Ohio

Travel: Ohio artifacts can be seen in England

Published

1 week ago

June 8, 2024

Travel: Ohio artifacts can be seen in England

Steve Stephens
| Special to The Columbus Dispatch

Many travelers and history buffs are aware that the British Museum in London is, controversially, the repository for the ancient Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, removed from the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, and brought to England in the early 19th century.

But the museum also holds many other historic items from around the world, including some of the most important archeological artifacts from Ohio.

In a glass display case in the British Museum’s Room 26, visitors will find more than two dozen exquisitely fashioned pipes, as well as bowls and other objects recovered from mounds built by the prehistoric Hopewell people of the Scioto Valley.

The display, though small, is the most comprehensive in the world, and is only a small fraction of the Ohio Hopewell items the museum owns.

The pipes, carved some 2,000 years ago from various types of soft stone, known collectively as “pipestone,” were used to smoke tobacco, perhaps during ritual ceremonial observations.

Though some of the pipes are simple bowls, many are exquisitely detailed effigies of birds, frogs, beavers, turtles and other creatures from the Scioto Valley. They demonstrate a level of artistry that offers an intriguing glimpse into the culture of a people we still know relatively little about.

Most of the stone is also native to the area around modern-day Chillicothe, although a few pipes were carved from rock from as far away as Minnesota, indicating a surprising level of travel and trade at the time.

How the items made their way from the vicinity of Chillicothe to England is a fascinating tale in itself.

Although the prehistoric mounds of Ohio were objects of curiosity and speculation since the time of the earliest European trappers and traders in the area, the first real attempt at a scientific exploration of the earthworks was conducted from 1845 to 1847 by Ephraim Squire and Edwin Davis, who surveyed and excavated many of the earthworks in the vicinity of Chillicothe.

Their findings were detailed in the very first volume of the “Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,” published in 1847 by a brand new scientific organization called the Smithsonian Institution.

Of course, Squire and Davis had gathered quite a significant collection of about 1,300 artifacts from the mounds and in those days, well, finders keepers.

Davis later decided to sell the artifacts, hoping to place them with the Smithsonian which, unfortunately, didn’t have the funds. And so, the Ohio Hopewell collection was purchased by the owner of a private museum in England for $10,000 and sent across the sea.

In 1931, the collection was purchased by the British Museum, which has been its home ever since.

Of course, travelers who are interested enough to stop by the British Museum to view the Hopewell collection (and a whole, whole lot of other great stuff) may also want to see some of the prehistory of England, itself. There’s no better place for that than out on the Salisbury Plain, the home of Stonehenge, as well as a large number of Bronze Age burial mounds that almost perfectly resemble the many prehistoric mounds found in Ohio.

And even though the Hopewell collection is in England, the original Hopewell mound sites are much, much closer to home.

The Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe is, like Stonehenge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of just 25 in the United States. The park includes the Mound City group of earthworks and several other earthworks in the Chillicothe area.

The Mound City site also offers a small visitors center and museum that tells the story — at least as much of it as we know — of the Hopewell people and their culture. The park is a can’t-miss destination for history buffs and for anyone intrigued by Ohio’s enigmatic prehistoric peoples. Just don’t expect to see a lot of original artifacts.

For more information about the British Museum’s Hopewell collection, including an interactive online walk through the museum’s Room 26, visit britishmuseum.org.

Steve Stephens is a freelance travel writer and photographer. Email him at sjstephensjr@gmail.com.

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Ohio

Ohio cannabis festival hiring joint-rolling judges at high hourly rate

Published

1 hour ago

June 18, 2024

Press Room

Ohio cannabis festival hiring joint-rolling judges at high hourly rate

View a Yellow Springs growing facility’s inaugural crop of recreational marijuana in the video player above.

POMEROY, Ohio (WCMH) — As an Ohio cannabis festival prepares for launch, it’s also looking to make multiple hires with a high pay grade.

Chad Thompson, the organizer behind the Stargazer Cannabis Festival, told NBC4 that he was planning to hire multiple judges for the event’s joint-rolling contest on July 27. The festival, weeks away from its inaugural three-day run at Wisteria Campground, is taking place in the first full year that Ohio has legalized recreational marijuana, and a little over a month after the state opened applications for sales at dual-use dispensaries. Thompson launched the job posting online late Monday.

“There’s two divisions, a classic division and artistic division,” Thompson said. “And in both of those divisions, one of the criteria is, ‘How does it smoke?’ The potential smokability.”

