Trinity Episcopal Church

August 16, 2015, 2:33 pm

Louisiana, Rapides Parish, Cheneyville

Gothic Revival church built of handmade brick in 1860 and designed with separate gallery for slaves. Consecrated by Bishop Leonidas Polk in 1861. Original congregation included several prominent planters of the surrounding area.

(Churches, Etc. • Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Academy of Saint Basil

August 16, 2015, 2:42 pm

≫ Next: St. Delphine Plantation

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Louisiana, Iberville Parish, Plaquemine

Built in 1847 by Dr. Edward Scratchley. Occupied as school by Marianite Sisters from 1859-1862 & 1865-1975. Occupied as Military Command by Union Army 1862-1865. Renovated by Lt. Governor and Mrs. Robert L. Freeman-1990

(Churches, Etc. • Education • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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St. Delphine Plantation

August 16, 2015, 2:48 pm

≫ Next: 105th Ohio Infantry

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Louisiana, West Baton Rouge Parish, Addis

Originally a 218.02 acre Spanish land grant to Valery Bergeron in the late 1700’s, Warwick Flanigan built in 1860 a Greek Revival mansion for Isidore Daigle. In 1871 property sold to Auguste J. Levert, Sr. and Leon Bernard. Levert bought Bernard’s interest in 1874 and remained the sole owner until his death in 1886 when his three sons became heirs. August J. Levert, Jr., bought his brothers’ interest in 1888.

A tornado nearly destroyed the plantation home in 1906. The home was rebuilt in 1907 and later destroyed in 1932 due to the Mississippi River levee set back. A portion of the plantation remaining after the levee set back was sold by heirs of Auguste Levert, Jr. to James H. Laws and Co. as part of Cinclare Plantation on May 27, 1943.

The Levert family still owns 398 original plantation acres west of Louisiana Hwy 1.

(Antebellum South, US) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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105th Ohio Infantry

August 16, 2015, 3:02 pm

≫ Next: Mount Locust

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Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga

105th Ohio Infantry
Van Derveer's Brigade, Baird's Division, 14th Corps.
Lieutenant Colonel William R. Tolles.
November 25, 1863.
On the morning of the 25th this regiment marched with its Division to the assistance of General Sherman at Tunnel Hill, and returned with it in time to take part in storming Missionary Ridge. It reached the summit at this point, capturing one gun and two artillery horses. It wheeled at once to the left and was engaged on the crest till the battle closed at dark. It marched the next day in pursuit and on the second day reached Ringgold.

Casualties: killed, 1 man; wounded, 10 men; total, 11.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Mount Locust

August 16, 2015, 4:04 pm

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Mississippi, Jefferson County, near Stanton

Constructed ca. 1780, this home is one of the oldest structures in Mississippi. It functioned as both a working plantation and as an inn, where travelers on the Natchez Trace could rest for the night. Mount Locust is the only surviving inn of the more than 50 that existed during the period of greatest use of the Old Natchez Trace.

(Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Mount Locust

August 16, 2015, 4:05 pm

≫ Next: 38th Ohio Infantry

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Mississippi, Jefferson County, near Stanton

(Marker #1)
Mount Locust as an Inn
Growing traffic on the Trace gave Ferguson opportunity to develop Mount Locust.

After 1795, the Mississippi was legally opened for American traffic. Settlers floated their products downriver and sold them at Natchez or New Orleans. Most of them walked back over the Natchez Trace, because their boats could not go upstream.

(List Caption)
An 1812 almanac lists the taverns on the Trace. Mount Locust was at “Union Town.” Laid out by Ferguson in 1799, the “town” had an inn, a tannery, and a few houses.

(Image Captions)
The kitchen was a separate building. Excavations in 1941 show its brick floor.

Archeologists uncovered the remains of a brick walk to “Sleepy Hollow,” the guest house Ferguson built as business boomed. Travelers slept at Sleepy Hollow, but went to the main house for meals.

(Marker #2)
Mount Locust - A Home
Mount Locust grew with the family and the region into the “Big House” of a fair-size plantation.

(Graphic Captions)
Partial inventory of Mount Locust furnishings in 1801. Most furniture seems to have been made of local materials. Tableware and the looking glass probably were imported from Philadelphia.

Oak and sassafras were used for framing.

Clapboard and furniture came from heart poplar.

Alterations can often be dated by the kind of nails and screws.

