“Please! Only you can prevent forest fires.”

I finally got around to seeing Footloose, the 1984 film with the sensational soundtrack and sayings of the era (“Yo!,” “Jump back!,” and “If you ask me, he’s a total fox.”). Those were the days.

The late bloomer missed seeing this generational classic because she was most likely busy, either with her everloving homework or with her latest counted cross stitch project from Cross My Heart.

The ladies who owned my favorite hangout on Arlington Avenue knew how to appeal to an industrious teenager with spare time to fill, but not much spare change: They assigned me samples to stitch, and I earned store credit. However, my obsession with cross stitch was seriously threatened when I was assigned the task of rendering a detailed likeness of Smokey the Bear in innumerable shades of brown.

One of the most widely recognized advertising symbols in the world, Smokey was created in 1944 as a symbol of forest fire prevention. A public-service product of the U.S. Forest Service, Smokey was intended to protect wood needed for wartime endeavors from careless accidents.

Wearing belted jeans and his signature hat, sometimes carrying a shovel, Smokey’s confident, friendly image has evolved, but his message remains the same. In fact, that message is so well-known that he only needs to share the first two words (“Only you”) and his audience will get the point.

If you’re traveling west on U.S. 33 between Nelsonville and Athens, Ohio, you can spot Smokey promoting the National Fire Danger Rating System in the Wayne National Forest.

The only national forest in Ohio, Wayne National Forest spreads across Athens, Hocking and Perry Counties. Named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War hero who earned his nickname for his battlefield attacks, the forest is one of almost 175 diverse public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Founded in 1905 to provide quality water and timber for the nation, the U.S. Forest Service protects the land in its care against threats posed by fires, invasive species, and unmanaged recreation. It also conserves natural resources, defends land for forestry research, produces trees for reforestation, and controls erosion.

At one time, Ohio’s abundant supply of hardwood trees had made it a leading state for lumber production. However, its dwindling supply, coupled with settlers’ practice of burning the land to encourage the growth of grass for grazing cattle, was threatening. Meanwhile, the discovery of oil, coal mining and iron smelting led to industries more profitable than farming in southeastern Ohio. Timber fed the iron furnaces, and charcoal was used to smelt the iron ore.

All this led the Forest Service to seek creation of a national forest on the rocky slopes of southeastern Ohio. Established in 1934, it increased its size through land acquisition during its first three decades.

Besides being a welcome center for visitors to the Wayne National Forest, the building is also the office of the Athens Ranger District-Athens Unit and the Forest Supervisors Office.

Constructed to reflect the heritage of southeastern Ohio, the building represents the local history of its surroundings. Its gabled roof lines were inspired by dairy barns in the area, while its rust red and corrugated gray exterior color scheme are reminiscent of industrial buildings of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Since a portion of an abandoned coal mine rests beneath the building, its tower represents a coal tipple, which connected a coal mine to commercial transportation.

Concrete masonry replicates the stone blocks of the Ohio and Hocking Valley Canal and Locks. The covered walkway in front of the building reflects local covered bridges, while train depots inspired its canopy, as well as the warehouse behind it.

Reclaimed local bricks hail from brick and tile manufacturing plants or clay quarries of the surrounding communities. Of special interest is the “star brick” paver that was stamped, glazed and fired.

Inside, ceilings and flooring were constructed of native hickory wood harvested in the Wayne National Forest and milled locally. Native birch was used to make the reception counter.

Best of all, dozens of Smokey posters are on display.

Remember, “Only you.”

For more, read The Smokey Bear Story, by Ellen Earnhardt Morrison.

“Nobody knew what I wanted, including me. The idea just took over.”

Stand on the carport pavers, take in the Cherokee Red-hued window trim and the glass pyramid rising above a lawn punctuated by apple trees, and you’d never believe you were in Hamilton, Ohio.

That element of tasteful surprise is what likely inspired a cultured attorney to create a unique place to enjoy nature, entertain and live among his treasured collection of art and antiquities.

Born in 1925, Harry Wilks was destined for success since his days as a student leader at Hamilton High School. He served his country in the Navy during World War II, and continued his education at Ohio University, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. Returning to Hamilton, he practiced law, invested in real estate, and served his community as a city councilman and a district State Representative. Art, music and nature complemented his professional interests.  

