Let the Games Begin!

“Centennial Olympic Park became the most visible iconic space of the games, a symbology that has continued to this day” (103).

The Book

The Olympic Games are more than two weeks of sport competition for the host city. They are an opportunity to imagine what the city could be, revitalize and create amenities, and welcome the world for the Games and in the future. In Atlanta’s Olympics Resurgence: How the 1996 Games Revived a Struggling City, Michael Dobbins, Leon S. Eplan, and Randal Roark explain this process for Atlanta and the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The process for becoming an Olympic host city is long and involved. First, city and civic leaders must convince the US Olympic Committee (USOC) that their city should be chosen as the US candidate for a particular Olympic Games. In the case of Atlanta, this began in 1986 and, in 1988, the USOC chose Atlanta. The next step is to persuade the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In February 1990, “five thick volumes of materials” were submitted to the IOC and, over the course of several months, Atlanta representatives hosted and visited numerous members of the IOC (41). The hard work paid off when the IOC voted 51-35 to choose Atlanta as the host of the 1996 Olympics, in September 1990.

Atlanta had six years to put in place plans to not only host a successful Olympics, but also revitalize a city in decline; the dual goals of Atlanta’s mayor. The Olympic Development Program focused on organizing the Games, addressing the city’s social needs, boosting the economy, and updating infrastructure. From here, authors Dobbin, Eplan, and Roark explore the public-private relationships and city planning that needed to address the mayor’s goals. A brief portion of the book is spent on the Olympics themselves, providing interesting facts (for example, it was the first Olympics to use the internet and have a website).

The authors conclude with a focus on the long-term impact and legacy of the Olympics on Atlanta. Since then, city policy continues to explore ways to revitalize the city, the improvements to public spaces and neighborhoods still put pedestrians first, and Centennial Olympic Park provides a variety of amenities for visitors and residents.

Atlanta’s Olympic Resurgence’s focus is on the before and after of the Olympics. Except for brief mentions, the actual weeks of competition are not included. The authors were all involved with the planning for the Olympics and have backgrounds in either city planning or architecture. This would be particularly interesting for people that are involved in city planning or project management; but it might get too detailed for others. The chapters are broken into short sections with clear headings, making it easy to read and follow. Black and white photos and charts are interspersed throughout the book. In some instances, it was not clear how the photo related to the narrative and the charts would have been better in color.

The Place

Centennial Olympic Park is a welcome change from the traffic and high-rise buildings of downtown Atlanta. More than a memorial to the 1996 Olympics, it provides visitors and residents a place to roam, sit, and play. There are several elements that commemorate the Olympics: the Fountain Rings, a large interactive fountain; the Spectacular, massive Olympic Rings; and five quilt sculptures that honor the legacy of those who participated in the Olympics—athletes, countries, and Atlantans whose vision brought the Games to their city.

The Park is open daily, 7am-10pm; and, a visitor information center is open daily, 9am-5pm. The website includes a map which can help visitors plan what they would like to see in the park. I was in Atlanta for a work conference and was able to walk around the park; it wasn’t too crowded, as I was there during the week. I can imagine the weekends are much busier, especially if events are occurring. Centennial Olympic Park is worth a visit while in Atlanta. It is a monument to the 1996 Olympics and a reminder of how a downtown can be revitalized.

A Writer on a Mission

“Later, Harriet remembered the house at Lane Seminary as ‘a kind of moral heaven.’ It resounded with laughter, prayer, and song. Here learned folk discussed the issues of the day. The very air seemed ‘replete with moral oxygen—fully charged with intellectual electricity’” (59).

The Book

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life by Nancy Koester situates Stowe as more than the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She was deeply impacted by her minister father—Lyman Beecher, a life-long writer, an astute observer, a devout Christian who had her doubts, and an abolitionist.

Stowe’s early life was shaped by her larger-than-life father who emphasized personal faith and led family discussions on sacred and secular literature. From an early age, she had a vivid imagination and loved to read; at nine, she was recognized for her writing skills. The Beecher family also wrote copious amounts of letters to each other; it is in these that Stowe worked out her theological beliefs for the rest of her life.