While the classic division will focus on traditional joints, Thompson said the artistic division could see intricately designed joints shaped like “tanks, cars and birds.” He also broke down several other factors the judges would be expected to review, as well as the eyebrow-raising dollar amount offered for their time.

“We’re going to be checking for the draw of the joint and the joint stability, like checking for runs and so forth and all that’s going to go into the judging process,” Thompson said. “And we’re hoping that the pay will be enough to get a large pool of potential candidates. … We are paying $100 an hour, you know, to just smoke joints.”

That hourly rate won’t be for a short span either, according to Thompson. He estimated the judging would take “a couple hours, if not more,” and for that reason the applicants need to be experienced beyond casual users.

“If they’re somebody who smokes maybe once a month, maybe they might not be the best person,” Thompson said. “But you know, if they’re a pretty regular smoker, I think they’ll be able to handle it.”

Thompson previously clarified that no vendors at the festival — spanning July 26 to 28 — would be selling recreational marijuana, and a farmer’s market at the event would mainly sell hemp-derived products. However, he did note recreational marijuana will still have a presence at Stargazer in other forms. Vendors will be allowed to sell cannabis seeds, legal even at the federal level, and with which Ohioans can grow up to six plants under the state’s current law.

Festival-goers will be allowed to use their homegrown marijuana at the campgrounds as well, including in the joint-rolling contest.

“It’d be completely legal to be homegrown cannabis, or they may roll it with hemp or they may not, I’m not gonna ask,” Thompson said. “I’m sure that there will be attendees that have legal cannabis with THC and will be consuming it, but there’s going to be no person-to-person sales.”

He also noted that while festival tickets are still available online, they have been selling quickly. Thompson told NBC4 that the Stargazer team would have to decide whether to sell tickets on the weekend of the event “based on capacity,” but did say that they are no longer accepting new food vendor applications.

“If you definitely want to get into Stargazer, you definitely should buy your ticket as soon as possible,” Thompson said. “If you wait, there will be a likely chance you will not get in. I’m getting calls from all over the region.”

Thompson said applicants interested in applying to become joint-rolling judges, or just buying standard tickets, should visit the Stargazer festival website, and scroll all the way to the bottom for a link to the event’s job postings.

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Car catches fire following crash in Ohio; 2 left in serious condition

Published

8 hours ago

June 18, 2024

Press Room

Car catches fire following crash in Ohio; 2 left in serious condition

DEFIANCE, Ohio (WANE) — Two are in serious condition after a flatbed trailer ran a stop sign, hitting another car in Defiance Monday evening.

According to a release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, at 5:15 p.m. Monday, officers were called to the intersection of Mansfield Road and Schubert Road on calls of an injury crash.

When officers arrived they found a flatbed trailer, driven by 45-year-old, Eugene Anderson of Gary, Ind., traveling westbound had run a stop sign and hit another car. Following the crash, the car, driven by a 17-year-old, caught fire on the side of the roadway.

Anderson was taken to an area hospital with a non-life-threatening condition, while the teen was taken in serious condition. The passenger of the car was flown from the scene with serious injuries.

The crash remains under investigation.

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Ohio State to host key 2025 recruit Darryn Peterson on official visit

Published

15 hours ago

June 17, 2024

Press Room

Ohio State to host key 2025 recruit Darryn Peterson on official visit

Ohio State has an official visit lined up with the state’s biggest recruit in 20 years.

Darryn Peterson, a five-star guard in the 2025 class, will take an official visit to check out the Buckeyes on August 1. Peterson posted the news to his Instagram account with a graphic also listing an official visit to Kansas on June 23.

A 6-5, 195-pound shooting guard, Peterson played his first two seasons of prep ball at Cuyahoga Valley (Ohio) Christian Academy before transferring to Huntington (West Virginia) Prep for the 2023-24 year.

The Buckeyes have long been recruiting Peterson, listed as the No. 3 prospect in the 2025 class according to 247Sports.com. Ohio State offered him a scholarship prior to his freshman year and has hosted him on multiple unofficial visits.

Ohio State Buckeyes: Join the Ohio State Sports Insider text group with Bill Rabinowitz, Joey Kaufman Adam Jardy

On January 1, Peterson included the Buckeyes on a list of his final eight schools that also featured Arkansas, Baylor, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan and North Carolina. In April, Peterson announced that he was reopening his recruitment. He has since been re-offered by Ohio State coach Jake Diebler, who had been recruiting him under coach Chris Holtmann.

Peterson took an official visit to Kentucky in March. He is regarded by many national recruiting analysts as the most talented Ohioan to come out of high school since LeBron James.

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy