Octagon Open House

I’ve written before about the marvelous earthworks centered in Newark, Ohio. The Great Circle Mound is located just off Route 79 on the border with Heath, Ohio. And then there is the huge Octagon Earthworks a couple of miles to the northwest, currently occupied by a Country Club and golf course (but owned by the Ohio Historical Society).

Yesterday (and today, too!) was one of the four open houses that are conducted every year. These open houses are always extremely interesting and well worth going to.

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Earthworks Across the Licking Valley

On Facebook a couple of days ago, Jeff Gill of the Newark Earthworks Center (among other things!) praised some of the LiDAR images I had created that were related to the earthworks around Newark.

But he asked for a “nudge”.

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Chillicothe

On Saturday I headed down to Chillicothe with my son. Chillicothe has a long historical tradition, being a major location for the Hopewell Culture. Just to the east are the mountains (hills) that appear on the Great Seal of the State of Ohio. It was also Ohio’s first state capitol.

First we visited Mound City; then we climbed Sugarloaf.

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Footprints in Time

Last month I wrote about barefoot references in The Old Ways — A Journey on Foot, written by Robert Macfarlane, a wonderful description of hiking in (among other places) the Outer Hebrides.

It also had a description of ancient fossil footprints that keep appearing on the beach in Formby (near Liverpool).

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Jewish Priests

When I wrote about Discalceation, there was a brief mention in the work I quoted about barefootedness in Jewish temples.

The following expounds on that a bit.

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Discalceation

Here’s an interesting article on “discalceation”, which it defines as the taking off of the shoes as a sign of respect for holy ground. It comes from a book entitled “A Lexicon of Freemasonry” by Albert Mackey.

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Barefooted Southeastern Indians

When I wrote about Penn’s Treaty, there was a Facebook comment suggesting that “Florida’s Seminoles all went barefoot (warmer climate)”.

Absolutely.

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A Capitol Idea

Yesterday I used Penn’s Treaty with the Indians to look a bit at now often Native Americans went barefooted.

Today I thought I’d take a look at another place that a version of that appears: on the friezes inside the U.S. Capitol dome.

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Penn’s Treaty . . . and Other Things

I recently was reminded of Benjamin West’s famous painting of Penn’s Treaty with the Indians. The picture was commissioned by William Penn’s son, William, and was done in 1772.

It shows a barefoot Lenâpé Indian. But is it historical? And didn’t all the Indians wear moccasins?

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Preach it, Brother

We often think about the late 1800s as more of a golden time for barefooting. That’s not quite true—there were times and situations in which shoes were required, and woe to you if you violated that.

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A Boy in Springtime

How about another old cartoon? This one is from 1903 and shows a theme we’ve seen again and again—back then kids just couldn’t wait to be able to start going barefoot all summer long.

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You’re a Sissy . . .

if you don’t go barefoot.

Or at least that’s the message from this 1899 cartoon.

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More on Clear Creek Indian Trails

Last week I wrote a bit on the Indian Trails that used to pass through Clear Creek Metro Park. Today I’m reproducing a column from Charles Goslin that didn’t appear in Crossroads and Fence Posts.

In the column he describes walking from the intersection of the two Clear Creek Indian Trails to Lancaster.

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A Boy After My Own Heart

Here’s a story from the Hutchinson (Kansas) News Herald from January 1947. It’s about a barefoot boy who knows what he prefers . . . even in winter.

There’s a real contrast with the way this would have turned out today.

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Under the Old Oak Tree

In addition to their Daily Dozen, photos that readers send in, the National Geographic also does a Photo-of-the-Day. (This page does not use flash.)

A few days ago, it featured an ancient, really impressive oak tree, with four barefoot children on it.

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