Originally from New England, the Beecher family moved to Cincinnati in 1832. Lyman Beecher had accepted the presidency of Lane Seminary. Stowe spent the next seventeen years in a city just across the Ohio River from the slave state Kentucky. Her only known visit to a slave plantation was in 1833, at the invitation of a former student. Shelby Plantation in Uncle Tom’s Cabin is based on this experience. In 1836, she married Calvin Stowe—a professor at Lane Seminary. He encouraged her writing and they hired a maid so she could have three hours a day to write. Stowe wrote short stories and magazine articles that helped supplement Calvin’s income. The passing of the Fugitive Slave Law drove Stowe to do something to fight slavery; the result was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, first released in installments of the National Era magazine. Since mere words had failed the anti-slavery movement, Stowe decided to use word pictures to enact change. She didn’t back down when faced with strong criticism from Southerners and Northerners, publishing A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin to present the proof and source material of the evils of slavery and complacency of many.

The massive success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin made Stowe an international celebrity, but she struggled with how to leverage that to unify a fractured anti-slavery movement in the United States, finally landing on the use of her pen to rally others to the cause. By 1856, Stowe “was less hopeful that slavery could be ended by moral suasion alone” (250). At the start of the Civil War, she recognized that it would be a long and difficult struggle; unlike many of her fellow Americans. A prolific writer—on a variety of genres and topics—Stowe spent her later life writing to support her family. She also continued to explore her theological beliefs, eventually rejecting the Calvinism of her father for the Episcopal Church. In 1866, she re-read Uncle Tom’s Cabin and reflected on the changes since the end of the Civil War.

Author Koester intertwines the life story of Stowe with the Beecher family, her husband and children, a strong faith, slavery, and the abolition movement. The narrative relies on Stowe’s writings—about her life and letters to others—that paint descriptive pictures of the times and people. One aspect I really appreciated was the inclusion of Stowe’s reactions to the events of the Civil War, through her letters. Short asides situate Stowe’s story in the larger context without interrupting the flow of the narrative. For three of Stowe’s novels, Koester spends a lot of time summarizing the story and incorporating literary criticism. These sections could have been a bit shorter and more seamlessly incorporated.

The Place

Today, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House is located in Cincinnati, Ohio; when Stowe and her family lived there it was in Walnut Hills (now a neighborhood in Cincinnati). It sits upon a hill and, at one time, you could see Cincinnati and the Ohio River below. Stowe lived in the House for four years (1832-1836), but it was during that time that she had her first encounters with slavery, its impact on American society, and interacted with abolitionists and leaders of the Underground Railroad. The tour of the House highlights the significance of this location, making the case that Uncle Tom’s Cabin may not have been written if Stowe had not moved to Cincinnati.

The House is open Thursday through Saturday, 10am-4pm, and Sunday, 12pm-4pm. Hour-long tours can be booked online or as a walk-in, with tours offered on the hour, and there is a fee. The tour focuses on two aspects of the House’s history: when the Stowe family lived there and when it was the Edgemont Inn, a boarding house and inn listed in the Green Book. A small parking lot is located behind the house and there is a city park next door with picnic tables.

A Walk into Salem’s History

“it’s easy to turn back the clock, to step back to a day when Salem mariners sailed to the West Indies or to the farthest parts in the world” (16).

The Book

Salem’s 400 years of history covers everything from maritime trade, to architecture, to literature, to witches. While the Salem Witch Trials often receive the most attention, they are not the sole definer of Salem. Author Jeanne Stella uses a written walking tour to provide the reader insight into the many faceted history of Salem. 

Historic Streets of Salem, Massachusetts begins with a brief overview of Salem’s history. The first Englishmen to arrive, in 1626, were fishermen. Fishing quickly became the main industry, eventually leading to ship building and maritime trade. In 1629, the area became known as “Salem”, taken from the Hebrew word “shalom” (which means “peace”). Significant events (Salem Witch Trials) and residents (Nathaniel Hawthorne) are mentioned to help set the stage. The rest of the book is organized into six sections that cover groupings of Salem’s streets: Downtown, Maritime, Salem Common, McIntire District, North Salem, South Salem, and topical.

Throughout each group of streets, Stella highlights points of interest, trade, events, and people (both famous and ordinary). Derby Square, in downtown Salem, is named for Elias Hasket Derby. He was a wealthy merchant whose mansion once stood here. Today, the area includes shops, Old Town Hall, and an outdoor market. The Maritime section once bustled with shipbuilders and shipping merchants; “Salem wharves were lined with ships which Salem merchants had built and manned and sent to every market in the world” (95). The Salem Common, now mostly a residential neighborhood, was where the Sons of Liberty tarred and feathered informants during the American Revolution. The McIntire District is full of opulent and stately homes, reflecting the wealth of Salem and the federal style architecture of Samuel McIntire.

As you read Historic Streets of Salem, Massachusetts, you definitely feel like you are taking a walking tour of Salem. Streets are the main characters, not their occupants. The chapters are about two pages long and are conversational in tone, mimicking a tour guide. Almost every chapter includes photos, paintings, maps, or drawings. The one illustration missing was a map of the entire city, to help the reader see the places in relation to one another. While you do learn quite a bit, I found myself wishing for more detail in some places, especially when Stella would begin a story but fail to finish it.

The Place

When I visited Salem, my family and I took the History and Hauntings of Salem tour with Witch City Walking Tours. All of us were very impressed with our tour guide, Rebecca, and truly appreciated how she narrated 400 years of Salem history. The tour took us through Derby Square, past the Bewitched statue and Witch House, into the McIntire District, and ended at the Charter Street Cemetery. At each point on the tour, our guide provided historical context to help us understand the events that took place and little tidbits to bring history to life. The tour is just over two hours long and quickly sells out, so make sure to book your tickets well in advance.

After visiting Salem, I came away with an appreciation for this unique city. Its downtown area is bustling with tourists and locals. Here you will find all sorts of restaurants (check out the Boston Burger Company) and shops that capitalize on Salem’s witch past. The Charter Street Cemetery and the design of the Salem Witch Trials Memorial provide an opportunity to reflect on the witch hysteria and aftermath. In contrast, the McIntire and Maritime districts hearken back to Salem’s seafaring past. The sights and sounds are more tranquil than downtown, reminding the visitor that there is more to Salem than meets the eye.

High Above or Below the Tree Line

 The Book

The Hocking Hills 1900-1950, by Judith Stoltz Makiskas, is a trip back in time, via postcards. As a part of the Postcard History Series the focus is on the visual. Throughout the book, readers get to see what life was like in the area surrounding Hocking Hill State Park.

The first chapter focuses on the trails and caves in and around Hocking Hills State Park. If a reader has already visited the Park, they will enjoy seeing postcards that capture everyday people hiking in the caves. The picture of Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve doesn’t look much different than what I saw over fifty years later. The following six chapters focus on the people, events, businesses, and holiday celebrations in that area. While it was interesting to see them, I would have liked to have learned more about Hocking Hill State Park.

To be honest, it was hard to find a book about Hocking Hills State Park (maybe one of the readers of this blog knows of one). Most books were a hiking guide and not a history of the park. It would have been helpful if the captions in chapter one spent more time on the subject matter rather than the material or history of the postcard. The postcards do provide a window into everyday life in southeast Ohio, and reading the book is a bit like going through an old photo album with your grandparents.

The Place

Hocking Hills State Park is one of the best places to visit in Ohio during the Fall. The color of the leaves pop against the blue sky and the rock formations. Of course, it’s more crowded during that time; however, visitors can choose some of the lesser-known trails to explore.

Old Man’s Cave is a popular destination and is located by the Visitor Center. When we visited, the water was very low and we didn’t see the waterfalls. We did get to wander through rock formations far below the tree line. Adjacent to Hocking Hills State Park is Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve. This was actually my favorite part of the trip. We started out on the upper trail, overlooking the gorge and tree line. Since it was a sunny day, it was fairly warm. Then, we descended into the gorge. The temperature dropped drastically and we were looking up at the trees.

Hocking Hills State Park is open year-round from sunrise to sunset. Admission is free and the Visitor Center has restrooms. Since you will be hiking, you’ll want to plan on dressing appropriately and packing snacks and water. Several of the trails require driving time in between and there is ample parking. Conkle’s Hollow has the same hours as Hocking Hills and a portion of the trail is wheelchair accessible.

Of Moths and a Girl

“We Limberlost people must not be selfish with the wonders God has given to us. We must share with those poor cooped-up city people the best we can” (34).

The Book

There is something special about novels that were written over one hundred years ago. They give us a peak into what life was like, how people interacted, and what interested them. A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter is no different. Readers get lost in the coming-of-age story, set in smalltown Indiana, on the edge of the Limberlost Swamp.

