Looking Toward The Skies

Marietta, Ohio looking at the Ohio River - West Virginia on the right

A recent sunset over  Beckley, West Virginia

 

Linking to Good Fences and Skywatch 

AToday's Flowers: A Sculpture Garden

This amazing sculpture garden sits at the entrance to a shopping plaza which was my destination on a recent Christmas shopping spree. It is along US 119 South in Charleston, West Virgina. This flower sculpture was brought to life by world renowned artist blacksmith, Jeff Fetty.

Jeff is phenomenal and has won numerous art awards and has commissioned his ironworks for the well known and famous. He has done work for President Bill Clinton, the Elizabethan Globe Theatre in London, England, Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, France and writer Tom Clancy as well as musician Jon Bon Jovi among others.

I'm very proud to say I know Jeff. He and I were classmates throughout our elementary and high school years. He still lives in the hometown where we grew up.

To visit other Today's Flowers participants click the badge at the top of my post to see beautiful blooms from around the world.

My World : Grave Creek Indian Mound

Last week I showed you the gothic structure of the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia. (Here) I thought we would continue our tour there with the Grave Creek Indian Mound which sits directly across from the middle section of the prison. It is one of the largest conical Indian mounds in the USA.

The first native settlers along the Ohio River in the area of present-day Marshall County were the Mound Builders, also known as the Adena people. The Grave Creek Indian Mound, located in the center of Moundsville, is one of West Virginia's most famous historic landmarks. More than 2,000 years old, it stands 69 feet high and 295 feet in diameter.

The mound contains approximately 57,000 tons of dirt and originally stood nearly 70 feet high. The digging of so much earth left a sizeable moat or ditch surrounding the mound but it is no longer in existence. By testing the soil, archaeologists estimate the mound was built between 250 and 150 BCE by the Adena culture, which occupied the area from about 1000 BCE to 200 CE. The mound and two forts were the essential features of an Adena village in the shape of a triangle.

The mound was discovered by James Tomlinson and was opened in 1838. He discovered a vault 111 feet from the northern side containing the skeletal remains of two Indians, one of them surrounded with 650 ivory beads and wearing an ivory ornament about six inches long. The mound also contained ashes and bits of bones that are believed to be the remnants of Indians burned prior to their internment in the mound. Another vault was discovered near the top of the mound, containing a skeleton wearing beads, seashells and copper bracelets. An inscribed stone was removed from the vault and is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

The mound was listed on the Natural History of Historic Places in 1966.

Sky Watch Friday: Bridging The Gap

This is crossing the Ohio River coming back from Belpre, Ohio to Parkersburg, West Virginia. I posted photos of the entire bridge and the railroad bridge you see beside it to the left in my post on Monday. (here)

This and the next photo were taken as I walked across a walkway attached to this old B&O Railroad Bridge in Marietta, Ohio. I posted about this bridge on Wednesday. (here) In this photo you can see where the Muskingum River converges with the Ohio River.

Looking from the middle of the bridge across the Ohio River to Almost Heaven West Virginia.

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To see other Bridging The Gap participants please go here.