In 1986, Wilks purchased 40 acres of land in Hamilton on which to design and build a home. The unique underground residence he created came to be known as Pyramid House, which was completed in 1992.

To integrate the house into its natural setting, Wilks tucked it into the side of a ridge of land. Visitors enter through mahogany-framed doors and receding masonry walls into a 12-feet-wide, 45-feet-long entrance hall. An acrylic barrel-vaulted roof enables natural light to illuminate not only an elegant inlaid oak floor, but also selections from his collections of Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman architectural and sculptural fragments. The hall is flanked by two rooms; glazed sliding doors framed in horizontal mahogany mullions painted a rich red provide more natural light.

A 27-feet-high blue mirrored-glass pyramid towers above the 2500-square-feet great room, casting more light into the interior. The sunken living space, once elegantly furnished with Oriental-style carpets and upholstered seating in cobalt blue, cream, red and black hues, is two steps lower than the periphery, which contains alcoves for the kitchen, dining room, music room, library, and entertainment center.

More antiquities were displayed in another 45-feet-long skylit hall on the other side of the great room, leading to a patio overlooking a terraced garden, a lake, and a now-grassed-in swimming pool once accented by a fountain and Classical columns.

The house also features a rectangular tower from which to survey the property and the neighboring Great Miami River.

Over time, Wilks acquired additional land for his property, hoping not only to preserve it for the future, but also to create a nonprofit sculpture park on the grounds for the public to enjoy. The property eventually extended to 265 acres, including several species of native trees, an 1820s pioneer cabin and a Hopewell cultural site known as Fortified Hill.

In 1992, Wilks installed the first piece in the outdoor sculpture park; it now contains over 80 works displayed in a landscape of rolling hills, meadows, lakes and hiking trails. Visitors can drive, walk or take an “art cart” along the 1.75-mile Gallery Loop which traverses the park.

In 2010, Wilks built the Ancient Sculpture Museum, a building resembling a traditional ancient Roman home. It now houses most of Wilks’ collection of antiquities and special exhibitions of contemporary art.

After Wilks passed away in 2014, the property was donated to the state of Ohio for use as a public park and museum.

For more on Pyramid Hill, see “Pyramid Power for the Midwest,” an article by Suzanne Stephens in the August 1998 issue of Architectural Digest.

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

Hearing these words read from the Gospel according to John this morning, I reflected on how much has changed since last October.

Then, a tragedy was unfolding, only to be resolved by a tremendous change I doubted I’d have the fortitude to handle. Purpose and fulfillment in life were in short supply as the center of my attention started fading away. I prayed to just get through each day, pondering what I could do to offer meaning and find hope beyond a challenging present, into a future that didn’t look very appealing.

So when I saw that the “Patron of Hope” was coming to St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westerville on October 30, 2023, I decided I’d pay St. Jude a visit.

Also referred to as Thaddeus, Jude was a first cousin to Jesus. He and his brother, James the Less, were among the 12 disciples Jesus appointed to be His Apostles. During the first century, Jude ministered in modern-day Turkey, writing a 25-verse Epistle of the New Testament. He also preached the Gospel in Phoenicia, Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, accompanied by fellow Apostle St. Simon the Less. Either in modern-day Beirut or Iran, the pair were martyred; Jude was clubbed to death and then beheaded with an axe, while Simon was cut in half with a saw. Jude’s body was buried in the place of his martyrdom, but his remains were later transferred to Rome. Today, the remains of both Jude and Simon rest in a shared tomb directly below the main altar of the left transept of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Saints’ shared feast day is celebrated on October 28.

When St. Jude is pictured, he is often portrayed holding a club or an axe, the two instruments of his martyrdom, as well as a pen, representing his New Testament epistle. Also, he can be seen wearing or carrying a cloth or medallion bearing an image of Jesus’s face, symbolizing the Image of Edessa, the first miraculous image of Jesus prior to those said to have been seen on St. Veronica’s veil and the shroud of Turin.

St. Jude has developed a popular reputation as a patron of hopeless cases and desperate situations, as many faithful experiencing significant difficulties find solace and hope in invoking his assistance. Prayers to St. Jude express trust in placing individual needs in his hands and requesting his intercession for them, if it is God’s will. Therefore, he is usually depicted with a small flame above his head to represent his intercessory power.