Elnora Comstock is an earnest girl who cares for others and loves sharing what she knows about the Limberlost. She will do anything to attend high school, overcoming her mother’s opposition, fear and embarrassment, and classmate snobs. When Elnora learns that attending high school will cost money, she is uncertain how she can afford it. On the way home one day, she sees a local advertisement to buy moths, butterflies, and dragonflies. Elnora already collects these in the Limberlost and makes a deal to sell them to the Bird Woman (Gene Stratton-Porter modeled this character after herself).

Over the course of four years, Elnora wins over her classmates, continues to patiently endure her mother’s bitterness, studies hard, and is actively involved at school. Even though she doesn’t receive love from her mother, she finds it with neighbors and friends. Just before graduation, Elnora’s mother does something that is the last straw for Elnora. This is a turning point for her mother, leading to a better relationship between the two of them.

Originally planning to attend college, Elnora lacks the money and accepts a natural history teacher position for the local grade school. During the summer, she continues to collect specimens, hopeful that she’ll earn enough for college the following year. A young man from Chicago, Philip, helps her hunt months and wanders the Limberlost with her. Philip shares early on that he is engaged, but an astute reader will wonder if he and Elnora are falling in love. If you want to find out what happens between the two, you’ll have to read the book!

Through dialogue and descriptive language, Statton-Porter develops her characters and propels the narrative forward. At the right moment, she reveals an important piece of information to help the reader better understand a character. Even the minor characters have a bit of a backstory that prevents them from being one-dimensional. The novel is easy to read and the reliance on dialogue makes for a quick read. There are moments when the narrative slows, the dialogue ceases, and Stratton-Porter zeroes in on a particular moment. One of my favorite lines was, “Early June was rioting in fresh grasses, bright flowers, bird songs, and gay-winged creatures of air” (181).

The Place

The Limberlost State Historic Site preserves a small piece of what was the swamps of northern Indiana. It was here that Gene Stratton-Porter lived, wrote novels and articles, and took nature photos.

The site is made up of a visitor center, Stratton-Porter’s home, and multiple swamp and marsh trails. On our visit, we started with the Rainbow Bend Trail which goes around and through the swamp. We saw massive trees, dragonflies, heron, and many frogs that hopped across our path. Next, we toured Stratton-Porter’s home. Here we learned that she was the first to photograph animals in the wild, going deep into the swamp to capture nature in its element. The tour guide did a great job sharing about the life of Stratton-Porter and elements of her life that ended up in her novels. We finished the day with a hike through the Loblolly Marsh, about a 15-minute drive from the home.

I recommend that you start at the visitor center, where you can get a map of the trails and sign up for a tour of the house. It is free to walk the trails, but there is a fee for the house tour. Tours are available three times a day, Wednesday through Sunday. We had an enthusiastic tour guide who went into a lot of detail and answered our many questions, resulting in a two-hour tour. When planning a visit to Limberlost, it is important to know a few things: you need to drive from the home to the trails, you will definitely need bug spray and sunscreen, and the trails are not paved.

Crafting the American Home

“Residential work […] remained his signature; though most architects who begin their careers designing houses avoid them when they have the opportunity to move onto large, more prestigious, and better-paying large-scale buildings, Wright continued to design houses” (235).

The Book

At first glance, Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses, with photographs by Alan Weintraub and text by Alan Hess, is the typical coffee table book—full of commanding photographs introducing readers to numerous Wright homes. But, the book does more than that, it provides a biography of Wright through the lens of his designs.

In his early days (late 1880s-early 1900s), Wright focused on designs for houses, switching between traditional and experimental. His experiments soon led to what we call the Prairie Style today and many of them were built in the Chicago suburbs. These designs were the right fit for his middle-class clients who were self-made, active in the suburbs, and had children. Later, Wright’s designs were influenced by his time in Los Angeles and Arizona, and experimented with different materials like concrete blocks.

The 1930s brought a renewed interest in Wright’s style and, at 68, he became a celebrated architect. His houses were both large scale (like Fallingwater) and smaller sizes for the suburban middle class. He never stopped experimenting with materials or shapes, allowing him to continue to push the boundaries of residential architecture. Today, Wright’s influence can be seen on the mid-century ranch, the layout of the family home, and the embedding of a home in nature.

Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses is first and foremost, a photography book. The exterior and interior of the featured homes are put on display, allowing the viewer to see the similarities, differences, and attention to detail. Wright didn’t just design houses; he also designed the furniture and fixtures. Some of the photos have detailed captions, but I often wished to see more connection between the essays and the photos. This would have helped me visualize what the essays described. The book is not meant to be read straight through and some of the essays can get quite detailed. Readers can pick a time period, read about it, or flip through the photos.