Original late 18th century–Pit saw or whip (Hand Power)

Early 19th century additions–Mill sawn vertical power driven (Horse Power)

Late 19th century–Circular saw additions (Steam Power)

Complicated joints in the older construction show skilled craftsmanship.

(Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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38th Ohio Infantry

August 16, 2015, 4:08 pm

≫ Next: Military History of Chattanooga

≪ Previous: Mount Locust

Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga

38th Ohio Infantry.
Phelp's Brigade, Baird's Division, 14th Corps.
Major Charles Greenwood,
November 25, 1863.
During the forenoon of the 25th the Division was sent to Tunnel Hill to the support of General Sherman.

It returned in the afternoon, and became the left of the line for assaulting Missionary Ridge. The 38th held the extreme left of the storming line with the 14th Ohio in its rear, forming the extreme left of the second line.

Both regiments reached the crest simultaneously, the 38th at this point. The line became at once engaged with troops which had been forced to the left. The next day it joined the pursuit, reaching Ringgold the 27th.

On the 28th it helped destroy the railroad for some distance beyond. Casualties: killed, 2 officers, 7 men; wounded, 3 officers, 34 men; total, 46.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Military History of Chattanooga

August 16, 2015, 5:09 pm

≫ Next: The Chattanooga Brush Electric Light Company

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Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga

This city was first occupied by Confederate troops in the spring of 1862 under Generals Floyd, Maxey and Leadbetter. Union troops under General Mitchell shelled it June 7 and 8. Bragg's Army occupied it in August preparing for the Kentucky campaign, again in the fall on its return from Kentucky, and in the summer of 1863 when retiring before Rosecrans from Middle Tennessee. Wilder shelled the city from Stringer's Ridge August 21. Bragg evacuated it September 7 and 8, and a small Union force took possession. Rosecrans occupied it in force the second morning after the Battle of Chickamagua, and thereafter it remained in Union control. Thomas succeeded Rosecrans October 19.

Grant took general command October 23. A short line of supplies to Bridgeport by Brown's Ferry was opened October 28, upon a plan devised by General Rosecrans. Hooker's forces arrived in Lookout Valley on that date and fought the Battle of Wauhatchie. Sherman's troops crossed the Tennessee above the city during the night of November 23.

On that day the Army of the Cumberland carried Orchard Knob.

November 24, Hooker's column captured the north slope of Lookout Mountain. On November 25, Missionary Ridge, excepting Cleburne's position at Tunnel Hill and the intervening line to Walthall's stand north of De Long's was carried by Grant's combined armies, Bragg retreating to Dalton.

(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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The Chattanooga Brush Electric Light Company

August 16, 2015, 6:27 pm

≫ Next: The Keeper’s House

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Tennessee, Hamilton County, Chattanooga

Text on the Plaque:

The first central electric generating station in the south began operating on this site May 6, 1882. The Brush Electric Light Company of Chattanooga was formed by five Civil War veterans. They were:

- Hiram S. Chamberlain, USA
- George C. Connor, CSA
- H. Clay Evans, USA
- Summerfield A. Key, CSA
- W. S. Marshall, USA

The "Lighting Station" was operated from 1882 until 1887 when the Brush Electric Light Company was combined with the Hauss Electric Lighting and Power Company to form the Chattanooga Electric Light Company.

Text on Monument:

1882

(Industry & Commerce) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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The Keeper’s House

August 16, 2015, 6:28 pm

≫ Next: Bullen Creek

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Ohio, Ottawa County, Marblehead

The Keeper’s House is so named because it was the personal residence of the first two keepers of the nearby Marblehead Lighthouse. The house was built for Benajah Wolcott and his wife Rachel Miller by William Kelly, a stonemason from Sandusky, Ohio who also built many of the old stone structures in that city and the Marblehead Lighthouse. The lighthouse was one of the first constructed on the Great Lakes and is the oldest in continuous operation. Benajah Wolcott served as keeper of the Marblehead Lighthouse from its construction in 1821 until his death in 1832. He was succeeded by his widow Rachel. Rachel Wolcott served as the lighthouse keeper until February 1854 and was the first female lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes.