In the United States, St. Jude has achieved popular recognition, thanks to Danny Thomas, the Lebanese-American who prayed to St. Jude as a struggling entertainer facing financial difficulties. Thomas promised to build a shrine in St. Jude’s honor if he found professional success and his finances became more stable. True to his word, in 1962, Thomas established St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, dedicated to providing the best medical care to young patients, especially those suffering from life-threatening childhood diseases, regardless of their financial situation. Today, it is one of the world’s leading pediatric research and treatment centers, operating on the principle that no family receives a bill for treatment, travel, housing, or food.

During an 1830 renovation to the main altar of a Roman church known as the Holy Savior of the Laurels, a reliquary containing the bones of one of St. Jude’s arms was discovered. Carved in the shape of an upright arm imparting a blessing, the wooden reliquary also is marked by official seals attesting to its authenticity.

Since September 2023, that reliquary has been traveling on a North American pilgrimage to 100 American cities. In each stop, the faithful request St. Jude to intercede to Jesus for them, venerating his relic by saying a prayer, making the Sign of the Cross, or touching the display case containing the reliquary.

The tragic event that I thought would be the most difficult of my life turned into one that continues to yield triumphant outcomes.

“May God be praised for lifting your burdens.”

“Pollinator Garden in Progress….”

As I approached the northwest corner of Indianola Ave. and Torrence Rd., John Tesh talked to me about the emerging trend of creating a “quiet garden.” By assembling a calming collection of ornamental grasses that rustle and sway in the breeze, fragrant flowers, and different types of foliage and textures to engage the senses, you can create soft aesthetics in your landscape that reduce anxiety. Native plants, particularly those that attract bees and butterflies, are especially at home in a quiet garden.

It was fitting that this installment of “Intelligence For Your Life” was imparted right in the thick of the Clintonville Hellstrip Gardeners’ domain.

Inspired by Clintonville resident Agi Risko, devoted gardeners in this Columbus community are endeavoring to create soothing respites from urban life right at the curbs of city streets.

They’re following the lead of landscape designer and author of The Undaunted Garden, Lauren Springer Ogden, who coined the term “hellstrip” to describe a difficult-to-plant piece of land between a street and a public sidewalk.

By converting a sparse or ignored patch of grass into part of an overall planting scheme, hellstrip gardeners are making their neighborhood more inviting, encouraging interactions between residents, and adding curb appeal to homes.

For gardeners in search of more space, or eager to experiment with different plants, hellstrip gardens offer an appealing extension of available acreage. They also provide additional habitat for wildlife and can be employed as an extra plot for a vegetable garden.

The same gardening practices can be employed along fences, down steps, beside driveways, or other challenging parts of a landscape.

Nutrient-poor soil, construction fill topped by turfgrass, and air pollutants from vehicle exhaust can make some curbside conditions not conducive to growing a lush stand of grass. However, with some care, hellstrips can host thriving gardens. Dense plantings also offer lower maintenance requirements, especially when including plants that have adapted to nutrient-poor soil or don’t need extra water or fertilizer.

Plants well-suited to a hellstrip garden include purple coneflower, daisies, coral bells, perennial herbs like thyme, sage and oregano, and native grasses and wildflowers like flax, penstemons and salvias. Yarrow, butterfly weed, coreopsis, red hot poker, blazing star, penstemon, aster, little bluestem and hyssop are other recommendations.

Adding features like free plants for the taking, as well as water and treats for dogs, make a hellstrip garden even more attractive.

You can spot most of the Clintonville Hellstrip Gardens east of N. High St. in Clintonville, particularly on Torrence and Blenheim Roads. One was also established in front of Beechwold Hardware, at 4591 N. High St.

Before beginning a hellstrip garden, check with your city first to ensure that it is permissible. Some hellstrips may be publicly owned or have public easements or utilities running through them. Ensure that you comply with specifications like height restrictions, prohibited plants, and whether other structures in the landscape are permissible.

For more, see Hellstrip Gardening: Create a Paradise Between the Sidewalk and the Curb, by Evelyn J. Hadden.

