricane, Charles Bernard, the caretaker and good friend, took him to visit Blue Spring. Bartram found the spring water to have “a most disagreeable taste.” He describes the spring as “boils up with great force, forming immediately a vast circular bason, capacious enough for several shallops to ride in, and runs with rapidity into the river three or four hundred yards distance.”
Since he was here during hurricane season, he would not see any manatees. It is the largest first magnitude spring emptying about 100 million gallons of water a day into the river. In late November, we saw about ten manatees. From November 15 to March 30, the run is closed to swimming and human water fun. It is reserved
for the manatees. This past season a record breaking 583 manatees were seen.
Interestingly the manatees are named. Their genealogy is traced letting science learn so much more about their habits. One man, Wayne Hartley, has traced manatee families and named them for over four decades. I was fortunate enough to meet him on this trip as he was doing his daily manatee count.
A baby great blue heron that has not turned blue yet
When you visit I highly recommend you take the Blue Spring Adventure pontoon boat tour. On the two-hour tour through the Saint Johns River, try to identify all of the birds as the guide offers educational and entertaining information about the river and the wildlife.
We saw birds of all kinds and ages. The limpkin, a well-camouflaged brown bird, sometimes called the crying bird, because of its call, lives in the shallows of the river. We learned it’s screaming call was used in the early Tarzan movies for Cheetah’s voice. We also saw plenty of alligators, turtles, giant herons, egrets, ibises, wood storks, and so many more.
Aside from the natural aspects of the park, there is the Thursby House built in 1872 by Louis Thursby, one first European settlers, in the area although primitive people lived here for thousands of years previously. In fact, he built his home on top of one of the early middens. The location on the St. Johns River gave him a means of shipping the oranges he grew here. The park offers camping and cabins.
Lyonia Environmental Center
Lyonia Environmental Preserve’s 360 acres are a bit inland so perhaps Bartram did not get here. That’s his loss. It is rich in wildlife and one of the few places you might see a Florida scrub jay. These birds are on the Threatened List and live only in central Florida. They have an unusual family system where the juvenile from the last hatching hang around to offer protection as an extra set of eyes watching for predators while the next babies hatched. They need a scrub environment, which is also a developer’s favorite land type. Sandy Falcon, Center manager, led us through the preserve. It’s an easy hike as the trails are wide and not very hilly.
Inside the center, there are a lot of interpretive exhibits and some real wildlife including some king snakes, a ball python, a pair of turtles named Tuttie and Frutti, a few fish in the turtle tank that were intended as food but survived and now share the tank, a blue-tongued skink named Igor, and more.
Outside, adjacent to the beautiful butterfly garden, you find another set of wings, the Scrub Jay Wings from the Wings of the West series.
Gemini Springs
Bartram, described Gemini Spring as “having three heads within 30 yards” and covered with “duck meat,” the term then used to describe duck weed.
It’s a 212-acre park today that pumps about 6.5 million gallons of sparkling fresh water up from the two springs each day. I spotted a large flock of Florida white ibises there browsing around the spring. Another bird, a beautiful blue heron, was grazing among what Bartram may have referred to as “duck meat.”
The park had a nice paved trail that wanders across the spring run as well as several wooded trails. There are a campground, a dog park and lots of picnic tables.
Green Springs looks like a small emerald dropped into the forest. John and William Bartram described it as a “pretty stream of sweet water.” It’s one of Florida’s few sulfur springs which Native Americans considered sacred and believed it had healing power.
It was once part of Baron Fredrick DeBary’s hunting estate. You can tour DeBary’s home but that’ll be another story.
For more info: https://visitwestvolusia.com/
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Birding Trails
Welcome to the America’s Wetland Birding Trail along the Louisiana Great Gulf Coast. Traveling along the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road and six additional state scenic byways, the America’s Wetland Birding Trail crosses through 22 Southern Louisiana parishes rich with unparalleled history, culture, arts and entertainment. The trail will guide you to some of the state’s most productive natural places along the Great Gulf Coast and will offer ready access to some of the best birding in the country. The America’s Wetland Birding Trail consists of 115 bird watching sites crossing through 22 Louisiana parishes.
