Columns

On a sunny October day, the Townsend Tunnel shines like gold – one benefit to living on a former cow path that intersects Townsend Road, sometimes impassible due to ditches and pot holes from rain and thawing snow flowing downhill. However, whether descending or...

On August 13, 2022, Don Millikin, Class of 1967, stopped by the museum. He was in town to attend his 55th class reunion. He had heard that I was looking for family trees of Almont’s earliest settlers. He brought in a tree he had prepared, a detailed tree prepared by...

I arrived in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, before nightfall, the main streets crowded with locals celebrating the annual Jenny Wiley Festival. In the 1950s, Floyd County, Kentucky, developed Jenny Wiley Park in honor of the legendary pioneer taken captive by Native...

Mary Swan Crosby Farley was born March 1, 1818 in Merrimack, Hillsborough, New Hampshire to William Crosby (1793-1831) and Mary “Polly” Crosby (1793-1878). Mary Crosby’s maiden name is uncertain. Her maiden name is listed as Crosby but I have not been able to confirm...

At sunrise, the scent of Tall Goldenrod emits from my beehive. Now with October's chill, a few early risers fly out of the hive’s honeyed mouth to forage. I put my ear to the top box and listen, plan to draw off honey next week. Since mid-May, the nucleus of bees I...

My freshman English teacher required us to keep a journal. Every day a portion of the class time was set aside for us to write in our journals. Periodically, she’d collect the journals and verify that we were practicing the discipline of writing every day. I can’t say...

I could easily reflect on a wide range of topics when thinking about my 19 year career in journalism with the Tri-City Times. There’s the unique, fascinating people I’ve met and written about, the important but often complicated issues local communities have grappled...

My heart sank this past spring when I first noticed my nibbled pink Japanese anemones. Then experience reminded me to be patient. In this particular botanic situation, the timing of the deer’s munching was positive. It’s akin to the principle of pinching off the first...

Sunrise is lonesome these autumnal mornings. Birds now feed on what seed is left in neighboring fields, the chorus of mating and fledgling songbirds gone from our treetops. Why don’t flocks drop in our wildflower meadow for a feast? And they’ve yet to notice the...

The Michigan Territory was created by the Confederation Congress in 1787 as part of the Northwest Ordinance, prior to the passage of the Constitution. In 1807, the federal government and the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandotte and Potawatomi tribes signed the Treaty of...