In addition to being the first keeper of the Marblehead Lighthouse, Benajah Wolcott was a farmer and pioneer settler of Danbury Township and Ottawa County. Danbury Township is located on the Danbury Peninsula which separates the waters of Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay. Both the township and the peninsula are named for the city of Danbury, Connecticut and are located in the northwest corner of a 500,000 acre tract of land known as the Sufferers’ Lands or Firelands. The Firelands derives its name from the fact that this acreage in Ohio was awarded by the State of Connecticut to residents of that state whose homes were burned by British military forces during the Revolutionary War.

Benajah Wolcott, a Revolutionary War veteran from Connecticut, first arrived in what is now Danbury Township in 1806 as part of a survey crew employed to survey the Firelands following the signing of the Fort Industry Treaty. He returned in 1809, the first of a small number of settlers establishing themselves primarily along the north shore of Sandusky Bay at the eastern end of the peninsula. The area in which they settled was known as The Orchards after three orchards which had been left by earlier Indian and French inhabitants of the area. The Orchards or Danbury Settlement was the first American settlement in Ottawa County.

The Keeper’s House was known locally as the Old Stone Fort, possibly in erroneous reference to a skirmish between American and Indian Forces which ranged across the peninsula. This was the first battle in Ohio of what became the War of 1812. A marker commemorating the battle is just west of the Keeper’s House. It was erected in 1857 by Joshua Giddings, a prominent United States Congressman from Ashtabula, Ohio, who had fought in the battle. American soldiers who died in the skirmish were buried at the site. Those interred here include at least one Revolutionary War veteran.

Rachel Wolcot conveyed the Keeper’s House to her son Henry Wolcott in 1845. Henry became a prominent Danbury Township fruit grower and the home remained in the Wolcott family until 1900. During the 1920’s the house was converted into a summer restaurant. The house was acquired by the Ottawa County Historical Society in 1989 and is maintained as a center for the preservation and interpretation of the heritage of Danbury Township and the Firelands. The Keepers House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Benajah lies buried in the Wolcott Family Cemetery approximately 500 yards north of the Keeper’s House. This is Ottawa County’s earliest Christian burial ground. The cemetery and adjoining Heritage Park are maintained by the Danbury Township Trustees. To visit the site, walk north on Tecumseh to its end and to the right you will find a dedicated pathway through the woods to the cemetery. As was the custom in earlier times, God’s acre was placed at the rear of the proprietor’s land.

The question is often asked “Why is the Keeper’s House so far from the lighthouse?” Wolcott came west in part to oversee the lands of Epaphrodites Bull, a New York investment banker, the present Johnson’s Island being among his holdings. Not surprisingly the island was first known as Bull’s Island and bore that name well into the 19th century. Also, Wolcott farmed and was an orchardist. The rich lime-based soil is much deeper on the bay side of the peninsula than on the lake side, where large limestone outcroppings make farming difficult, if not impossible. Without the presence of the quarry until later times, Wolcott could oversee, farm and take a relatively short ride on horseback, or even walk through the woods to the Sandusky Light, as it was the called. There he would remain during duty hours and would be available to him a small keepers hut which was built on the site as the light. Nothing remains of the smaller government-built structure today.

The Keeper’s House is the oldest known residence in Ottawa County and is one of the oldest residences in northwest Ohio. The house is also a rare intact example of an early American folkstyle of architecture known as a hall-and-parlor house. The hall-and-parlor home style was originally a linear-plan house consisting of two rooms, the hall and the parlor. The parlor was typically used as a formal reception room and the bedroom. The hall served as a combined kitchen, dining room, work area and informal living room. Each gable of a hall-and-parlor structure contained a chimney to provide heat to each room. Folk style homes were modest, functional dwellings constructed of local materials with little stylistic adornment. Examples of American folk architecture range from log cabins and adobes to saltbox and Cape Cod

(Settlements & Settlers • War of 1812 • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Bullen Creek

August 16, 2015, 7:05 pm

≫ Next: Traces of the Trail

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Mississippi, Jefferson County, near Fayette

Before your very eyes an endless struggle is taking place. Trees are striving here for the essentials of life – water, sunlight and space. Trying to get ahead, the hardwoods push upward, their crowns filling all the overhead space, shutting out sunlight from young seedlings. Like their elders, this younger generation also has to fight for survival. The competition is keen and the hardwoods are winning over the pines. A 15-minute walk along this trail will take you from a mixed hardwood-pine forest (the loser) to a mixed hardwood (the winner).