Mississippi River Birding Trail
Sparsely populated and heavily cultivated in cotton, corn and soybeans, the Northeast Louisiana Delta has served as one of the last homes for the ivory-billed woodpecker and Louisiana black bear. Agriculture and hardwood timbering fragmented this once-contiguous mosaic of bottomland hardwood and and cypress-tupelo swamp habitats, virtually exterminating both the woodpecker and the bear. The ivory-billed woodpecker may be lost forever, but the Louisiana black bear is making an impressive comeback, thanks to an intensive wildlife conservation program initiated by both federal and state wildlife agencies. To date, hundreds of thousands of acres of abandoned farmland in this region have been purchased and restored to their former forested glory. The Mississippi River Birding Trail consists of 30 bird watching sites in 13 Louisiana parishes.
Red River Birding Trail
Long storied throughout American history for its role in U.S. “Wild West” culture, the Red River changes character considerably as it enters Louisiana. Red clay bluffs, vast pine forests and pileated woodpeckers replace the rocks, bison and rattlesnakes of the river’s upper reaches. Geologically, the Red River neatly bisects a large “shield” of exposed, high-elevation tertiary outcroppings, which form the entire northwestern quadrant of the state. This tertiary shield supports many of Louisiana’s rarest plants. To this day, the Louisiana segment of the Red River Valley is best known for its timber resources, and interest in its mixed-pine forests culminated in the formation of the 600,000-acre Kisatchie National Forest system. Most of the forest’s districts lay along the Red River Trail. The Red River Birding Trail consists of 82 bird watching sites in 18 Louisiana parishes.
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The Texas Film Commission has launched a curated series of self-guided Texas Film Trails to explore. Texas communities have been used for Western film settings since The Sundowners.The history of Texas Westerns shows how the genre itself has evolved, as well as the communities that have hosted these iconic productions. Whether its popular attractions like the Texas State Railroad or modern communities like Gonzales, there is no denying the Texas landscape as the perfect backdrop for any western. Take your cowboy hat and become an outlaw on the Texas Westerns Film Trail: a journey through the Wild West of Texas productions!
Big Bend National Park | BARBAROSA (1982), ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000), THREE BURIALS (2005), NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)
Lajitas, Texas (Brewster County)
The Border Towns of ‘Lone Star’ | LONE STAR (1996)
Del Rio, Eagle Pass & Laredo, Texas (Val Verde, Maverick & Webb Counties)
Filmed in the Texas border towns of Del Rio, Laredo, and primarily Eagle Pass, Lone Star is hailed as director John Sayles’ masterpiece. It was praised for its accuracy in capturing the zeitgeist of the 90’s as well as the culture of life on the Texas border at the time. The magnificent landscapes of Big Bend National Park set the scene for many stunning shots found in westerns filmed in Texas.
The Driskill Hotel |
THE SON (TV SERIES, 2017-2019)
Austin, Texas (Travis County)
In Season One, the McCullough ranch is at risk of being lost unless an investor can be convinced to help. Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan) and his eldest
Discover and Tour the Texas Film Trails
son Phineas (David Wilson Barnes) meet with the potential backer William Philpott (Brett Rice) in the stately lobby and restaurant of the Driskill Hotel in an attempt to win his favor. Tension builds as the financier rudely declines the offer, and Eli daydreams about revenge - a common practice from his past.
Gallagher Headquarters Ranch | ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (2000)
Helotes, Texas (Bexar County) John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) and Lacey Rawlins (Henry Thomas) spend their time on the ranch known as La Purisima in unmapped Mexico, which were actually shot at the Gallagher Headquarters Ranch outside of San Antonio. When they arrive at the hacienda, the landscape fades into the background, and the horses in all their majesty become the focal point.
Old Blanco County Courthouse | TRUE GRIT (2010)
Blanco, Texas (Blanco County)
The Old Blanco Courthouse, built in 1884, was perfect to represent a building from the time period in True Grit. Scenes were shot in the courtroom, on the stairs, and in the hallways. After her father is murdered, Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) sets out looking for a man with “true grit” to help her track down the killer. She gets word of a ruthless, grizzled U.S. Marshal named “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and runs into him at the town’s courthouse where he is testifying about a recent burglary and its casualties.
Gonzales Main Street | THE SON (TV SERIES, 2017-2019)
Gonzales, Texas (Gonzales County) In the final season premiere of The Son, St. George Street in Gonzales was transformed into 1900’s Old Mexico, lined with shops and a hotel. When Eli McCullough (Pierce Brosnan) rescues his son Pete (Henry Garrett) from a Mexican gang, he’s covered in dirt and his hair is long and unkempt, so Eli takes him to a barber shop in a nearby town to clean him up. Eventually, they leave the Mexican town more unwelcome than when they arrived.
Texas Prison Museum | URBAN COWBOY (1980)
Huntsville, Texas (Walker County) The Texas Prison Museum houses several artifacts used in the capture of the actual Bonnie and Clyde after Clyde Barrow raided the prison system’s Eastham Unit and freed five prisoners. The opening scenes of both The Getaway & A Perfect World feature the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. In Urban Cowboy, Wes Hightower (Scott Glenn) is seen as a bull-riding convict in the Texas Prison Rodeo in Huntsville. https://gov.texas.gov/film/trails For More on Texas
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Along the 179-mile Illinois Lincoln Highway, you will find over 30 interpretive gazebos and murals that help tell the story of America’s First Coast-toCoast Road. Dedicated in 1913, the Lincoln Highway runs about 25 miles through the Chicago Southland from Lynwood in the east to New Lenox in the west.
A series of nine murals were completed in 2012 featuring local and national Lincoln Highway history. The Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition created these murals with support from a National Scenic Byway Grant from the Federal Highway Administration and an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism, Attraction Development Grant. 2013 marked the 100th Anniversary for the Lincoln Highway.
Jay Allen, owner of ShawCraft Sign Company, created the interpretive mural series and shares some of the secrets he left in the paintings for you to find. For example, all of the murals have a very subdued “Allen- Hueg-Marshall” or “Allen-Marshall” logo painted on them along with the year they were painted.
Lynwood Mural
The Lincoln Highway Mural Trail
Sauk Village Mural
Location: 1 Sauk Trail Plaza (near the intersection of Torrence and Sauk Trail on the Fairway Foods building) The mural shows the early history of the Sauk Trail where automobiles and livestock “share” the Kalvelage Bridge in route to their destinations. Sauk Trail was designated as an original part of the Lincoln Highway through eastern Illinois and was a major road for daily commuter traffic. Can you find it?: Hidden family names in the tree, and a message to Jay’s wife, Jody.
Location: 21460 East Lincoln Highway
The mural tells the story of Carl Fisher, the father of the Lincoln Highway. Fisher believed that the popularity of automobiles was dependent on good roads and in 1912 he began promoting his dream for a transcontinental highway. Can you find it?: The initials RG for a departed friend and fellow artist Reneata Guzman.
Chicago Heights Mural
Location: 137 East 14th St.
Mural: The Mural is based on a vintage photograph of the McEldowney Bridge where the Lincoln Highway crosses Thorn Creek. The bridge included advancements like separate and protected pedestrian walkways and concrete lanterns. The first Field
The Lincoln Highway Mural Trail
Secretary of the Lincoln Highway Association, Henry C. Ostermann, crossed this bridge bi-annually as he inspected the new coast-to-coast highway. Can you find it?: A small plaque is painted on the mural with the names of the people who made the mural trail possible. There are also two golden screws that were put in place by Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez and Illinois State Representative Anthony DeLuca that mark the completion of the nine mural trail in the Chicago Southland.
Park Forest Mural
Location: 348 Victory Drive
Mural shown abov: The mural commemorates the proclamation of the route and the naming of the first coast-to-coast highway in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. Because the founders of the highway needed to rally Americans from all walks of life, the highway was dedicated to Lincoln as a lasting memorial and that the establishment of a paved highway was everyone’s patriotic duty. Can you find it? There are very small hidden family names and the RG initials mostly in Lincoln’s hair.
University Park Mural
Location: 580 Farmview Road in the Riegel Farm Complex
In 1916, Adeline and Augusta Van Buren set out to prove women could ride motorcycles across the country to serve as military dispatch riders. They became the first women to make a solo coast-tocoast trek on the Lincoln Highway traveling from New York to California in about two months. No secrets are found in this mural. According to artist Jay Allen, this is the most detailed of all the Lincoln Highway murals and should be viewed close up; so it wouldn’t be appropriate. Turn to next page...
