Arc of Appalachia’s 30th Donor Gathering
2024 Schedule of Events

come all weekend, tour two new Arc preserves, & enjoy evening presentations
- or - come just on Sunday for the Grand Opening of Tremper Mound

Friday - Touring the new 670-acre Simon Farm Preserve

1:30 PM (early arrival option) Trekking Simon Farm's 450-acre Back-Country Forest - This 2.5-3.0 mile guided hike will take us to the remote, secluded ridgetops of Simon Farm where we can admire its mature oak forests. This is an off-trail walk through a naturally open forest. We will be gaining considerable altitude, so this hike could be challenging. We will be back at the homestead in time for the next program.

4:00 PM An Appalachian History Tour of John Simon's 1864 French Homestead - John’s Homestead is home to the Simon Sorghum Festival on its 40th run this year. We will be strolling through level mowed grounds through the old homestead, visiting the sorghum-making barns, enjoying the farm implement museum, and walking around the farmhouse and other outbuildings.

5:00 PM Dinner on your own. We recommend eating in Portsmouth where there are several good options.

7:30 - 9:30 PM Evening Presentations – The evening presentations will be taking place at Shawnee Lodge & Conference Center (4404 OH-125, West Portsmouth, OH 45663).

From Sorghum Festivals to Fireflies - a 10-minute Introduction to the Arc’s major weekend events by Kim Baker & Cassidy Drummond.

2024 Arc Review & Peering Forward - The Arc Tests its Wings by Nancy Stranahan

Wings Across the Americas: The Ohio - Guatemalan Bird Connection - A visual and audio-rich presentation by Rob Cahill and Virginia Aracely Xol Paau - representing the nonprofit Community Cloud Forest Conservation in the Guatemalan Highlands. Rob and Virginia Aracely traveled a long way to see us! We are proud to introduce our newly adopted ‘sister’ nonprofit from the far end of our summer birds’ migration path.           

Saturday - Touring the Newly Developed 706-acre Tremper Mound Preserve

8:00 AM Breakfast at Tremper Mound - Hot German Apple egg pancakes, Yogurt with granola & Fruit, Hot Beverages

9:00 AM Tour of Tremper Mound Earthworks - Learn the fascinating history of this once-bustling ceremonial center on the northern boundary of the Great Portsmouth Works, once a 26-square-mile sacred landscape, the largest of all the Hopewell earthwork complexes.

10:00 am Guided Tour of Pond Creek Trail - Pond Creek winds through the heart of Tremper Mound. The 1.5-mile loop trail is lined with groves of Yellow Buckeyes - the buckeye of the Appalachian coves. Pond Creek has exceptionally clean waters, rich aquatic life, and boasts some of the most beautiful firefly displays in the state.

Noon Lunch at Tremper Mound – Choice of Hummus & Fresh Veggie Wrap OR Chicken Cheese Wrap, chips, veggies & dip, fruit, cashew bars

1 pm  - 3 pm Choose between:

Guided Hike to Huckleberry Ridge at Tremper Mound - This brand new 2.5-mile-long trail leads into the preserve’s secluded hill country and its rich Appalachian forests. This trail requires an ascent partway up the hillside and is considered moderate in difficulty. 

Geology and Early Human History of the Scioto & Ohio River Confluence by Elijah Crabtree – Meet at Earl Thomas Conley Park west of Portsmouth and learn about the birth of the Ohio River, the presence of the Paleo and Archaic Indians, and the great forces of the past that have left their signature on the land. We will visit the ancient shell mound known as the Infirmary Mound and learn about nearby Shawnee Town, a relatively recent Indian settlement. This will be a very educational afternoon of storytelling and short hikes.

5:00 PM Dinner in Portsmouth on your own. We recommend eating in Portsmouth where there are several good options.

7:00 PM Evening Programs – The evening presentations will be taking place at Shawnee Lodge & Conference Center (4404 OH-125, West Portsmouth, OH 45663).

Sacred Earthworks of the Ohio Valley: A Photographic Perspective of the Adena, Hopewell, and Ft. Ancient Earthworks - Cincinnati photographer Steve Plattner will present the story of his decade-long documentation and visual interpretation of earthworks as viewed from the ground and by the air – presented through the prism of our modern American culture.

16,000 years of Storytelling by Glenna Wallace, Chief of the Eastern Tribe of the Shawnee - Glenna is coming to Ohio from Oklahoma to help expand our minds on the immensity of North America's rich Indian Legacies. Glenna will be reminding us that Indian history in Ohio - and our entire country - is a continuing story without end.

