Friday was a beautiful day for one last camping trip to Whitewater State Park. Because I had to work in the morning, Captain took care of the packing. At noon on the dang dot, I clocked out and we hit the road.
We were crossing our fingers for a first come/first served site being available, and luck was with us...we got the last one! We found the site and got everything set up. This is when we realized that, once again, we had forgotten the camp chairs. Oh well, the picnic table would just have to do for lounging.
Captain wanted to hike to Inspiration Point which is a bluff overlook area facing south from the state park. The first part of the trail was a couple of hundred stone steps. By the time we got to the top--with two breaks for me to catch my breath--I was done. A very nice lady asked me as I was wheezing and panting on the bench along the trail if I would like her to take my picture with my husband. Yep, I’m looking my best right now with beet-red cheeks and sweat running...well, everywhere...but okay.
We looked at the trail map, and Inspiration Point was about another ¾ mile and labeled “difficult.” NO thank you! I gave Captain the camera and told him to have a good time. I’d just go back to the trail head and wait for him. So, off he went.
I traipsed back down the stairs, which for some reason seemed even worse than going up. I got to the bottom and realized I’d better keep moving or I was going to cramp up something fierce. As I was walking across the park area, I stopped at a kiosk with flyers posted on it about the park. Okay, I wasn’t really reading the flyers, I was trying to look nonchalant while I panted my way back to regular breathing. I am an overweight, out-of-shape woman...sue me. But through the sweat running in my eyes, I saw an announcement for a nature program for that night about an old cemetery in a nearby ghost town. Hmmmm...that sounded better than hiking!
I regained feeling in my legs and made it back to camp to wait for Captain. I told him about the cemetery thing, and since we both have an interest in old cemeteries, we decided to go. We had just enough time to make a quick supper first and clean up before we went to the Visitor’s Center for the program.
The focus of the program was the town of Beaver, which was settled after the Civil War. The returning soldiers and their families found the fertile Whitewater River valley to be very good wheat-growing ground, so they cleared the flats to plant wheat, but planted over the hills rather than across the hills (contour stripping) so erosion was a huge factor. Unfortunately, they also cleared the hills of the trees to make grazing pastures for cows. After a few years of these practices, the flooding began because there was nothing to stop the heavy rains from washing down the steep hills and through the valley. In one particular year, Beaver flooded 28 times! The townspeople tried to recover year after year after year, but eventually nature won the battle and the town was abandoned. It shouldn’t technically be called a ghost town, because it is still there. It is just buried under 15 feet of sand, silt, and soil. It was the the CCC that helped save the rest of the valley replanting thousands upon thousands of trees on the bare hillsides and working to restore the wetlands in the valley.
Anyway, back to the story of Beaver. So, even though the town is gone, it’s cemetery is still there, maybe due to being on higher elevation. It is beautifully maintained through a contract with the state park system. The naturalist who led the program had done an immense amount of research and told us something about half a dozen of the people buried there. One was the founding father of the town and a pillar of the community. His family planted this tree when he was buried...160 years ago!!
There as another spot that had a circle of cedar trees with two markers outside the circle and two markers inside. The markers inside the trees were for children that hadn’t survived childhood, and the markers outside were for the parents.
There were two small markers in the middle where, the story goes, after a diphtheria outbreak in the town, a father had to go in the middle of the night by himself to bury his two young children because he didn’t want to spread the virus to his friends and neighbors, so he had to grieve alone at the gravesides.
But the story that really caught me was the tale of the three Franks. Near the back of the cemetery was a row of markers for the Irish family (surname, not nationality). There was a girl whose name I can’t remember, then a Frank, then another Frank, and then an Arvid. All children. The parents of these youngsters wanted a son named Frank, but had to bury two sons named Frank before the third one survived. Interesting stuff, but so darn sad!
I’m glad we went on that nature program, even though it was kind of sad. We learned things about a town in our own backyard that we hadn’t even known existed. So the bucket list now has “attend a nature program at every state park” as well. It serves to remind me that the opportunities for education are everywhere if I just pay attention.
What? You act like you are waiting for something! Oh yes, I promised the answers to the tag line quiz! In the interest of full disclosure, I found these on the Internet and I only knew a handful of them off hand. Here you go, let me know how you did!
- You’re in good hands with Allstate
- Flick my Bic
- Calgon take me away
- GE--we bring good things to life
- Please don’t squeeze the Charmin
- Cooks who know trust Crisco
- Aren’t you glad you use Dial
- Nothing sucks like Electrolux
- Don’t get mad, get Glad
- Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon
- How about a nice Hawaiian Punch
- Hertz puts you in the driver’s seat
- Pure clean, pure Ivory
- Nothing runs like a Deere
- Every kiss begins with Kay
- Do the Dew
- Pepsi Cola hits the spot (and as my dad used to say “ten minutes later hits the pot!”)
- With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good
- I coulda had a V-8
- Bye-bye, buy bonds.
Thanks for playing!
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