The Place

When you hear the name Frank Lloyd Wright, you don’t typically associate it with Ohio. Yet, nestled in an unassuming neighborhood of Springfield, Ohio is the Westcott House. While it isn’t one of the feature homes in Frank Lloyd Wright: The Houses, it has a lot of similarities with the ones that are included.

I had previously toured the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois. The Westcott House had many similarities, despite being built about a decade later. Our tour guide pointed out architectural details unique to the home and typical of a Wright house. The tour begins in one side of the gift shop—which used to be the garage, and continues through the backyard into the first floor living areas. As you walk through the first and second floors, you also learn about Burton and Orpha Westcott, prominent Springfield citizens.

The Westcott House is open for guided tours, three times a day, that last roughly 90 minutes. They are closed on Mondays and major holidays. There is an admission fee and street parking.

Old Hickory

“I shall anticipate with pleasure the place to be assigned me in the history of my country, and die contented with the belief that I have contributed in some small degree to increase the value and prolong the duration of American liberty” – Andrew Jackson (287-288).

The Book

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham tackles the story of a complicated, and sometimes contradictory, figure who looms large over US history. Jackson the youth was scrappy, defensive, and an orphan. Jackson the man was proud, brave, passionate, stubborn, a family man, and a leader who inspired loyalty. Throughout the book, Meacham supports his argument that Jackson viewed the country as his family and he would defend it from anything, just as he would his personal family.

Jackson’s early years were far from stable: born after his father died, he was a servant in the home of wealthier relatives, lost both brothers to the Revolutionary War, and his mother died soon after. Despite this, and limited formal schooling, Jackson was well-read and earned his law license. After marrying, Jackson served in a variety of government roles in Tennessee and Congress. His success at the 1815 Battle of New Orleans propelled him to national and international fame. This almost led to the White House in 1824, but Jackson lost to John Quincy Adams in a very close election. In 1828, he defeated Adams and ushered in a reckoning for the political establishment.

A popular president, Jackson met opposition with a strengthened resolve. The eight years he spent in the White House were marked by several major issues: a state’s ability to nullify federal law, removal of Native Americans from their land, the role of the president and federal government, the National Bank, and a cabinet crisis. Throughout each issue, Jackson maintained that he knew best for the country and expanded the powers of the presidency. A sampling of facts reveals the type of president Jackson was: he survived two assassination attempts, chased one assailant with his walking stick, was formally censured by the Senate for his fight with the National Bank, and was the only president to pay off the national debt.

Meacham’s thesis that Jackson was the family man to the US allows for a different kind of biography. An emphasis is placed on Jackson’s personal side, which is important to truly understand an individual. Character sketches of Jackson draw the reader in, to help them understand, sympathize, and be frustrated with him. Letter excerpts from Jackson, his rivals, friends, and adversaries provide context into the people, relationships, and times. Two robust sections of black and white images are included. There is a lot of information, mainly focused on the years in the White House (1828-1836). For the most part it is easy to follow and engrossing, except when the narrative jumps ahead. The chapters are shorter in parts two and three, mimicking the quickening of the narrative. Some of the shorter chapters feel like you are missing something, particularly those on the 1824 and 1828 elections.

The Place

Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage provides visitors with the ability to fully immerse themselves in the adult life of the seventh president. Our visit began in the small museum, which walks visitors through the life of Jackson and displays artifacts from his early life, military career, and presidency. After the that began on the front porch. A costumed tour guide told of the people, architecture, and experiences that make up the building’s history. A highlight was seeing Jackson’s slippers (size 7!). From there we walked through the slave quarters and passed a cotton field. What I found particularly unique about this presidential home is that it is still a fully functional farm. There are over 1,000 acres of land; in fact, we saw turkeys and deer as we drove through.

The Hermitage is open daily, from 9am to 6pm. Visitors have the option to purchase a Grounds pass or a Mansion Tour pass (which includes access to the grounds and the museum). If you are going to visit, it makes the most sense to do the Mansion Tour for the full experience. Tickets can be purchased online or on-site. Photos are permitted in the museum and outside, but not in the mansion. There is quite a bit of walking on the grounds (the walkways are paved), with the buildings spread out. You could easily spend a whole day here, and there are plenty of places for a picnic lunch or there is a restaurant in the visitor center.