(Environment) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Traces of the Trail

August 16, 2015, 8:03 pm

≫ Next: Remnant Highlands

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Nebraska, Scotts Bluff County, Gering

Out on the prairie, wagons following the Oregon Trail spread out to avoid the dust stirred up by wagons in front. But here at Mitchell Pass the emigrants encountered a difficult bottleneck where wagons had to squeeze through narrow ravines in single file.

The clomping, scraping, and grinding of thousands of hooves and wagon wheels over the same places gradually wore deep ruts in the soft sandstone. Today, more than a century later, traces of the ruts remain.

Beginning here, the trail to your right follows the historic route of the Oregon Trail for half a mile (0.8km). A short walk will help you rediscover a bygone era.

Scotts Bluff
August 13, 1860
“The sharp, sudden torrents which pour from the heights on both sides, and the draughty winds – Scott’s Bluffs are the permanent headquarters of hurricanes – have cut up the ground into a labyrinth of jagged gulches steeply walled in. We dashed down the drains and pitch-holes with a violence which shook the navebands from our sturdy wheels.”- Richard F. Burton
British traveler and author
As they passed, a few emigrants carved their names on the base of the bluffs here. Erosion has worn away most of the signatures but this example [seen in photo on the marker] is preserved in the park museum.

(Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Remnant Highlands

August 17, 2015, 12:09 pm

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Nebraska, Scotts Bluff County, Gering

The bluff you are standing on and the ones adjacent to it are known collectively as Scotts Bluff. Like the famous Chimney Rock to the east, Scotts Bluff is an outlier formation of the Wildcat Hills, visible along the horizon to your right.

Twenty million years ago, the surface of the plains was as high as Scotts Bluff – a gently sloping landscape composed of sediments from high lands to the west. About 5 million years ago, the Platte River and its tributaries began to erode the high plains. Bit by bit, water carried away massive volumes of soil and rock, creating canyons that grew wider and wider.

Today only Wildcat Hills, Scotts Bluff, and other erosion-resistant remnants of the high plains remain. On the multi-layered cliff face ahead you can see many of the rock layers that once covered the region.

(Natural Features) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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The River Route

August 17, 2015, 12:55 pm

≫ Next: Chamberlain-Kay House

≪ Previous: Remnant Highlands

Nebraska, Scotts Bluff County, Gering

In the 1840’s and 50’s, thousands of pioneers followed the shallow Platte and North Platte Rivers across the plains on their way to Oregon and California. Covered wagons passed Scotts Bluff on both sides of the river.

Emigrants could not lead their wagons close to the riverbanks for fear of getting stuck in silt, gravel, and quicksand. Scotts Bluff and the impassible badlands in front of you forced Oregon Trail emigrants to follow a route several miles south of the river.

On May 27, 1847, Brigham Young led the first of many Mormon Pioneers past Scotts Bluff to their new home in the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah territory. The Mormons followed the north bank of the Platte from the Missouri River to Fort Laramie, 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of here, where the Oregon and Mormon Trails joined.

(Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Chamberlain-Kay House

August 17, 2015, 1:02 pm

≫ Next: Treaty of DeWitt's Corner

≪ Previous: The River Route

South Carolina, Anderson County, Belton

Front
This house, built c. 1854 for railroad supervisor Charles C. Chamberlain, was among the first homes constructed in Belton. When the town incorporated in 1855, Chamberlain was chosen as the first intendent. Ira Williams, who was active in Democratic politics, bought the home in 1860 and it was a site of political rallies. In 1946 Judge William P. Kay purchased the house and his wife, Alice, operated the town kindergarten from here.

Reverse
The Piedmont-style farmhouse originally fronted the town square and featured a long carriage drive lined by cedar trees. In the early 20th century the home was reoriented to face River St. stylistically, the house exemplifies evolving architectural tastes. combining original Greek Revival embellishments. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

(Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Treaty of DeWitt's Corner

August 17, 2015, 1:27 pm

≫ Next: The Way West

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South Carolina, Abbeville County, Honea Path

[Front]:
In May 1777 a delegation of roughly 600 Cherokee and representatives from South Carolina and Georgia met near this spot to engage in negotiations that would end fighting in the Second Cherokee war, 1776-1777. On May 20, 1777 the parties signed the Treaty of DeWitt's Corner, which provided for an end to hostilities, prisoner returns, and large land concessions by the Lower Cherokee.

