Take A Drive Through History This is a photo of a section of The Natchez Trace, which is a 444 mile road from Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi. Let’s see how observant you are. What is wrong with this picture, is the absence of telephone poles, billboards, signs, fences and houses, because none of those …
A few years ago, there was a TV ad for an antacid that relieved stomach indigestion. The question was posed, “How do you spell ‘relief ‘?” and the answer was, “R-O-L-A-I-D-S !” So in the same vein, I ask, “How do you spell ‘Thanksgiving’?” Well, let’s take a closer look at giving thanks. Everyone Should …
The Bible tells us in Genesis 6:5-8 “…that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…and the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart. And the LORD said, I will blot out man whom I have created… But Noah found favor in the …
Ponce de Leon and I have something in common; The Fountain of Youth. There is a slight difference however, in that, he went looking for it, but did not find it and I was not looking for it, but did find it. Gray hair began appearing on my head in my mid-twenties. Premature graying runs …
Back in the ‘good old days,’ almost everyone was an ice skater. When I was a kid growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, I learned to ice skate on Shiloh Park Lagoon in Zion, Illinois. My older brother and sister would walk the two blocks with me to the park after I got my …
As the leaves of Summer begin their transformation from various shades of green to brilliant colors of red, orange and yellow, and as the cooler temperatures begin to get a bit nippy, we are instinctively drawn to red apples, orange pumpkins and yellow mums; it’s AUTUMN! It is time to seek out the apple orchards …
My brother, Mike moved to Minnesota in 1966 after graduating from college. A couple of years later, in August 1969, he suggested we go on an adventure together. He had discovered an interesting area in upper Minnesota, known as The Boundary Waters Canoe Area(BWCA). This region straddling the USA-Canadian border between Minnesota and Ontario just …
SINKING SHIPS, STAGECOACHES and SAL: THE OAKES ADVENTURES Our adventure begins with a shipwreck off the coast of Boston, MA in about 1660. Nathaniel Oak was the ship’s cabin boy, as was fictional, Jim Hawkins in the book, Treasure Island. Several Admirals and Vice Admirals, including Sir Francis Drake, started out their naval careers as …
LACE + VACCINES = ROMANCE As we read in PART I, the Edwin Harley Snelling family moved to Zion City, Illinois in 1903. Their son, Arthur Hobart, was 16 years old when they arrived and upon the completion of his education from Zion City schools, he became employed at the Zion Lace Industries. The Zion …
THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS Zion, Illinois was the gathering spot for the four clans or families to which my four grandparents belonged. I use ‘clans‘ because they originated in four of the six Celtic Nations; Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England. On my father’s side were Harry Smith Oakes and Ellen(Nellie) Reid Richardson and on …