The History around You

Naomi Rawlings here today, and I'm wondering if you've ever paused to consider the history around you?

Every area has history, the town where you grew up, the place where you currently live, and even the spot on the map where your parents or grandparents were raised. 

Growing up, you were busy going to school, playing, learning to drive, and having your first date. You might not have paid too much attention to the history surrounding you (except for a boring class period or two where your history teacher touched on local history). But everywhere has a history--including your home town. Sometimes you just have to go digging for it.

Your current town or county likely has a historical society and possibly even a small museum about the area's history. And archives (often located in the same building as the local library) are filled with old newspaper clippings, government documents, and even some handwritten notes.

So who first settled the area where you live? Why was it settled?

I live in northern Michigan near Lake Superior, and Native Americans were very active in our region, mining copper. That same copper then brought European settlers to the area in the mid 1800s as mines grew bigger and became more industrialized. The largest mass of copper ever to be discovered was pulled off the river that runs through my home town. The copper mass is currently at the Smithsonian, though no longer on display. Furthermore, the region where I live supplied almost all the copper that the Union Army used during the Civil War.

So my town has a lot of interesting local history, but I bet your town has a story that's equally as interesting. Have you visited any local historical sites? I'd be thrilled if you shared some of your local history in the comments below.

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A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter, and she is looking forward to the release of her next book, The Wyoming Heir in January 2014. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.NaomiRawlings.com.