[Reverse]:
The territory ceded included present day Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, and Pickens Counties. The warfare ended by the Treaty of DeWitt's Corner was part of the revolutionary struggle between Anderson patriots and their British and loyalist opponents. The powerful Native American nations of the southeast played an important role in the war and most sided with the British.

(Native Americans • Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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The Way West

August 17, 2015, 1:37 pm

≫ Next: Galveston Medical College

≪ Previous: Treaty of DeWitt's Corner

Nebraska, Scotts Bluff County, Gering

Only a few of the pioneers who reached Scotts Bluff scaled the cliffs to witness this aerial view of the country ahead. The wagons had to keep rolling to reach Oregon or California before cold weather set in.

Ft. Mitchell, the next stop on the trail, was visible from this point. Laramie Peak also came into view here and remained the dominant landmark for several days. On clear days you can see it 90 miles (150 km) to the northwest.

Beyond Scotts Bluff, the pioneers faced the Rocky Mountains and continued hardships. Wagons broke down. Food supplies diminished. Cattle and horses gave out. Many emigrants died along the way. But thousands reached their destinations, helping to insure that the Western territories would eventually become part of the United States.

June 11, 1852
West of Scotts Bluff
“We are in sight of Laramie Peak now, though it will be several days before we are opposite it. We have driven fast today and passed a great many ox teams, though the dust is so heavy that it almost blinded us. Distance traveled thirty miles.”- Francis H. Sawyer
June 11, 1846
“After the gorge is passed, we find Fort Mitchell. This is a sub-post of Fort Laramie of peculiar style and compactness. The walls of the quarters are also the outlines of the fort itself, and the four sides of the rectangle are respectively the quarters of the officers, soldiers, and horses, and the warehouse of supplies. Windows open into the little court or parade-ground; and bedrooms, as well as other apartments, are loop-holed for defense.”- Margaret Carrington

(Roads & Vehicles • Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Galveston Medical College

August 17, 2015, 2:02 pm

≫ Next: "Old Red"

≪ Previous: The Way West

Texas, Galveston County, Galveston

First medical college in Texas and predecessor of the University of Texas Medical Branch, the school opened in 1865 as a branch of Soule University at Chappell Hill. Although equipment during the first session consisted of one skeleton, one obstetrical dummy, and three anatomy charts, the teaching level was high -- equal to that in most medical schools in the United States at the time.

The college moved three times in eight years, but enrollment increased to 46 by 1873 and students were authorized to attend patients in the Island City Hospital. In obedience to law, all corpses were buried, but the bodies of some indigents were later disinterred by students for dissecting purposes.

In 1873, the school was reorganized as the "Texas Medical College and Hospital" under the guidance of Dr. Ashbel Smith, brilliant, fiery-tempered surgeon who was also famed as a Texas statesman.

In 1891, the medical branch of the University of Texas was established here with Sealy Hospital as the college teaching hospital. The red Brick building at this site originally housed the entire school. Today the medical branch has an annual enrollment of 900 and is one of Texas' leading medical colleges.

(Education • Science & Medicine) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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"Old Red"

August 17, 2015, 2:10 pm

≫ Next: Saddle Rock Trail

≪ Previous: Galveston Medical College

Texas, Galveston County, Galveston

First, and originally the only, building of University of Texas Medical Branch. Master architect Nicholas J. Clayton designed the massive Romanesque structure. It was dedicated October 5, 1891.

Although rooms were almost devoid of equipment, the school boasted a young, vigorous staff. Enrollment in 1891 was 23.

The building was named in 1949 for Ashbel Smith (1805-86), pioneer surgeon, diplomat, and "Father of the University of Texas".

(Education • Notable Buildings) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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Saddle Rock Trail

August 17, 2015, 2:17 pm

≫ Next: Lower Choctaw Boundary

≪ Previous: "Old Red"

Nebraska, Scotts Bluff County, Gering

The trail on your right gradually descends the steep slopes of Scotts Bluff to Scotts Spring and the Visitor Center. Eroding layers of sandstone, siltstone, and volcanic ash are exposed along the way, and you’ll see some intriguing geologic features at close range.

The Saddle Rock Trail is about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long, and the one-way trip down takes about an hour. To avoid a long walk back, you can arrange to have a companion pick you up at the Visitor Center.

For your safety, please stay on the hard-surfaced trail. Steep drop-offs and loose rocks make dangerous footing. Please do not throw or roll rocks, since this accelerates erosion and may injure hikers below.

(Natural Features) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

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