“The most comfortable and most favourable arrangement of my worldly concerns that I ever had.”

One of my best friends digs dandelions and dump trucks, craves chocolate and constructs pillow houses. In fact, he’s turning four today.

Henri shares his birthday with John Brown, the noted abolitionist who was born 224 years ago. To my surprise, I discovered that the man Harriet Tubman said had “done more in dying, than 100 men would in living” was also a talented shepherd who spent the better part of his life in Ohio.

In 1805, Brown’s parents decided to leave their native Connecticut and seek a new life for their family on the frontier of the Western Reserve, eventually settling in Hudson, Ohio. Growing up in Portage and Summit counties, Brown helped his father provide refuge and transportation for escaped slaves on their way to Cleveland via the Underground Railroad. When Wiliam Lloyd Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, gave an 1837 address in Hudson, Brown was moved to devote his life to the cause of ending slavery.

While Brown’s convictions were strong, his financial know-how was faltering. Plagued by debt and bankruptcy, he decided to develop his childhood interest in the sheep and wool industry. Before long, he became a successful sheep breeder and an expert judge of wool quality. Instead of gathering and bundling fleece straight from the sheep — dirt, burrs and all — Brown meticulously cleaned it, separating it into nine different grades of wool he developed, all at different prices.

In 1844, Brown’s talents attracted the attention of Simon Perkins, Jr., the wealthy son of the co-founder of the city of Akron, Ohio. Perkins lived in an elegant stone mansion that was completed in 1837 and is now considered one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in Ohio.

Besides farming the 150 acres that surrounded his home, Perkins raised cattle, but wanted to expand his business to include sheep. He approached Brown to form a partnership in this developing industry that also offered international trade opportunities in wool.

Brown accepted, renting a two-room cottage from Perkins, located across from the Perkins mansion at what is now at the intersection of Copley and Diagonal Roads in Akron. Built circa 1830, the structure had been rented by the Perkins family as their stone mansion was being built, and Perkins had purchased it in 1844. Brown considered this “the most comfortable and most favourable arrangement of my worldly concerns that I ever had.” Annual rent for Brown, his wife and nine children was $30, which included a garden and firewood.

While Perkins provided food and shelter for the flock of 1,300 Merino and Saxony sheep, Brown took care of them, including shearing them, cleaning their fleece, shipping the wool to market, and traveling to Europe to develop new business. Before long, the partnership was a success, winning awards and press coverage for Brown’s method of cleaning and producing quality wool from what was considered one of the largest and finest flocks of sheep in Ohio, indeed in the United States. In fact, the flock was so large that residents of Akron referred to the Perkins estate as “Mutton Hill.”

Prosperity prompted Perkins to establish a three-story factory in Akron, where each floor was devoted to different tasks of wool production, from washing and sorting to spinning, dyeing and weaving. Nearly 60 people were employed in the operation, and it eventually produced 500 yards of finished product a day. The business also expanded to Springfield, Massachusetts for a time, where Brown formed a depot for storing wool. Two of Brown’s sons were also involved in the business.  

Meanwhile, Brown continued his dedication to abolition and the Underground Railroad. He purchased land in North Elba, New York, where an initiative was under way to teach farming to escaped slaves and free Black men. When business difficulties proved to be too much to overcome, Perkins and Brown parted company amicably in 1854, and most of the Brown family relocated to North Elba. 

For the next five years, Brown increased his abolition efforts, organizing a failed raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia that led to his conviction for conspiracy to incite a slave insurrection, treason and murder. He was hanged on December 2, 1859.

Perkins family descendants lived in the stone mansion until 1945, when it was sold to the Summit County Historical Society. Today, it is a historic house museum that includes decorative art and artifacts from the period, including some original Perkins family possessions.

The cottage the Browns lived in was later expanded over the years, with Perkins descendants also calling it home. Later, it became the first home of the Portage Country Club, with a nine-hole golf course constructed around it. Recent efforts have not only returned the exterior’s appearance to resemble its original cedar boards, but also restored the property’s outbuildings and perimeter stone wall, possibly built by Brown and his sons. The original two rooms of the cottage have been redesigned to present information about Brown and his 20 children, his work on Mutton Hill, and his role in ending slavery. It is a site on the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.