Matteson Mural
Location: 3627 West 216th Street
As transportation increased along the Lincoln Highway, so did the need for roadside assistance and automobile repair. The Mahler family’s garage was there to meet the needs of the increasingly mobile public. The mural is displayed on the actual building that is shown in the mural. Holes on the sides for binding and photo mounting corners on the images make the mural look like a page from a family photo album.
Can you find it? A plaque on the tow truck that details the project. The birthday of Jay’s wife Jody and “I miss you, Dad” dedicated to Jay’s late father. demonstrations.
Can you find it? The initials and birthday of a family friend on the car and Folker’s Hotel, a Frankfort building in the 1920s, is pictured in the background.
Mokena Mural
LocationL 11104 Front Street
As roads like the Lincoln Highway made family weekend trips and other automobile excursions more popular, automobile garages began to appear across America. In 1916, Mokena’s first automotive garage opened to assist the new motoring public.
Can you find it? The initials “RG” are hidden in the work as a tribute to the artist’s father.
Frankfort Mural
Location: 11008 West Lincoln Highway
Mural: In July 1928, four Eagle Scouts were selected for a nationwide safety tour to promote the Lincoln Highway and the upcoming national scouting event in which the Lincoln Highway concrete markers would be installed. Their caravan stopped in towns along the route to perform daily safety
New Lenox Mural
Location: 125 West Maple Street
The trolley line that served New Lenox ran between Chicago Heights and Joliet and although dependable, it was quite slow. With the development of the Lincoln Highway a new form of independence
for motorists and increased automobile traffic became a way of life, passing up the need to depend on trolley schedules and routes.
Can you find it? In the overhead bridge, artist Jay Allen and other family members have their names on the bridge. The word love is painted on the pole and in the road multiple times. How many can you find?
Just an hour away from Chicago Southland lies the top attraction in Illinois - Starved Rock State Park. Open daily from sunrise to sunset, this is a great way to extend your weekend getaway. Feeling a world apart from the busy city traffic, the amazing, seasonal waterfalls are active after heavy rains. There are also 13 miles of trails to explore and the Illinois River offers fishing, boating, Make reservations to stay at the beautiful Starved Rock Lodge. If you prefer, you can stay in an authentic log cabin filled with character and charm. For available packages or discounts, visit https://www.starvedrocklodge.com/
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National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show
The 32nd Annual National Toy Truck ’N Construction Show will be held Aug. 12, 13 and 14 at Wyndham Indianapolis West, 2544 Executive Drive in Indianapolis, Ind.
“Plan to come early and stay for the whole show to join in the fun we are planning,” said Cathy Scheibe, publisher of Toy Trucker & Contractor magazine, which sponsors the National Toy Truck ’N Construction Show. “It’s no secret that the past three years have been difficult for many of us, but this year’s show promises to be the best one we’ve done in many years. We have talked with the hotel and their scheduled remodel is on track. Ballrooms are finished. All hallways and doors are again open. The rear section where we had floor level vendors and our hospitality room three years ago will again be available for us and those vendors who were in that area.”
A special feature for the 2022 show: Ken Reimer and Aaron Hoffmeister plan to have on display an 8x8-foot diorama of the Tri-State Commodities Inc. yard, located in Greeley, Colo. Reimer is building the diorama and Hoffmeister will be furnishing trucks from his Tri-State collection.
Tri-State Commodities Inc. was started in 1971 by Ivan D. (Jack) Shupe, who has been in the trucking industry almost his entire life, according to the company’s website. Over the last 40 years, he has watched Tri-State grow from a small one-truck company to a fleet of almost 50 trucks. Shupe
is still working at Tri-State Commodities, although he leaves the operation of the company to his two sons, Grant and Gregg, who have worked at Tri-State since graduating from high school. Other family members involved in the business are Grant’s wife, Wendy, who began working for Tri-State in 1983 and is now president of the company; Grant and Wendy’s son, Chad, who has also started working at Tri-State; and Gregg’s sons, Preston and Elliot, who plan to work for the company to continue the family tradition.
Another feature of this year’s show will be a live auction.
“We talked with our auctioneer, Darren Bock, and he tells us he has some very nice pieces going onto the auction and expects to have the online catalog ready by mid-July,” Scheibe said. “We are also contacting a few people we know to see if they would like to put some unique pieces on the auction that you will truly want to see in-person. Keep watching our website for further information on the auction.” Anyone with an item to be considered for this auction should contact United Edge Auction at 419-298-1100.
In addition to his help with building the special Tri-States diorama, Hoffmeister is also in charge of this year’s Indy Model Buildoff. Updated information about this year’s event can be seen at the Facebook page (National Toy Truck and Construction Build off).
As far as an update on the show truck, Scheibe gave this report in the June issue of Toy Trucker & Contractor magazine: “2021 transfer dump: Currently being built. Expected delivery September.”
National Toy Truck ‘N Construction Show
“2022: There would have been order blanks in this issue, but waiting for approval of the blanks from Bobcat and Peterbilt. Look for them in the mail and online. They are currently being built.”
“We expect to have some actual samples of each truck at the show that you can at least pick up and touch,” she added.
About 50 vendors and several manufacturers will set up for this year’s show, which features a variety of collectible trucks and construction toys.
Show hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. General admission is $10 for adults for all three days of the show; children ages 12 and younger are free with a paying adult.
The show, now in its 32nd year, followed talk about a publication devoted to the toy truck hobby between Claire Scheibe, at that time publisher of Toy Farmer, and Gary Anderson in the early 1980s. The result was American Toy Trucker, a newsletter, with Gary as publisher from 1983 to 1986. In July 1986, Dennis and Marge Lowry purchased the publication from Gary and then, in 1990, Claire and Cathy Scheibe took over, changed the name of the publication to Toy Trucker & Contractor magazine and the first issue was published in March 1990.
The Scheibes, who had experience with hosting the National Farm Toy Show, sponsored by Toy Farmer, started the annual National Toy Truck ’N Construction show to spotlight die-cast truck manufacturers, along with toy dealers and custom truck builders. At first, the event alternated show sites between Dyersville, Iowa, and Rochester, N.Y. At that time, Ertl was still producing trucks in Dyersville and Winross made trucks in Rochester. For the past several years, it has been held in Indianapolis, except for 2017, when it made a one-year return to Dyersville.
The National Toy Truck ’N Construction Show usually draws collectors from around the world, who get a chance to talk to representatives from many of the diecast companies which produce the collectible replicas, as well as families who appreciate the friendly atmosphere and various events featured at the show.
Cathy Scheibe made a suggestion in her June Toy Trucker & Contractor column to those planning for the show: “To help save some gas money to come to the show, load up a vehicle with friends and join us for the best time ever. See you there.”
For more information about the show or its featured model, call Toy Trucker & Contractor magazine at 800-533-8293 or 701-8835206 or visit www.toytrucker.com.
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Places to Go:
New Exhibits at Conner Prairie
Conner Prairie Announces the opening of Smithsonian Spark!Lab Invention Space developed by the Smithsonian Lemelson Center to Bring Hands-On Invention Learning to Cultural Organizations Nationwide
FISHERS – This new experience will celebrate innovation and give children and families the opportunity to explore their inventive creativity through hands-on discovery and learning. The aim is to communicate invention is a process, rather than a single “Aha!” moment. Visitors are provided with opportunities to explore the invention process and their own creativity and to demonstrate the central role that invention plays in American history—and today. Items from Conner Prairie’s collection will be featured along with stories of young inventors from the past. “Our mission at Conner Prairie is to offer a unique historic place that inspires curiosity and fosters learning by providing engaging and individualized experiences for everyone, said Jesse Kramer, Director of Exhibits at Conner Prairie. “Spark!Lab is an extension of this mission, providing learning opportunities for children and families to become inventors through their own creativity, innovation, collaboration and problem-solving skills.”
Visitors may be making a marble-powered musical soundscape, clean plastic pollution from the oceans., or build a vehicle. Spark!Lab will feature different invention challenges regularly (e.g., things that roll, things that help us see) so no two visits are alike.
Spanning more than 1,000 wooded acres in Central Indiana, Conner Prairie welcomes more than 400,000 visitors of all ages annually. As Indiana’s first Smithsonian Affiliate, Conner Prairie offers various outdoor, historically-themed encounters and indoor experiential learning spaces that combine history and art with science, technology, engineering and math to offer an authentic look into history that shapes society today.
To learn more, about the Conner Prairie Spark!Lab, visit https://www.connerprairie.org/sparklab-2/. To learn more about other Conner Prairie exhibits coming in 2022, visit https://www.connerprairie.org/ explore/experiences/.
New Exhibits at Conner Prairie
Habitat is another new exploratory exhibit, featuring eleven themed exhibit sections where visitors can discover various nature-related content areas such as bird nests, biomes, keystone species and coral reefs.
Habitat was developed by Smithsonian Gardens and focuses on the importance of habitats to our culture and our lives. It explores the critical need for varied habitats, how interconnected and fragile they are, and what we can do to protect them. Habitats provide homes for all living things, from the tiniest ant to the tallest tree. The exhibition is made available by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
Located in currently accessible guest areas, Habitat will highlight Conner Prairie’s outdoor initiatives to preserve, protect, and expand the use of our natural resources, captivating outdoor enthusiasts of all ages.
Conner Prairie is passionate about conservation and engaging in long-term partnerships with the community to give everyone access to learn more about and support the ecosystem and engage with natural resources.
By Kandy Derden Things to Do Editor
schools have adapted their teachContinue with the progress and development of civilization while visiting 1836 Prairietown. This thriving town has an operational blacksmith shop at one end and inn on the other end. In between, visit the local doctor’s office and home, discover the delights of a general store and compare today’s
classrooms with the schoolhouse of yore. See also how pottery was made in the local pottery shop.
Chronologically, the next item is the 1859 Balloon Voyage. This tethered hot air balloon has a basket which will hold approximately fifteen passengers. When it ascends to its maximum height allowable by the rope lines, riders can look out over the 1046 acre property with an especially good view of the 150 acres used for guests to explore the seven outside themed areas.
The passing of time next leads to the 1863 Civil War Journey where you can see a Union Camp and Field Hospital along with other structures depicting that particular segment of our history. In the Petting Barn, children can learn about livestock, among other things. For example, I heard a story about a small child who had resisted his parent’s efforts to teach him how to walk. But when he wanted to pet baby animals in the petting barn, he learned to walk by moving from one to another and another. Words don’t do justice to the wealth of information which can be gleaned from a trip to Connor Prairie. Whether you stop to help pick mulberries, milk a goat or learn how to make a hat, you can be sure of one thing: there is something for everyone. Even the playground has been specifically designed for children of all abilities. In addition to the more tradition equipment, there is also several sensory activities. Check the website for more information about Sensory Friendly Hours on specific days. The future goal of Connor Prairie is to change the way the world views and uses museums. Their brochure says it best, so come on! Step into the Story.
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Things to Do: Power of the Past
OTTAWA - Plan now to attend the 27th annual Power of the Past Antique Engine & Tractor Show Sept. 9-11.This city is also the home of Warner Manufacturing and Union Foundry and is a great site to see the gas and horse-powered farm implements of the past.
This show is much more than a gathering of gas engine and tractor enthusiasts. However, it is pretty amazing to witness all the engines chugging at once With the passage of time, any of the younger generation have never seen or experienced farm life in its heyday. This event is a great way for them to come and learn where the future meets the past.
The Power of the Past Antique Engine and Tractor Association’s mission is to preserve the past, bring back the memories of days gone by, and create a learning experience for younger generations through demonstrations of equipment at various events throughout the year.
It started as a gathering of a handful of antique engine and tractor buffs. One reason for starting the organization is the Warner Manufacturing Company which manufactured Ottawa engines.
We say to senior citizens in our community, come out and see the farm equipment of your youth. To the younger generation we say “observe an experience of a pre-computer era. Everyone visiting is sure to find a fun activity especially for them. A craft show and flea market are planned this year.
Admission is only $3 for all three days, one of the best deal of the year. Children under the age of 12 are admitted free.
To see the fun and enthusiasm this group has, please take a minute to visit our Show and Events page at http://www.powerofthepast.net/ You can preview pictures from past events and relive good times we’ve had. If you like what you see there, don’t hesitate to join us.
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