Have you visited an Ohio historic site or museum lately? The Buckeye State is home to about 1,000 of them. Did you know that several prehistoric sites in Ohio are soon to be included on the World Heritage List, alongside the Egyptian pyramids and the Grand Canyon? Did you know that nearly 3,700 historic properties in Ohio are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the third most in the country? To read this editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, click here.
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Ohioans are pathetically unaware and uneducated about our Native American heritage. Our history is long and proud. Most know about the Hopewell, the Great Serpent Mounds, and more, but few realize that Pontiac was born here (Defiance) and Tecumseh, the greatest of all Native Americans, was born and lived here most of his life. Fallen Timbers is, militarily speaking, one of the greatest battles on American soil. Fort Recovery is among the greatest defeats of an American army on American soil. The list goes on and on and on.
My hopes are that historical societies make Native American history a priority in their missions to educate us all.
An OHS marker recognizing the Seneca Indian Reservation and Springs is in my extended neighborhood. During Ohio’s Bicentennial year, descendants from the Tribe, from an Indian school in Oklahoma made a trip here. I remember feeling a sadness as well as joy in marking their place here and in meeting them. Certainly an awakening to struggles in history we may not always be proud of but history nonetheless worth sharing.