Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined themed chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eighth day of the month is "Art."
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The town where I live is named after a white war general who chased Blackhawk and the Fox and Sauk across Illinois since the indigenous peoples of the area were "in violation of a treaty." It is absolutely clear that our town leaders have a lot of mixed feelings about the history here. The local sports teams are named after Blackhawk, there are a couple of statues of him in town, and there's a highly visible mural on a building downtown. But the town itself is named after this military general and there are lots of "landmarks" recognized having to do with the military importance of the site. It's confusing and hard to parse in terms of what modern people should do with this information about where we live.
The site of the original military fort has been lost to time, but people are pretty sure it's somewhere in our neighborhood.
(We live in the "historical" neighborhood, which is to say many houses, including ours, were built around the turn of the twentieth century. It is, however, a mixed-use neighborhood, so I live next to a duplex and across the street from an apartment building. Yes, we might have the worst single-family unit on the block, but we're historical!)
There's a lovely Cream City brick home a block away from our house that is up for sale at just under a million dollars right now. In front of that house is a historical marker describing the Black Hawk War and the original fort. If you and two other couples want to move to Nowhere, Wisconsin and split the mortgage with me and Dr. BB, we'd be up for moving. The house and the grounds are beautiful is what I'm saying.
Oh, but I got distracted talking about real estate and lost the thread. If I were a better blogger, I'd just delete the previous two paragraphs because they are irrelevant, but I want you to a) know about Cream City brick and b) understand just how muddled my brain is on the average day.
The local historical society has made some noises about doing some ground detecting radar around our neighborhood to see if they can find the site of the original fort. Dr. BB and I can't decide if we'd allow them on our property. What if they found out it WAS on our property? Would we have to give it up? Where would we even go? But on the other hand, it would (probably) be of historical value, right? Who are we to stand in the way of research like that?
Would you let them examine your property for something like this? Why or why not?
That is an interesting question! I would be very curious, but I would also want some answers to those questions before I let them onto the property. I mean, have they thought this through? Do they HAVE the answers? I'd want to know they have a real plan.
ReplyDeleteRight now, it's just rumblings. I don't think they have the funding for it yet, but I hope that they do get some answers before/if they knock on our door because I'm pretty sure my husband would be a hard no. Ha.
DeleteWow, what an awesome statue that is. I wish I could see another view of it.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably let them on the property as long as they didn't tear it up. Since it's a local historical society, they probably don't have the funding to do much about it if they did find the site, other than place a marker.
I'd like to get a view of it from the river, but I'm not much of a boater girl, so I guess that won't happen. Ha!
DeleteEven if they placed a marker, though, I wouldn't want it on my property because so many people stop and read those things. I do know that for a fact because I see it happen with the marker a block away. PLUS, the museum does regular historical tours and it would become a stop on that tour and I can only imagine how much it would make my dog lose her tiny little mind. BUT. If it's history, who am I to stand in the way of letting other people know?
There's no good answer on what to do with landmarks commemorating people and events that shouldn't be celebrated. I think it kind of has to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
ReplyDeleteI'd definitely want very firm answers on "what if it is" before letting someone on your property but it would be fun to find out.
It would be fun to find out. And, to be honest, it's probably NOT our property and I'd love to know where it was. And I'd love to know if there are any artifacts left. Right now it's all speculation that anything will happen, so hopefully we won't have to make any hard decisions.
DeleteIt’s hard to know since I have never come close to living in a situation like that. However, I imagine that I would just go along with it.
ReplyDeleteYou are much more easygoing than I am, that's for sure!
DeleteConsidering you live in "Nowhere, Wisconsin" it sounds like a very interesting place! It's kind of an odd question to consider- is your house on a historical site? It's fun to think about. Maybe you'll actually find out someday.
ReplyDeleteI mean, it IS a great little town. There's a thriving art scene and the local historical society and museum do a lot to promote the history of the area. It IS also in the middle of Nowhere. Ha.
DeleteThat is a tough question to answer and I'd probably let Phil decide. I think we probably would let them as long as it wouldn't require us to like move if they found something of note!
ReplyDeleteOur last house was the oldest house in the neighborhood and was part of a historical farm when it was initially built - allegedly. That is what we were told by our neighbors but we never looked into our. That was a 1915 house, I think. Our current house is a 1925 but you'd never know because several owners ago they "popped the top" and converted it from a 1.5 story to a 2 story home. I love that our area of the city has mostly older homes. There are some tear downs but they are few and far between.
It's great that they're fixing the older homes. It's a bit of a mix here. There is our older neighborhood, but there are plenty of new builds happening in the areas of town without sidewalks. *sigh* People need to live somewhere, I guess.
DeleteI can appreciate your muddled brain; we speak the same language. Very interesting to learn about the Cream City Brick!!
ReplyDeleteI think I would let them explore; who knows you might be sitting on a Gold Mine!
I am envious of people whose minds don't go racing off into a million different directions all day long. How do they keep their minds so regimented?
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