Once upon a time, in a land very very near, there lived a man who declared that the earth was hollow. Among the man’s disciples was his son who eventually erected a tombstone topped by a 3D representation of the earth with entrances to its interior at both poles. On Saturday, April 13, that marker was the focal point of the first-ever (AFAIK) Hollow Earth Fest.

That very near land is southwest Ohio with the Hollow Earth Monument standing in the city of Hamilton. The man buried beneath it is John Cleves Symmes Jr., who served in the US Army during the War of 1812 before moving to Saint Louis, MO, then Newport, KY, and then Hamilton, OH. He was the nephew of a more famous John Cleves Symmes who fought in the Revolutionary War, served in the Continental Congress, and bought and resold a major chunk of southwest Ohio. The elder John Cleves Symmes had no male children. It was his nephew who was named after him with the “Jr.” suffix often used to distinguish the two.

John Cleves Symmes Jr. died in 1829 at the age of 48 and was buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Hamilton. When that cemetery was replaced by Greenwood Cemetery in 1848, his body was left behind for some reason. His son, Americus, erected the hollow earth marker in 1873.

The marker’s original carvings have become nearly unreadable and have been reproduced on metal plaques mounted on a pedestal below. The monument was rededicated in 1991 as noted by a fourth plaque on its otherwise blank side.

Music at the festival included a fife (or maybe flute) and drum trio, native American drummers and singers with spontaneous dancing in the audience, and a father-son duo.

Food trucks and other vendors were present including Municipal Brew Works with a Belgian ale, Earth Donut, brewed especially for the occasion.

There were also some more formal ceremonies and presentations but I did not do a very good job of documenting them. I can, however, show that the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, and Boy Scouts of America were all represented.

It goes without saying that this was absolutely the best Hollow Earth Fest that I have ever attended. It wasn’t huge but it had a blend of history, patriotism, civic pride, and debunked science that I can see leading to real growth in the future. It’s the sort of thing that people of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all over and within the globe can enjoy.