Groveport Messenger - April 4th, 2021

www.columbusmessenger.com
Rivers help tell the story of the Ohio frontier
Janet Shailer, author of the new
book,“Trouble on Scioto’s Waters –
Soldiers, Frontiersmen & Native
Americans: 1725-1815.”
The tranquil waters of the Scioto River
were once anything but placid.
The Scioto River and its tributaries,
such as Big Darby Creek, Big Walnut
Creek, and the Olentangy River were once
hot beds of activity as Prehistoric and
Woodland Native Americans used them as
major transportation routes.
A new book by Janet Shailer, “Trouble
on Scioto’s Waters — Soldiers,
Frontiersmen & Native Americans: 1725-
1815,” explores the Native American history
surrounding these waterways.
“From 1754 — 1814 fighting raged within
the state between Native Americans and
their adversaries,” Shailer said. “Those
years are vital to understanding the history
of Ohio. By 1843, the last of the Native
Americans left the state after the signing
of the Treaty with the Wyandots. A mere
18 years later the Civil War would start.”
The importance of the Scioto River
watershed to Ohio’s early history cannot be
underestimated.
This river was a transportation artery
for the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware,
Ottawa, Seneca, and Miami on their way to
camps in the Pickaway Plains and beyond.
The area between the Scioto River and
the Big Darby Creek was once a cradle of
Prehistoric and Woodland activity.
This area alone has artifacts from the
Paleo-Indian, Adena, Hopewell, and Fort
Ancient cultures. Battelle Darby Metro
Park along Big Darby Creek, for one, is
continuously being studied by archaeologists
for its numerous mounds and Native
American artifacts that are still being discovered
there.
Later the European fur trappers and
frontiersmen understood their significance,
followed by soldiers from three different
countries.
“I have included chapters on five men
who were important figures in central
Ohio’s early history,” Shailer said. “They
include Col. William Crawford, Simon
Girty, and Jonathan Alder plus Native
Americans Blue Jacket and Tecumseh. The
Indian Removal Act of 1830 began to drive
the Native Americans out of Ohio permanently.”
Shailer said the Native Americans
knew the Ohio country was a special place
and they helped to make it so.
“I believe that to understand the history
of a great people, we must thoroughly
study them, including walking the ground
where they once lived,” said Shailer. “Part
of this book is a guide to visiting some of
those sites. Native Americans entered
what is now central Ohio about 9,000 -
10,000 years ago.”
For people interested in both
Prehistoric and Eastern Woodland
Indians, the Middle Ohio Valley is an
archaeologist’s gold mine.
“The Ohio Historical & Archaeological
Society estimated in the 1880s there were
once 10,000 mounds and earthworks in
Ohio alone,” said Shailer. “Unfortunately,
urban development has left us with few
remaining sites to see and explore.”
The Ohio History Connection has documented
dozens of Prehistoric and Eastern
Woodland sites all along the edges of the
Scioto River.
“In Jackson Township/Franklin County,
archaeological maps show dozens of Native
American sites along the edges of this
waterway,” said Shailer. “Other creeks in
the Scioto River basin were also important
for development. On the western side of
Franklin County lies Big Darby Creek,
another important transportation artery
for several tribes. In the eastern part of
Franklin County, Alum Creek runs south
from Mount Gilead and joins Big Walnut
and Blacklick creeks in (now) Three Creeks
Metro Park. The Adena built at least seven
mounds in the Alum Creek Valley.”
The book includes a guide to those who
would like to visit sites once occupied by
these First Ohioans. Books may be ordered
online from the publisher Orange Frazer
Press at www.orangefrazer.com or via
Amazon.com.
“Janet Shailer has captured a long-overlooked
portion of Ohio’s history, a past era
that we are still feeling the effects of
today,” said Rick Palsgrove, managing editor
of the Columbus Messenger
Newspapers and director of the Groveport
Heritage Museum. “The stories she tells of
the Native Americans, military, and frontiersmen
who helped shape Ohio are fascinating.
Her listing of pertinent historical
sites that help tell the story of those times
is helpful to those who wish to see the
places where this history took shape.”
Janet Shailer is a former editor with the
Columbus Messenger Newspapers and has
written two other history books including
“Images of Grove City,” and “Images of
Modern America: Grove City.”
She also wrote the novel, “The Austerlitz
Bugle-Telegraph: A King, A Goddess and a
Chronicle of Deception,” as well as three children’s
books.
Farmers’ Market
The 2021 Groveport Farmers’ Market is
tentatively scheduled to be open on
Tuesdays from June 29 through Sept. 14
from 4-7 p.m., according to cit of Groveport
officials.
Groveport city council
Groveport City Council holds its regular
meetings at 6:30 p.m. on the second
and fourth Mondays of the month.
Council holds its committee of the
whole meeting on the third Monday each
month at 5:30 p.m.
Meetings are held in the municipal
building, 655 Blacklick St., Groveport.
Our Family Caring For Yours
April 4, 2021 - GROVEPORT MESSENGER - PAGE 5
AUTO HOME
OPEN ENROLLMENT
Beplerinsurance.com
614.837.4379
staff@beplerinsurance.com
3246 Noe Bixby Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43232
Dr. Sacheen Garrison
5055 S. Hamilton Road
Groveport, OH 43125 614-836-0500
www.groveportsmiles.com