The Hopewell People, by Dr. Andrew Martin

hopewell_exchange_network_hroe_2010The Hopewell culture was the first pan-american culture that stretched from Kansas to New York, Canada to Florida from 200BC to 500AD.  It was an enormous culture with many local expressions that traded ideas and artifacts with each other over vast distances. The people who lived in Elsah were at the very southern edge of the Havana Hopewell – one of these local expressions, but also one of the main cultural centers, together with the Ohio Hopewell – in North America. Artifacts from as far as Yellowstone, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico and Florida were found in elaborate burial mounds that lined the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers along the bluffs. The talk will explain a bit about the development and history of the Havana Hopewell and touch on few of the possible reasons why it was so prominent in North America. [Map source]

martin-aDr. Andrew Martin is an associate professor at Principia College, teaching archaeology, anthropology and art history.  He received his PhD from Cambridge University in England, having done his research on the Hopewell mounds along the Lower Illinois Valley near Kampsville.

This talk takes place Thursday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Farley Music Hall, and is part of the Hosmer-Williams Lecture Series, sponsored by Liberty Bank.

Local Apples, Now and in the Past

This talk which will be given by Joe Ringhausen, local orchard owner in Jersey County on October 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Farley Music Hall, 37 Mill Street, Elsah. A question-and-answer session follows the talk.

hef-2016-apple-house-10-03The Jerseyville orchards were purchased by the Ringhausen family in 1929. The orchard’s signature, award-winning, sweet cider is blended from equal amounts of tart apples, such as Jonathans, and sweet apples, like Fujis. The sweet cider is a mainstay at the Apple House from September until Christmas time, routinely selling out by the first of the year.

During the peak cider season, the orchard makes between 500 and 700 gallons per week, which they also sell to other stores, growers, and markets.

What is your favoite apple? How does it grow? What about heritage apples? Learn from Joe Ringhausen.

Free refreshments are available after the talk. With the theme of “apples,” refreshments will feature apples and things that go well with apples – unbeatable combinations. All are welcome to attend.

Sponsored by Liberty Bank of Godfrey, Illinois, this free lecture is part of the Hosmer Williams series given by the Historic Elsah Foundation. This year’s theme is “nature.”

For more information, contact Jane Pfeifer, 618.374.1565 or [email protected].

Nature Then and Now In Words and Images

William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson are two of the most famous authors of the nineteenth century writing about nature and what it meant for people of the nineteenth century. Heidi Snow will speak on Wordsworth and his love of the Lake District in the United Kingdom, and will speak about some present challenges. David Pfeifer will speak on Emerson and his love of Walden Woods in Concord, Massachusetts. Walden Woods is also facing challenges. Both speakers will present short passages from the authors and will show images that illustrate their thought on and love for nature.

May 19, 2016, 7:30 p.m. at Farley Music Hall, Elsah. This talk is part of the Hosmer-Williams Lecture Series, sponsored by Liberty Bank.