some days, I forget that I live in a beautiful, interesting little corner of the globe. People come from across the state, country, and world to visit my little corner of Pennsylvania, and I take it for granted nearly every day. Some days, despite lackluster weather, I get reminded. I get some sort of bug to take advantage of the things that I scoff at, forget about, take advantage of...those things that bring people to my door and keep me in internet service. Though the local state parks are rich in history from a start as a tax-dodging method of lumber barons during the Jazz Age, to work camps for the CCC during the Great Depression, to a bald eagle nesting area now, I only occasionally manage to get out of the house and appreciate their splendor.
Those days are the days I take the camera and head for the proverbial trails. There is a beautiful overlook of the Clarion River called Seneca Point that provides such pretty river views that it was used in a movie. A Cecil B. DeMille movie from the 1940's, nonetheless. Called Unconquered, it starred Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, Howard Da Silva, and Boris Karloff. Not exactly a B movie.
Unconquered is set in the area between Pittsburgh and Fort Venango, with a stopover in Virginia at the beginning, during Pontiac's Rebellion. That "Indian rebellion" against the British was a precursor to the French and Indian War, which it can quite successfully be argued led directly to the American Revolution. Though neither Cooper nor Goddard actually came to Cook Forest for filming, there are multiple scenes in which the background is obviously a. the field across the road from my house, b. various trails in Cook Forest, or c. the lookout at Seneca Point.
I don't have any vain pictures of myself, or pictures of clothes, or even a recipe today, but what I do have is a little bit of roots. Literally and figuratively, of me and my family, the area around us, and of American history.
"Be well. Do good work. Keep in touch." - Garrison Kellior
Those days are the days I take the camera and head for the proverbial trails. There is a beautiful overlook of the Clarion River called Seneca Point that provides such pretty river views that it was used in a movie. A Cecil B. DeMille movie from the 1940's, nonetheless. Called Unconquered, it starred Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, Howard Da Silva, and Boris Karloff. Not exactly a B movie.
Unconquered is set in the area between Pittsburgh and Fort Venango, with a stopover in Virginia at the beginning, during Pontiac's Rebellion. That "Indian rebellion" against the British was a precursor to the French and Indian War, which it can quite successfully be argued led directly to the American Revolution. Though neither Cooper nor Goddard actually came to Cook Forest for filming, there are multiple scenes in which the background is obviously a. the field across the road from my house, b. various trails in Cook Forest, or c. the lookout at Seneca Point.
I don't have any vain pictures of myself, or pictures of clothes, or even a recipe today, but what I do have is a little bit of roots. Literally and figuratively, of me and my family, the area around us, and of American history.
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