Saturday, April 11, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Gold Mine in Clermont County
I grew up in a house located less than five minutes from East Fork Lake State Park. I've always heard rumors about a gold mine being located on park property; it's common knowledge that small amounts of gold had been discovered in this area the 1800's.
Turns out there wasn't just one, but three gold mines on park property. My mom, whose grandfather owned a farm located on what is now a popular hiking and fishing area (you can still see daffodils where the farm used to be), told us she thought she knew where the entrance to a mine was. It was Sunday, the weather was beautiful, and we were bored...so we headed with my parents to look for it.
To my surprise, we found it after less than an hour of looking. Most of that time was spent looking for a road on the other side of the creek where it's located. We hiked down an old road, rounded a bend which overlooked a creek, and spotted the opening in the side of the hill.
For accountability and safety reasons, I personally don't want to reveal here exactly where we found it. I will say that it is easy enough to find if you poke around on the web a little.
I believe we found the Allen Mine. I'm not sure if this tunnel was built to access the mine, acted as a sluice or if it came later, when the trails were built. It connects to the creek through a hill. You can see the entrance of the mine from the other end.
The mine has been caved in for some time. I'm just amazed that a mystery from my childhood was cleared up in a matter of hours. We hiked further up on top of the hill, where we discovered an old foundation and well.
Who says this region is boring? My husband and I have gone on countless mini-adventures like this one. That's what inspired me to write the book I'm currently working on. Next time you complain about being bored, think about all of the things hidden around you!
Turns out there wasn't just one, but three gold mines on park property. My mom, whose grandfather owned a farm located on what is now a popular hiking and fishing area (you can still see daffodils where the farm used to be), told us she thought she knew where the entrance to a mine was. It was Sunday, the weather was beautiful, and we were bored...so we headed with my parents to look for it.
To my surprise, we found it after less than an hour of looking. Most of that time was spent looking for a road on the other side of the creek where it's located. We hiked down an old road, rounded a bend which overlooked a creek, and spotted the opening in the side of the hill.
For accountability and safety reasons, I personally don't want to reveal here exactly where we found it. I will say that it is easy enough to find if you poke around on the web a little.
I believe we found the Allen Mine. I'm not sure if this tunnel was built to access the mine, acted as a sluice or if it came later, when the trails were built. It connects to the creek through a hill. You can see the entrance of the mine from the other end.
The mine has been caved in for some time. I'm just amazed that a mystery from my childhood was cleared up in a matter of hours. We hiked further up on top of the hill, where we discovered an old foundation and well.
Who says this region is boring? My husband and I have gone on countless mini-adventures like this one. That's what inspired me to write the book I'm currently working on. Next time you complain about being bored, think about all of the things hidden around you!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Free Floyd Collins
I recently started a new job downtown. It's closer to where my husband works. Because of this, we've found a new parking spot in a lot roughly halfway between our buildings. I mention this because people who know us don't know where we've been parking the past few weeks, and because this new job came about at a time when it was really hard to dismiss the timing as anything short of a miracle.
Fast forward to this evening, when I met my husband at his car. He was about to back out when he spotted something fluttering on his windshield. My heart sank, as I thought it was a ticket, and began wondering what the heck we did wrong. It was actually this piece of paper, which looks like receipt paper, with the words "Free Floyd Collins" written on it and stuck under the wiper.
My first instinct was to take out my iPhone and look up name. I got a chill as the Google search results appeared. The words "Cave City" caught my eye first.
You see, we've been planning a weekend trip to Mammoth Cave with another couple. Earlier that day, as I was eating lunch, I decided to look at the Mammoth Cave site and make sure all the attractions were open the weekend we'd be headed there. Cave City is where it is located.
Floyd Collins was a caver who met his fate trying to find a connection between Sand Cave and the more popular Mammoth Cave system. He was trapped in the cave, a media circus and crowd gathered above, and he was eventually found dead--according to legend his body was found with a cave cricket resting on his nose. He was originally buried in the cave when it was determined removing him was too risky; he was moved several times until he was eventually interred under a tombstone that reads "Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known." In addition, he was given proper burial on March 24th, 1989. Today is the 23rd, so I guess you could say it was the last day he was trapped in the cave.
I have to admit I was slightly freaked out when I read all of this. A random note that refers to a folk hero from a region I had just looked up hours before. In a parking lot no one knows we park in.
Now, there are a variety of explanations for this note. One, someone noticed our state park stickers on the back window and thought we'd get the reference (apparantly the phrase is often seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts in Cave City). Two, it's referring to something else--maybe a prisoner--but what reason would they have for putting it on our car? I couldn't find a reference to a case involving someone of that name in Cincinnati. Another possible explanation is that they have the wrong car and this is a crazy coincidence. All I know is I will be visiting several Floyd Collins sites when I go to the area next month.
I recently started a new job downtown. It's closer to where my husband works. Because of this, we've found a new parking spot in a lot roughly halfway between our buildings. I mention this because people who know us don't know where we've been parking the past few weeks, and because this new job came about at a time when it was really hard to dismiss the timing as anything short of a miracle.
Fast forward to this evening, when I met my husband at his car. He was about to back out when he spotted something fluttering on his windshield. My heart sank, as I thought it was a ticket, and began wondering what the heck we did wrong. It was actually this piece of paper, which looks like receipt paper, with the words "Free Floyd Collins" written on it and stuck under the wiper.
My first instinct was to take out my iPhone and look up name. I got a chill as the Google search results appeared. The words "Cave City" caught my eye first.
You see, we've been planning a weekend trip to Mammoth Cave with another couple. Earlier that day, as I was eating lunch, I decided to look at the Mammoth Cave site and make sure all the attractions were open the weekend we'd be headed there. Cave City is where it is located.
Floyd Collins was a caver who met his fate trying to find a connection between Sand Cave and the more popular Mammoth Cave system. He was trapped in the cave, a media circus and crowd gathered above, and he was eventually found dead--according to legend his body was found with a cave cricket resting on his nose. He was originally buried in the cave when it was determined removing him was too risky; he was moved several times until he was eventually interred under a tombstone that reads "Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known." In addition, he was given proper burial on March 24th, 1989. Today is the 23rd, so I guess you could say it was the last day he was trapped in the cave.
I have to admit I was slightly freaked out when I read all of this. A random note that refers to a folk hero from a region I had just looked up hours before. In a parking lot no one knows we park in.
Now, there are a variety of explanations for this note. One, someone noticed our state park stickers on the back window and thought we'd get the reference (apparantly the phrase is often seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts in Cave City). Two, it's referring to something else--maybe a prisoner--but what reason would they have for putting it on our car? I couldn't find a reference to a case involving someone of that name in Cincinnati. Another possible explanation is that they have the wrong car and this is a crazy coincidence. All I know is I will be visiting several Floyd Collins sites when I go to the area next month.
Fast forward to this evening, when I met my husband at his car. He was about to back out when he spotted something fluttering on his windshield. My heart sank, as I thought it was a ticket, and began wondering what the heck we did wrong. It was actually this piece of paper, which looks like receipt paper, with the words "Free Floyd Collins" written on it and stuck under the wiper.
My first instinct was to take out my iPhone and look up name. I got a chill as the Google search results appeared. The words "Cave City" caught my eye first.
You see, we've been planning a weekend trip to Mammoth Cave with another couple. Earlier that day, as I was eating lunch, I decided to look at the Mammoth Cave site and make sure all the attractions were open the weekend we'd be headed there. Cave City is where it is located.
Floyd Collins was a caver who met his fate trying to find a connection between Sand Cave and the more popular Mammoth Cave system. He was trapped in the cave, a media circus and crowd gathered above, and he was eventually found dead--according to legend his body was found with a cave cricket resting on his nose. He was originally buried in the cave when it was determined removing him was too risky; he was moved several times until he was eventually interred under a tombstone that reads "Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known." In addition, he was given proper burial on March 24th, 1989. Today is the 23rd, so I guess you could say it was the last day he was trapped in the cave.
I have to admit I was slightly freaked out when I read all of this. A random note that refers to a folk hero from a region I had just looked up hours before. In a parking lot no one knows we park in.
Now, there are a variety of explanations for this note. One, someone noticed our state park stickers on the back window and thought we'd get the reference (apparantly the phrase is often seen on bumper stickers and t-shirts in Cave City). Two, it's referring to something else--maybe a prisoner--but what reason would they have for putting it on our car? I couldn't find a reference to a case involving someone of that name in Cincinnati. Another possible explanation is that they have the wrong car and this is a crazy coincidence. All I know is I will be visiting several Floyd Collins sites when I go to the area next month.
Posted via Pixelpipe.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sprout
My husband and I visited Paint Creek State Park over the weekend to take some photos for my book. We headed down to the spillway area, which is my favorite part of the park. There were some early fishermen, some in waders in the cold water. We saw a crow pluck a fish from the rapids. There were signs of life all around--spring begins tomorrow! See this sprout poking up through the dead leaves of fall and winter?
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Butt Drugs
On a recent trip to Indiana, I spotted this drugstore. How could I not look twice, much less skip taking a photo?
I know it's a bit immature, but in my defense, the company embraces the unusual name. And why not? A little self-deprecation never hurt anyone. If I'm ever in the area again, I'm getting a t-shirt.
This reminds me of a gas station we used to pass with my mom on visits to my grandma. For a long time, it was called Pee-Pee Gas. This site makes it seem like that's still the name, but I haven't seen a sign for years. "Pee-pee" was a phrase we were discouraged from saying as children, but that was the one time it was acceptable. Ah, the innocence of youth.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Love Van
I spotted this van when I walked to the corner for lunch. On the side, it said:"The Greatest Thing You Will Ever Learn, Is Just to love, and Be Loved in Return"
I love when people paint and/or glue things to vehicles, or when people drive unusual vehicles. I once saw a car in Indiana somewhere, out near the casinos, that had hundreds of little plastic toys glued to it. There used to be a man in my college town who drove a hearse and wore a top hat everywhere he went. Also in my college town...there was an older gray car with messages written all over it in Sharpie Marker...about the government, religion and anything else he seemed to be paranoid about.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Cave Graffiti
Found this graffiti during a tour of Marengo Cave. Most of it seemed old, though some was newer and therefore puzzling since the only way in is on a guided group tour.
I like the way "Oscar" is scrawled. Not that I condone graffiti, but it looks like it was long enough ago to be forgivable. Has that turn-of-the century look to it.
Caves are so delicate and beautiful that I can't imagine doing this now.
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