The Shortest Day
Comment via blog
Prev
Next
|
Day 1: December 21, 2021 The Shortest Day Comment via blog |
Prev Next |
|
|
|
Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve in
normally closed at this time of year except for special events. Pre-COVID,
one of those special events was sunrise on the day of Winter Solstice when
the museum was opened and a presentation given about the relation of the
site and its builders to the start of the shortest day of the year. I'm
not sure the event was acknowledged at all at the park last year. This
year the grounds and museum were open from 7:00 to 10:00 AM but there was
no presentation.
In the predawn, a moon three days past full hung over the museum as a crowd of fifty or so gathered. Low clouds delayed the first sighting of the sun through a purpose built notch in the ancient earthworks for a few minutes but added to the beauty of the sunrise when it happened. |
|
|
At some level, I knew that Kim's Classic Diner was not open on Mondays and
Tuesdays but it wasn't at the top level. I headed there for breakfast and
it took several seconds for the surprise of finding it closed passed and
I realized things were OK. I continued on US-22 and took a picture of
the Washington Court House courthouse just so I could say that. I found
breakfast in Washington Court House at Our Place.
|
|
|
This milestone stands a few miles west of Circleville on US-22. I believe
it is from the Circleville Turnpike of the late 1800s. There is a photo of
it at the Library of Congress that claims it was on Zane's Trace. US-22
does follow Zanes Trace between a point near Amanda and Zanesville, but
the Trace never reached this point. The LOC photo is
here. I've tried and failed to make LOC aware of the
error but now at least you know.
|
|
|
I was working on a line about Ohio marking the exact solstice with two
orange orbs in the sky but one of the orbs photographs as a white blotch
and the other is rather obviously connected to the ground. The one on the
ground is sometimes called the world's largest pumpkin. Read about it
here. Circleville, the big "pumpkin's" home,
got its name from occupying and destroying a giant circular earthworks.
Solstice is actually not a day but a moment. For us northern hemisphere folk, it's when the sun reaches its southernmost point and begins moving north. It's hard to tell, I know, but the white blotch in the photo is in the process of turning around. |
|
|
Back in April, I was headed home eastbound and sought out
Brewery 33 after
discovering it online. Today, eastbound, I could see it easily from the
highway although it took a little more than a right turn to get there. I
arrived just minutes after opening and there was a brief wait while Amy
oversaw unloading of the new mower and the two of us were the taproom's
only occupants for a while but there were about a half-dozen customers by
the time I left. This time I even got a picture of
Wells Winter Warmer. I don't know how I failed
to notice that bar surface last time. This is
what you get when the brewer is also a machinist.
|
|
|
The day's destination was Marietta, Ohio, and I had plans. Poorly laid
plans it turns outs. I had read about a local spot where people watched
Solstice Day sunset aligned with some prehistoric earthworks. This was to
take place at Sacre Via Park. I looked up the park on my phone and decided
to walk there. It was a little more than a mile from the hotel on the
northeast banks of the Muskingum River which seemed like a likely spot to
watch a sunset. The sculpture is by Gutzon Borglum of Mount Rushmore fame.
It was dedicated in 1938 and refurbished in
1988. It celebrates the nation's Start
Westward and possibly a start on the World Wide
Web.
I'm sure there is a story to the collection of Christmas trees but I don't have it. The building is the Ohio River Museum where the W.P. Snyder Jr., the last surviving steam-powered stern-wheeler towboat, is moored. Sacre Via Park -- but no sunset viewing -- is a bit beyond. |
|
|
I eventually learned that there is not only a Sacre Via Park but a West
Sacre Via Park, Central Sacre Via Park, and East Sacre Via Park. The
viewing I missed was apparently at East Sacre Via Park. My Solstice
Sunset photo was taken on the walk back to the hotel.
|
|
|
| [Prev] [Site Home] [Trip Home] [Next] |