Sunday – Early Morning Activities for those staying the entire weekend.

8:30 AM Breakfast at Tremper Mound - Scrambled eggs with greens, turkey sausage, orange juice, and coffee cake. Because of our staff’s limited capacities, breakfast is offered only to those donors who are staying the entire weekend.

9:00 AM Walking Tour of several ambitious projects that are nearing completion. Because of our staff’s limited capacities, this event is offered only to those donors who are staying the entire weekend, We will be:

Touring the new outdoor interpretive museum for Tremper Mound.

Viewing Robert Dafford's four original murals depicting the lives of the Hopewell Culture peoples on the confluence of the Scioto and the Ohio River. This will be the murals’ first public viewing.

Touring the Tremper Mound Manor House, serving as the preserve’s educational gathering space.

Sunday: Tremper Mound’s Grand Opening and our 2024 DONOR GATHERING

Sit-down presentations at Tremper Mound:

10:00 AM The Arc’s Ever-Expanding Boundaries & Connections by Nancy Stranahan, Arc of Appalachia Director

10:45 AM Introducing our New ‘Sister’ Nonprofit in Central America - Community Cloud Forest Conservation Rob Cahill and Virginia Aracely Xol Paa are coming from Highlands of Guatemala and Maryland to represent the nonprofit, Community Cloud Forest Conservation, and to talk about the importance of protecting the migrating birds that we share in common on both ends of their arc of migration.

11:05 AM Remembering the Great Portsmouth Earthworks by Emily Uldrich - Emily will take us on an imaginative, richly visual tour of the Great Portsmouth Earthworks that, 2000 years ago, stretched to the south and southeast of Tremper Mound, and was the largest sacred landscape the cultural sphere of the Hopewell.

11:20 AM Glenna Wallace, Chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe - Glenna will officiate the grand opening of Tremper Mound while reflecting on how the perceptions of Americans of European descent have shifted over time for our indigenous art and sacred architecture. Learn how our nation’s perspective - in part - slowly transformed from disregard and oblivion to respect and admiration, and the anguish of the cultural losses incurred along the way.

12:15 PM Lunch at Tremper Mound - Lima Bean Soup, coleslaw, cornbread & butter, cooked apples, and sorghum pecan bars.

1:15 PM Choose one of the following afternoon activities:

Simon Farm Homestead Guided Tour (1 hr includes a 3-mile drive to the site) followed by an optional hike to the farm’s back-country (2 hrs - 2.5 miles) - Tour John R. Simon’s ancestral 5th-generation French Farmstead (established 1864) and his informal museum of antique farm implements. Afterward, enjoy a 2.5-mile guided hike into Simon Farm’s remote hill country, offering spectacular panoramas and impressively large trees. This off-trail exploration winds through a naturally open understory that is easy to traverse. It is nevertheless considered challenging because of the trail’s gain in elevation.

Tremper Mound Earthworks Tour (30 min) followed by an optional 1.5-mile guided hike to Pond Creek (1.5 hrs) - Enjoy a guided hike along the new Pond Creek Trail. The trail is mostly flat and easy to hike.

Tremper Mound Earthworks Tour (30 min) followed by an optional guided hike on the new 2.5-mile Huckleberry Ridge Trail (2.25 hrs includes a short drive to the trailhead). This new trail leads into the preserve's remote Appalachian hill country of Tremper Mound, providing beautiful panoramas of forested landscapes. The trail is moderately challenging because of the elevation change.

These afternoon programs offer options that are new for our weekend guests, but are also available to our day guests:

Guided 1.0 mile Hike to the Scioto River at Tremper Mound Preserve (1.75 hrs includes a short drive to the trailhead) - An easy trek to the Scioto River on this level out-and-back trail. Learn about the ancient history of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, and see firsthand the Arc's riparian forest restoration project on the Scioto River’s floodplain – the first effort of its kind on the lower Scioto.

Tour of the splendid “Art of the Ancients” Hopewell display at Portsmouth’s Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center (SOMAC) (1.75 hrs includes driving to site) with Emily Uldrich. SOMAC boasts one of the largest collections of Hopewell-era artifacts on display in Ohio, all of them from local sources. Most of the items were discovered by William V. Wertz (1913-2002) and his father, Charles V. Wertz (1872-1936) when, as part of a family business, they were excavating basements below what is now a dense settlement of houses in Portsmouth. Fortunately, the Wertz family’s motivation for the collection was not for personal profit, but for preservation. All of the items were donated to the Museum under the condition they remain on display and are never separated.

Steve Plattner
Photographer