THE GATEWAYS TO FORT ANCIENT.
BY THOS. J. BROWN.
During a recent visit to Fort Ancient,
after a period of
several years, I was greatly impressed
by the improvements that
have taken place there since I have been
acquainted with the fort.
My visits to it were begun forty-seven
years ago, and have been
repeated at short intervals until late
years, then not so often.
When I first saw it, and continuing
until about the time the
State acquired title to it, it was one
of the most neglected and
uninviting tracts of land that ever came
under my notice in Ohio,
except for its historic associations it
was very undesirable prop-
erty indeed. It was, except a small
tract near the road, a tangled
thicket of trees, bushes, (principally
briars), logs, weeds, etc. I
believe it had more blackberry bushes on
it than any other tract
of equal size in the county. I have
known people to drive 14 or
15 miles to it to gather blackberries,
and feel well repaid for their
trouble. The blackberry bushes have
disappeared, with most of
the undesirable undergrowth. Logs,
brush, weeds and stones are
also gone or have been applied to useful
purposes. Those dread-
ful washes which were working back
farther and farther within
the ramparts from year to year have been
arrested in their work
of destruction and in some cases at
least seem to be in a measure
an element of beauty. Still the work of
restoration is not com-
pleted. The few acres to the north of
the public road ought to be
added to the rest, and the road should
be turned out of its present
track through the fort and be directed
to another alongside the
hollow which bounds the fort along the
north, until it gets beyond
the fort. The main entrances to the fort
would of course remain
where they are, but they would then be
private ones. The strip
referred to would add greatly to the
fine appearance and "business
like" purposes of the fort.
Although the ramparts along the
north side are in no place more than a
few rods from the road,
they are so smothered with undergrowth
and unshapely trees
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